Abstract:

The modern ICT-based education policy makers are searching for strategies, tactics, training tools and techniques that could save time and money while enhancing opportunities for individualized learning and providing the high level quality of training.
In this respect flipped teaching has proved its advantages. Flipped teaching is an emerging model of training in which students first study the material by watching video resources prepared by the lecturer or third authors, and then come to the classroom to discuss and present their individual findings, that are based on the video sources [1, 2,3].
Nevertheless European educational landscape includes national cultures peculiarities, that are revealed in both students' and teachers' attitudes and behavior in the educational process.
University-based flipped teaching becomes rather popular in euorpean higher education and faces some challenges due to its polycultural learning and teachinf environment.

The article will focus on the research that has been conducted by the authors and provides some preliminary conclusions concerning the University-based Flipped Classroom Crosscultural Specificity.
It has to be mentioned that the topic under study has not been the subject-matter of any scientific research during previous years.
The flipped classrooms of the Asian, Russian, Western universities with students who have different social and family backgound have been analized.

The above research has revealed that flipped teaching in the poly cultural educational environment has its particular characteristics that can be revealed in the following interaction trajectories of university-based training:
• the teacher -the student
• the teacher - all the group members
• the student- all the group members

Some barriers to flipped learning (ethnicity, age, psycholosocial factors) have been adentified.
The article will also provide comparative analysis of teachers and students' opinions about flipped teaching taking into account their belonging to different national communities.
The authors will try to outline the flipped classroom cross cultural specificity challenges and offer some preliminary recommendations in respect of the above issues.

References:
[1]Flip teaching. –URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching (retrieved on 6.07.2013).
[2] King, A. From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. College Teaching, Vol. 41, №1, pp. 30-35.
[3] Bergmann, J, Sams, A. Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day. International Society for Technology in Education, 2012, 100 p.

Keywords:

University-based training, fipped classroom, polycultural university learning environment.