top of page

Incentive

At the beginning, students may show hesitation to the Flipped Classroom since the pattern of learning is different from the traditional didactic lectures. After years of familiarity developed from learning in a traditional classroom, possible fears may appear among students when they learn in flipped classrooms. Therefore, it may take considerable amount of time for students to adapt to this new concept (Rotellar & Cain, 2016).
Here are some strategies you can apply to raise students’ acceptance in the Flipped Classroom.
Years of familiarity developed from traditional classroom 
Demoralized by the seemingly heavier workload (pre-class prepration, etc.)
Unsettledness during group discussions and interactive activities
Incapability to catch up with the learning progress
1. Giving incentives through assessments
Teachers can ask students to complete a task requiring their prior preparation. The task is provided with grade points as an incentive for students to come to class prepared. For example, assess online discussions with low-stakes grading. It appears to have motivated many students to engage in the learning activities/assignments relating to problem-solving skill. One of the engineering instructors from the University of Southern California states:
"To foster more interaction and connection between out-of-class and in-class activities, I required students to submit questions/comments on YouTube by giving them points on homework assignments. This drastically boosted the number of questions posted on YouTube and I used those as a springboard for the next lecture." (Kim, Kim, Khera & Getman, 2014, p. 44)
2. Giving students a sense of control of their learning
A successful face-to-face interaction depends on the extent to which students have prepared before engaging in the in-class activities. However, in reality, about 25% of the students have not attended the online lectures, according to a study conducted in the University of Southern California. This observation has been reinforced by an interview with a student from the University:
Not all students have watched the videos. Learning majorly depends on students themselves. No preparation means low participation in group works. Instructor has become aware of that and activities such as weekly quiz and annotating video lectures have been added which turn out to be more effective in helping students with their learning. (Kim, Kim, Khera & Getman, 2014)
To enhance student participation in pre-class activities, teachers can consider the following two tips:
​
  • Using the Agree/Disagree Polls with Google Forms or Survey Monkey to get a brief overview of students' opinion regarding the online course materials (Cambridge, 2013).​
Create a poll to ask students' opinion on the pre-class materials
Reveal the results during the next class and use them as foundations of discussion and debate
Students feel their comments are being valued and thus becoming more willing to do the preparations
  • Telling students that they will have an opportunity to write and determine some of the questions that will appear on their final examination (Cambridge, 2013).
At the beginning of the semester, tell students that they can affect the questions in the final exam
Ask students to submit a question from the material which deserves a place in the final examination 
3. Showing students the benefits of flipped classrooms
It is likely for students to accept the Flipped Classroom when the following benefits associated are known to them: 
  • Teachers will have more time to help you since there is no didactic lecturing;

  • Your teacher will know you better due to enriched student-teacher interaction;

  • You will be able to pause and rewind your teacher in the online teaching materials;

  • You will be able to learn at your own pace and schedule; and

  • You will be in a more interactive classroom. (Bergmann, 2016)

Watch the below two videos to learn more:
(Looking for ideas to run a workshop to guide your fellow faculties to explore and discuss the strategies demonstrated above? Check out the Workshop Resource(s) we prepared for suggested activities, group discussion questions, and more!)
bottom of page