To flip or not to flip: a critical interpretive synthesis of flipped teaching

Abstract

It became almost fashionable to refer to the term “flipped” in higher education. Expressions like flipped learning and flipped classroom are often used interchangeably as an indication of innovation, flexibility, creativity and pedagogical evolution. We performed an exploratory study on this topic following the Critical Interpretive Synthesis methodology for analysis of the literature. Our findings indicated that the term “Flipped Learning” is misleading and that, in fact, the synthetic concept behind it is “Flipped Teaching”. We derived a synthesising argument, in the format of two synthesis models, of the potential benefits promoted by flipped teaching and the potential issues which affect its success in practice. Those models allow STEM course tutors not only to make informed decisions about whether to flip teaching or not, but also to better prepare for flipping.