You’re aware of the buzz surrounding the flipped classroom and use of active learning strategies. You’ve read a few articles and blog posts from fellow educators and students sharing their experiences within a flipped classroom environment. You’re interested in dipping your toes into the flipped classroom waters and incorporating some active learning activities, but you don’t know where to begin.

Flipping the classroom does not (and should not) happen overnight. However, you can test the waters by “flipping” one class session. This will give you and your students the chance to try something new without the stress of diving in head first. Incorporating active learning activities into what has been a “lecture only” teaching and learning environment is a big change for both the instructor and students. Keep in mind that transitioning to a new teaching and learning model will require a great deal of planning, work, and communication with your students in order to be effective and successful.

Great! You have a starting point. What’s the next step? Do some research on active learning strategies and exercises. Find some that you believe will be a good fit for the classes you teach. Need help finding some examples? Last week’s IAMSE webinar (Flipping the Classroom: Introducing Active Learning into the Large Group Setting) focused on lecturing less and incorporating active learning activities into the large lecture classroom. The presenters, Bill Jeffries, Ph.D. (University of Vermont College of Medicine) and Katie Huggett, Ph.D. (Creighton University School of Medicine), shared educational theory supporting the use of active learning as well as several examples of active learning exercises.

Check out the links below to view their presentation slides and handouts.

Presentation Slides: http://iamse.org/development/2014/was_013014/was_013014.pdf

Examples of Active Learning Exercises: http://www.uvm.edu/medicine/mededucation/documents/FlippedClassroom.pdf