College of Business Hosted “Demystifying the Flipped Classroom”

The College of Business hosted an innovative teaching summit, “Demystifying the Flipped Classroom,” on Nov. 5 to introduce and share flipped learning with the University community and partners at other institutions.

The daylong event provided sessions for beginning and advanced users and those completely new to flipped learning. During the seminar, attendees had a chance to listen to the keynote speaker, Dr. Jose Bowen, about how technology is best used outside the classroom to enrich student preparation and engagement. Attendees also listened to a student panel share their perspectives and experiences. Faculty members shared lessons from implementing the flipped classroom and tips for managing the classroom environment, developing assessments and setting expectations.

“Our goal is to be a leader in using diverse technologies to create deep, collaborative learning,” Dr. Steven Cady, an associate professor of management and said co-organizer stated. Cady and other faculty have committed to implementing the active-learning format after participating in the College of Business Learning Technology Task Force two years ago.

“Students might watch an online lecture, work with an interactive infographic, read text, or practice concepts through gaming. The key is they are assessed on core foundational concepts before they ever walk into class. Once they’re in class, they solve problems by working in teams, first submitting their initial, individual perspective to the team and ultimately combining solutions, which they upload and submit before the end of class.

I might bring up one group’s project on the screen so others can dive in and help one another. Then the teams get back to work. It’s called double-loop learning.” Cady noted that today’s wired generation is already coming into college with the expectation that technology will be used and taught.

“It’s a challenge, and we want to give them the learning skills they need to get their dream job,” Cady said.