What Is a Flipped Classroom and How to Make It Work Using LMS

We all have different learning styles; not all individuals learn the same. One may have a visual learning style; others may have an auditory, interpersonal, or even intrapersonal learning style. For this reason, incorporating many learning methods in the pieces of training might be a great way to make sure the training results successful and the participants obtain the skills they were intended to. 

An effective instruction method happens to be flipped learning. While the name might give you an idea of what it is, here we’re going to go more in-depth about what flipped learning entails, its benefits, and how one can make it work while adding LMSs to the equation. Let’s find out more about it.

What Is Flipped Classroom?

The flipped classroom is a learning method that puts the learning responsibility on the learner. So, the learning takes place in an individual learning space as opposed to traditional learning, where the teaching is provided in a larger setting. The learner has to grasp the concepts and ideas on their own and then go and apply them in a setting with a bigger group of people. 

To put things in perspective, if the flipped learning method is applied in trainings that your organization is providing, the attendees would have to go through the learning materials on their own before they meet up with their peers and instructor. Seeing how the training content is provided in the online platform, the participants would have the opportunity to do their learning at all times and places, be it in the office, at home, or during their commuting time. The practical part comes to play in the classroom with the instructor and other participants. 

How is it implemented?

Now that we have established that the flipped classroom method differs from the traditional one, we can show you how one can apply it in their trainings. However, before we do so, you ought to take a step back and contemplate what it is that you want to achieve education-wise. If you plan to have more time for face-to-face classroom interaction, then flipped learning is the suitable instruction method, as you can move some classroom components to a trainees’ personal space. 

Once this step is over, you can go on to determine which of the lessons will need to be delivered synchronously and which asynchronously. This next step means that you get to decide based on numerous factors what components are to be taught on-site and which can be learned out of the classroom. For those lessons that students ought to go over on their own time, you can prepare them in the format of a video, seminar, or quiz—whichever format feels more appropriate for a certain lesson you’re providing. 

Benefits of Flipped Learning

Like any other learning method ever introduced, flipped learning has many advantages when integrated into the training instruction process. While the benefits are high in number, we chose to include only a considerable number of them. 

Flexibility

With any training plan, every organizer wants the planned and prepared lessons to be delivered within a particular time frame. At times, the in-person lectures can take longer than they were arranged in the first place, which automatically leads to other lessons getting postponed and more time taken out of the trainees’ hands. However, with the flipped learning, this won’t be much of a problem. Given that most of the training components the participants will be completing online at their own pace—an ideal training method for remote employees—there won’t be many things that could take more time than the allocated amount. 

Stimulates active learning

We mentioned that the flipped classroom has a learner-centered approach. This kind of approach makes the learners the active participants of the training as they’re the ones who are responsible for the most part of the training, unlike traditional settings where the bigger part of the responsibility falls on the trainer. They have to plan from the knowledge and the skills they’re going to share with the trainees to the way those are shared so that the learners grasp them quicker. While they may have the best intentions in mind, the trainers accidentally give the trainees the chance to be disconnected from the classroom and what is being taught. 

When you have to teach yourself the topics you need to know, the situation changes completely. The trainees will have to take notes and follow through with the video lessons. This automatically increases their attention and lowers the chance of them getting distracted. 

Encourages practice-based learning

One of the main goals of training is for the participants to learn how to put the theoretical knowledge into practice. That’s what incorporating flipped learning brings to your classroom. Your trainees will read on their own and come back to the classroom ready to apply them in a practical way. A practice-based learning approach ensures that the theoretical aspect of a particular topic is put into practice. 

Is more affordable

While each of the training methods has priceless benefits, the organizer still has to invest a considerable amount of money so that they can happen. On-site training will be more expensive, considering you need to calculate additional costs such as the external trainer, non-worked employee hours, and location. Flipped learning, on the other hand, reduces the cost of the training program as many aspects of the traditional training aren’t present.

Flipped Classroom and LMS

Adding flipped learning as the primary method of training delivery surely will prove helpful to your training program. However, one could leverage the benefits of flipped learning even more if you choose to include an LMS. It could make it easier for this method to be implemented in your organization. 

An LMS will be the site where all the trainees could find all the content needed to complete a training program. They can see all the materials that they need to get through as well as keep track of the progress they’re making daily. Not only the trainees but the organizers could also keep track of the training progress and use the LMSs parameters to measure training effectiveness.