In the early 2010s, advocates of education technology promoted the idea of using the internet to deliver lectures before class while using in-person class time to work on assignments. It’s called flipping the classroom. Like many trends, it spread across U.S. classrooms, from college to elementary school, before there was ample evidence on whether students learn more this way.  

Research is slow, and, in the case of flipped classrooms, there were  a lot of different conclusions. Researchers are taking stock of the mixed results in a series of meta-analyses. I took a deep dive into the largest of these, published in the journal  Educational Research Review in 2019, and pulled out some lessons learned on what makes for a successful flip -- and some thoughts for remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Mixed results from 114 studies point to overall small benefit from flipped classrooms. 

• Successful flips did not reduce face-to-face instructional minutes. The power of the flipped classroom was in the active learning that takes place during class time, not in watching videos at home. 

• Extra quizzes in flipped classrooms made  sure students watched  the video lectures and remembered  them.

• Having students watch instructional videos on their own time, asynchronously, during remote learning is working well. But designing good learning activities for students to do together, synchronously, over Zoom is trickier.  

• Creating multimedia video lectures, writing additional quizzes and designing active learning assignments require an enormous investment of money and time.  Researcher recommends that teachers work together in a team when they flip classrooms and don’t attempt this on their own.

1. van Alten, David & Phielix, C. & Janssen, Jeroen & Kester, Liesbeth. (2019). Effects of Flipping the Classroom on Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction: a Meta-Analysis. Educational Research Review. 28. 1-18. 10.1016/j.edurev.2019.05.003.    
2. Låg T, Sæle RG. Does the Flipped Classroom Improve Student Learning and Satisfaction? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. AERA Open. July 2019. 
3. HEW, K.F., LO, C.K. Flipped classroom improves student learning in health professions education: a meta-analysis. BMC Med Educ 18, 38 (2018). 
4. C.K. Lo, K.F. Hew, G. Chen. Toward a set of design principles for mathematics flipped classrooms: A synthesis of research in mathematics education. Educational Research Review, 22 (2017), pp. 50-73
5. K.S. Chen, L. Monrouxe, Y.H. Lu, C.C. Jenq, Y.J. Chang, Y.C. Chang, et al. Academic outcomes of flipped classroom learning: A meta-analysis. Medical Education, 52 (9) (2018), pp. 910-924 
6. L. Cheng, A.D. Ritzhaupt, P. Antonenko. Effects of the flipped classroom instructional strategy on students' learning outcomes: A meta-analysis. Educational Technology Research & Development (2018), pp. 1-32