Emerging Technology Position Paper

Naomi Hastings
Introduction:
With all of the technology and models it is inspiring on the market today I feel that
the one that will emerge as the next big thing will be the flipped classroom model.
However, I also know that it will bring some of the other things with it. Flipped lessons
can be used in virtual classrooms, although they cannot replace teacher-student
interactions. Lessons can be flipped using iPads, BYOD/BYOT or 1:1 laptop situations.
Flipped classes can be game-based, but do not have to be. The fact that flipped
classes can be used with so much, and integrated so easily, leads me to my conclusion
that it will prevail over the other technologies.
I would like to start off with how to use flipping classrooms is done. Then we will
move on to if it works for teaching students. Third we shall look at if the classroom is
the only place where flipping is a viable option for leaning new things. Finally to wrap
things up we will look at where the flipped settings are headed next what does the
future hold? Lets get started with how to flip.
Discussion:
A flipped classroom is different from a traditional classroom in that the lecture
portion of the class takes place at home (or via video) so that the homework portion of
the class may be done during school where the teacher is there to help. The idea of
flipping the classroom was started by two chemistry teachers that recorded their
lectures for absent students and everyone else wanted access to them for review.
When they started to have their students watch the videos at home and work in class

they noticed an improvement in understanding (Bergmann & Sams 2012). Flipping the
classroom does not mean that we as teachers are no longer needed. Teachers are
actually needed just as much, if not more now with technology (Bennett 2011). There is
so much misinformation out there a teacher needs to be present in order to guide their
students towards correct and current knowledge.
While Bergmann & Sams saw improved understanding within their class, that
doesnt show that flipping works for the majority. Is flipping worth the time and effort
needed to do it right? This has been the topic of several literature reviews since it was
introduced in 2012. According to one recent review, flipping the classroom works at all
levels of education. They have multi year statistics showing that college chemistry
students in flipped classrooms had over 73% mastery rate compared to traditional
classrooms with over 42% mastery rate (Yarbro et al., 2014). Yarbro et al., also saw a
difference at the high school level in trigonometry where improvement was seen of at
least 12% from 2012 to 2013 in flipped classrooms. They also go on to state that the
classrooms of varying levels of education are not the only places being flipped.
No matter what you do as your career choice there will always be new things to
learn. Thus flipped learning has made its way into the workplace. Employers have
found that in addition to the benefits that the classrooms are seeing with the flipped
design they also are saving time, money, and are getting more return for their
investment (Nederveld, 2015). However, flipping in industry has the unique problem of
the lack of face-to-face time between teacher and students. This can be addressed by
video conferencing like Skype or facetime.

Currently flipping the classroom is going through a growth stage, partly because
it is still in its infancy. Let us look at what is on the way for flipping the classes in the
future. Flipping 2.0. As we move beyond just audio recordings of lectures towards
screen captures with audio, videos with built in quiz questions and an overall increase of
engagement and interaction with the students and the flipped information (Williams,
2015). An example of combining a video and a quiz together would where the video
stops, and will not restart until a question is correctly answered. In some cases the
video will even go back to the last check for comprehension and the learner will rewatch that portion to be able to make another attempt at the correct answer. As we go
forward this increase of interaction should help to rectify some of the downfalls of flipped
learning. By lessening these problems it will make this a more viable option in both
education and industrial settings.
Conclusion:
Flipped lessons, be they in classrooms or the workplace, are basically where the
learner watches an instructional media and then completes the assignment under the
assistance of the instructor. Flipped learning can use a wide variety to technology to be
successfully implemented. While it will not progress by itself, flipping will evolve with
technology both current and new. Although classroom flipping is still a fairly young idea
(4 years old) it is already changing to fit the needs of the users. Studies are on going as
it pertains to efficacy and implementation, but at this point results are showing positive
correlations between flipping and understanding and retention. Moving forward
technology will continue to improve and make this emerging trend more effective and
more widely accepted and used.

Reference List
Bennett, B. (October 10, 2011). Videos are not the answer. Educator, learner: Trying to
lead by example blog. Retrieved from: http://www.brianbennett.org/blog/video-isnot-the-answer/
Bergmann, J. & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every
class every day. ISTE, Eugene, Oregon.
Nederveld, A., & Berge, Z. L. (2015). Flipped learning in the workplace. Journal Of
Workplace Learning, 27(2), 162. doi:10.110/JWL-06-2014-0044
Williams, L. (2015). Flipped classrooms 2.0: what's new and what's next for the flipped
classroom format. University Business, (5). 47.
Yarbro, J., Arfstrom, K. M., McNight, K., & McKnight, P. (2014). 2014: Extension of a
Review of Flipped Learning. Creative Commons Attribution. June.