Flipping: A great way to make your lectures more effective

In what is known as the 'flipped classroom' approach, students view online materials in their own time, and at their own speed, ahead of lectures. This frees up face-to-face sessions for more active discussion and problem-solving activities, as well as highlighting areas of misunderstanding.

In this case study, Professor Simon Benjamin from the Department of Materials successfully applied this technique in his undergraduate course Vectors, Matrices, and Determinants.

A digital alternative to the traditional lecture model

Simon sought to make his lectures more interactive by replacing traditional note-taking with pre-lecture videos and practice exercises. This approach allowed students to learn at their own pace, arrive better prepared, and engage in deeper problem-solving discussions during class.

Videos + Quizzes = Flipped Classroom

Simon created 10 short YouTube videos, each 5 to 10 minutes long, to introduce mathematical techniques and provide an audio commentary to explain his thinking. With the help of a graduate student, he converted course problems into online multiple-choice quizzes. These were designed for students to test their understanding of the preceding video, and support was provided in the form of relevant feedback and hints for incorrect answers. 

Figure 1: A screenshot from one of Simon’s videos showing his teaching notes

Before the start of term, the students were informed about the novel structure of the course, and tutors were shown how to access the virtual learning environment to see how their students were progressing, and to request feedback.

Greater than the sum of the parts…

By moving rote learning from lectures, Simon was able to spend time discussing problem-solving techniques with students. This approach not only presented an exciting new challenge in his teaching approach, but also made lectures more dynamic and engaging. The videos attracted more views before exams, indicating their use for revision. Despite initial concerns, the total time commitment for students did not increase. Feedback was very positive, and the department's Director of Studies asked Simon to share his work with colleagues. Simon also won an OxTALENT award for innovative teaching. The videos are now hosted on Moodle under a Creative Commons CC BY licence available for anyone to use and learn from (see the YouTube link below).

It all adds up: top tips

Simon offers the following advice for other academic staff who are considering flipping their classrooms: 

• If you create and edit the videos yourself, ensure that you realistically account for editing time in your planning (which can easily take 10 times longer than the recording time)
• Consider recruiting and paying graduate students to help create the online quizzes, after the lecturer has identified the problems and feedback to be presented.

Further information 

• You can view the full set of Simon’s mathematics videos on his YouTube channel 
• Oxford’s recommended video-recording software is Panopto (branded as ‘Replay’), which is integrated into Canvas, the centrally supported virtual learning environment. See the Replay webpages
• The Digital Capabilities Team in IT Services runs courses on planning, producing, filming and editing short videos, as well as using the Panopto platform
• The Educational Media Services Unit in IT Services provides digital video production and editing services (chargeable)
• For more about the flipped classroom, see these articles: 
  • Bogost, I. (2013). The Condensed Classroom. The Atlantic Magazine 
  • O’Flaherty, J. & Philips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The Internet in Higher Education, 25: 85–95 (available to logged-in Oxford users through the Bodleian Libraries’ SOLO collection).