This paper discusses preliminary results of a study with twenty teaching academics who use the elements of flipped classroom in their teaching. Grounded in recent literature on blended learning, flipped classroom and innovative teaching, this paper draws on the thematic analysis of rich qualitative interview data to offer new insights into teaching tactics academics devise to boost student engagement, motivation and creativity. The flipped classroom elements taken up by the academics in this study range from the ‘traditional’ flip concept where lectures or segments of lectures are replaced by independent study components (both technology-enabled or not) to a more hybridised teaching tactics allowing for greater personalisation of learning, to a holistic re-think and re-design of students’ learning experiences achieved by introducing multiple elements of the flipped pedagogy. Based on this data, recommendations are offered on how to achieve an impactful flipped design.

1. Rethinking the ‘flip’:
Exploring innovative teaching
practices in the university
classroom
CRICOS 00111D TOID 3059
Dr Katya Pechenkina
Research Fellow
Office of the Senior DVC & Provost
Learning Transformations
Presented at Transforming Learning Conference
Swinburne University of Technology
13-14 September 2016
Melbourne Australia
http://transformconference.com/ #SwinTLC

2. Outline
• Why flip? Aspirations vs. realities
• Towards complexity in flipped learning
• Educators’ relationship with innovation &
technology
• Professional development & skills
• Measuring impact

3. Why flip? Aspirations vs realities
‘Traditional’ flip: “lectures
are presented as homework
outside of class… class time
is reserved for engaging
directly with the material”
(Gaughan, 2014)
Why do it?
- Active learning
- Better engagement
- Shared responsibility
- Student’s control over the
learning process
What happens if students
do not engage with the
flipped components?
Image: Saint Louis University, Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

4. • Academics engage with complex narratives of
the ‘flip’, experimenting with what can be
flipped, how and when
• ‘Responsive design’: What works in one
classroom may not work in another
• Factors: cohort, expectations, prior
experiences, motivations, teaching team’s
expertise, skills and ability to build rapport with
students
• Changing understanding of the ‘flip’ affects
understanding of academic roles: educator is
a hybrid, mixing various approaches to
teaching and engaging students
Towards complexity in flipped learning

5. Educators’ relationship with innovation &
technology
• Technology: useful but not the ultimate goal, must be seamless &
accessible
• Time, knowledge, skills & dedication required to ‘flip’ content
• Innovation means taking a risk
• Perceptions of research outputs having more value/impact than teaching
outputs may prevent academics from experimenting with their teaching
• Expectation is to be innovative but the question of ‘how’ is open to
interpretation

6. • Support: centralised model vs. faculty-
based model
• ‘Champions’ of technology:
finding/developing the most appropriate
tool for the task
• Training/upskilling must be an ongoing
process
Professional development and skills

7. Measuring impact
• Defining what is excellent teaching:
outputs, metrics
• Going beyond student satisfaction
surveys and grades to measure impact
• Knowledge exchange
• Rewards and recognition

8. Thank you!
Interested in collaboration or taking part in this study?
Get in touch: epechenkina@swin.edu.au
Twitter: @katya_pechenk