The Flipped Classroom
The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical model, in which the typical in-class activities (e.g. lecture) and out-of-class activities (e.g. homework) are reversed (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018; Awidi & Paynter, 2019; Lacher & Lewis, 2015). A flipped classroom is a way to extend learning beyond the classroom, and the in-class time is reserved for meaningful and practical learning activities such as interactive discussions, group learning activities, hands-on exercises and problem-solving activities (Giannakos, Krogstie, & Chrisochoides, 2014; Lacher & Lewis, 2015). The content knowledge is given out-of-class with electronic resources such as video lectures, online materials and interactive quizzes (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018). A meta-analysis study has reviewed 71 studies related to flipped classrooms and identified four major advantages of flipped learning - improved students’ performance, positive students’ feedback, improved students’ satisfaction and enhanced learning flexibility (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018). Some major drawbacks include time-consuming (e.g. video recording or editing), poor quality of videos and students’ limited pre-class preparation time (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018). The researchers have further explained that it is an extra burden for the students to watch video lectures before every class because they have to put in more efforts and time (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018). Another controversial argument pointing towards the flexibility of video lectures has reduced the face-to-face classroom interaction between the instructors and students, it would be more to the disadvantage of weak students (Ng, 2018).