Abstract:

Simultaneous advances in pedagogical techniques and technological means of communication have changed the educational landscape, and show the potential to profoundly affect the roles in and out of the classroom. The flipped classroom educational paradigm offers the opportunity for students to be the main actors of their learning, for teachers to be creative and adaptive, and for parents to be involved in their children’s studies.

In this presentation, we explore the preliminary findings of the international working group initiated by the group Revolution Educative, which gathers scientists, teachers, school directors, students, and parents from all over the world, who have implemented or experienced flipped classroom initiatives. Through collaborative work and discussion, analysis of the most recent literature, systematic comparison of outcomes, testimonies, and auditing of the current practices, Revolution Educative aims to identify and provide good practice guidelines for educational providers who use or intend to use the flipped classroom model.

More specifically, we provide a review of the recent evidence behind the educational advantages of the flipped classroom model, we audit the implementation of the flipped classroom model by Revolution Educative’s collaborators, and we qualitatively explore some fundamental differences in the perceived roles of students, teachers and parents between flipped classroom and traditional teaching methods, whereby teachers assume an interactive guidance role instead of a purely instructional one, students have to take responsibility for the material they learn, and parents have a higher opportunity of quality judgment due to their access to unadulterated course material.

We also present the case study of an online flipped classroom provider, which helps students with defined short-term goals to prepare their university entrance examinations in a limited amount of time, and we present the testimonies and experiences of some of Revolution Educative’s collaborators.

Implementation and implications of online flipped classroom systems are discussed, the validity of preconceived ideas concerning flipped classroom models is critically assessed, possibilities of empirical research with the collaboration of providers are explored, and suggestions for subsequent research are provided.

Keywords:

Flipped Classroom, Online Learning, Educational Role.