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For all the talk of the benefits of flipped classrooms, I realized one drawback -- if you want to call it that -- during 

In flipped classrooms, the timing of the lecture is turned around. Students usually watch a recorded lecture by the professor at home first and do some reading before they meet for class.

Class time is reserved for review, questions and exercises that apply what students have learned. Advocates of the technique say it makes class time more efficient and improves students' comprehension.

Associate business professor Shelly McCallum was one of the professors who flipped classes last spring. She said students expressed in focus groups how the technique had greatly improved their note-taking and studying.

But she says those same students expressed reservations about the workload:

Some faculty stand by the adage that a student should put in three hours of homework for every hour of class. McCallum said this new structure doesn't change that.

But the workload prompted students to wonder how many flipped classes they could handle, she recalled. (Even Erik Qvale, 

 who found that flipped classrooms really helped his style of learning, said he wasn't sure how many he could.)

They did recognize the benefits of the new routine: more control over the viewing pace of the videotaped lecture, better notes, better comprehension and a more interesting time in class.

experiment in massive, open online courses

 (MOOCs), St. Mary's endeavor consumed a lot of professors' time as well.

has noticed the increased workload as well.

McCallum said faculty must prepare the videotaped lecture, which is different from a standard lecture. She said the recorded lectures are generally shorter, more focused, with a more potent delivery.

Professors must post the videos a few days before class, and then prepare a set of class activities that are tied to the material.

I asked McCallum whether she'd be able to teach multiple flipped classrooms.

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

For all the talk of the benefits of flipped classrooms, I realized one drawback — if you want to call it that — during a recent interview with a St. Mary’s University of Minnesota student and professor: They’re a heck of a lot of work. In flipped classrooms, the timing of the lecture is turned…

The price that students and faculty pay for flipping a classroom

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