THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM IN TRAINING AND

DEVELOPMENT: FAD OR THE FUTURE?

Melanie T. Jacot Jason Noren Zane L. Berge, PhD

This article provides an overview of the characteristics of the flipped classroom, discusses the
foundations of this innovative instructional model, and analyzes the possibility of adoption and
application to corporate learning platforms. The article assesses whether the flipped classroom
is simply a temporary trend in education and learning or has the potential to truly revolutionize
instructional design and delivery in the realm of training and development.

A 2010 ANALYSIS conducted by the U.S. Department of

Education, based on 45 studies, suggested that eLearning is just as effective as face-to-face instruction, and
that a blended approach combining both elements is
superior to either method (Koller, 2011). Arise the
flipped classroom, which may be described as the perfect way of blending eLearning and classroom training
and utilizing the best of both worlds (Majumdar, 2013,
para. 3). Advances in technology have drastically altered
expectations for human interaction with instructional
material, precipitating a departure from the traditional,
instructor-led learning sessions in favor of self-directional models that prioritize student preference and
target a degree of personalized instruction not always
deemed possible solely in the conventional classroom
setting. In constantly striving to maximize the time that
trainers have with learners, flipped learning is beginning
to redefine the classroom paradigm (Bergmann & Sams,
2014). This article will first describe the characteristics
of the flipped classroom, viewing it through the lens of
its constructivist foundations and outlining its origins in
the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, leading to a discussion of how corporations could benefit from utilizing
this model. The latter part of the article will be devoted
to illustrating the flipped classroom in action; tracking its evolution from K12 applications to adoption
in the corporate realm of training and development via
numerous case studies. Lastly, this article will assess the

universal suitability of flipped learning in the corporate

training environment.

THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM

Widely considered as the pioneers of this trend, highschool chemistry teachers Jon Bergmann and Aaron
Sams, in an attempt to counter noticeable levels of student absenteeism, began to record their lessons and post
them online, enabling students to access them remotely.
Taking this step led them to question whether class
time was in fact the best means for delivering information to students at all; therefore, Bergmann and Sams
became dedicated to prerecording their direct instruction for review outside the classroom, leaving class time
for more meaningful learning activities and increased
focus on more difficult concepts (Bergmann & Sams,
2014). Conventional paradigms devote classroom time to
teacher-led instruction, with subsequent practice left to
occur outside the classroom. The key to the flip is that
direct instruction happens outside of the classroom and
guided practice ensues inside the classroom. Students
are provided with tools and resources to facilitate learning, be it prerecorded lectures, screencasts, podcasts,
videos, or reading material to be utilized before reaching
the classroom. Consequently, time in class is freed up
for mastery exercises and opportunities for students to
demonstrate the knowledge gleaned from viewing the
Performance Improvement, vol. 53, no. 9, October 2014
International Society for Performance Improvement
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pfi.21438
2014

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learning material in a creative and collaborative setting

(Educause, 2012).

CONSTRUCTIVIST UNDERPINNINGS
Essentially, the flipped classroom should best be understood as a method of maximizing class time with students, and this path leads to very different roles for both
instructors and students. With students responsible for
learning the material, the role of the instructor becomes
less sage on the stage and more applied learning
coach (McNulty, 2013, p. 43). For students, the shift is
from passive note-takers to self-directed active learners
who increasingly define their own paths through content and organize knowledge in ways that have unique
meaning for them (Rosenberg, 2008, p. 480). The
reinvention of these roles conspires to create a learning
environment that embodies the constructivist ideology,
with the classroom emerging as a creative hub for learners engaged in meaningful activities that are focused on
achieving mastery of skills and concepts, rather than
simply providing coverage of them. In having access to
information ahead of time, students become primed
(Hamdan, McKnight, McKnight, & Arfstrom, 2013, p. 8)
for tasks that move beyond the lower end of Blooms
Taxonomy in the pursuit of high-order thinking, critical analysis, and practical application of concepts. With
time available for these undertakings, students are able
to fully explore the material, investigate content, and to
work interactively; all of which promote a deeper level
of comprehension (Rivero, 2013). Constructivist indicators of active learning such as authentic, inquiry-based,
exploratory, experiential, and collaborative learning are
common features of the flipped classroom. Students are
encouraged to practice skills via class discussion, projects, hands-on tasks, group activities, role-plays, case
studies, real-world exercises, and simulations. For the
corporate environment, the aim of flipped learning is
both clear and precious: to make the learning experience reflect real-world experiences, enabling learners to
transfer what they learn more efficiently and effectively
to their jobs (Sink, 2008, p. 208).

EMERGENCE OF WEB 2.0

TECHNOLOGY
One of the major vehicles propelling technology-based
learning and the flipped classroom to be a mainstay in
the field of instructional systems design is the evolution
of Web 2.0 technology and the Internet. Web 2.0 sites
enable user interaction and participation by having a
user-friendly interface where one can edit and publish

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In constantly striving to
maximize the time that
trainers have with learners,
flipped learning is beginning
to redefine the classroom
paradigm.

the existing information (Matusky, 2013). As put forth by

Kim, Yue, Perkins Hall, and Gates (2009), Web 2.0 technologies such as Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript), XML
(Extensive Markup Language), and Flash make possible
the use of the Web 2.0 applications that we all enjoy today.
Both formal platforms for instruction such as Blackboard,
WebCT, wikis, and those coined as social media applications (blogs, Facebook, Twitter), perpetuate based on
common principles. According to Kim et al. (2009), these
principles are as follows:
Participation: Web 2.0 lowers the barriers to use Web
applications to facilitate participation.
Collaboration: Web 2.0 fosters the collaboration on the
creation of Web contents.
Social Networking: Web 2.0 makes users easier to build
and maintain social connections.
Rich User Interface: Web 2.0s capability to deliver
highly interactive user interfaces and multimedia
enriches users online experiences.
How Web 2.0 facilitates the evolution of technologybased learning and the flipped classroom is premised on
three main factors: accessibility, convenience, and synthesis. The latter is undeniably the most unique advantage
to this mode of learning, because participants are able
to construct knowledge based on preexisting notions,
while researching desired information and sharing it
with other nodes within a network in real-time. For this
to happen outside of the physical walls of academia has
been made possible by the Internet, but accessibility has
improved as smartphones and mobile applications for
Web 2.0 increase compatibility. These factors can help
firms portray training development as a convenient and
accessible necessity rather than a mandated professional
development opportunity offered at fixed times during
the workday. By doing this, learners may be more willing
to participate. An increase in participation, combined

with a desire for learning, formulates the probability of

having a higher rate of success leading to increased productivity and subsequent return on investment (ROI).
In the corporate realm, returns are often valued through
formulaic modes of determining profits, whereas K12
institutions deem returns as current and future academic
and interpersonal or intrapersonal successes. Hence, for
the flipped classroom to thrive in corporate training, it
needs to demonstrate its merit as a fiscally advantageous
way to enhance learning of employees.

HOW CORPORATIONS CAN BENEFIT

FROM FLIPPED TRAINING
How corporations realize the benefits of flipped training
varies from one firm to the next, and each may employ
different strategies to reap the benefits. However, even
though application may vary, the following principles
serve as the most fundamental benefits for corporations
utilizing flipped training:
AccessibilityAs facilitated by Web 2.0 technologies,
trainees are able to access technology-based or online
instruction prior to attending hands-on training
sessions.
DifferentiationWith no structured limitation on
time, as per traditional face-to-face platforms, trainees are able to view training sessions until mastery
has been reached, or at least until they have a comfortable understanding of new content. Struggling
learners are granted repeat viewings without missing
practical instruction, or at the expense of other learners. Furthermore, advanced or gifted trainees may
have opportunities to expand on acquired knowledge
through discussion, research, or synthesis as a node
participating within an online learning network.
Maximized time applying knowledgeTrainers are able
to use more time in the face-to-face setting because
trainees have already been granted a basic, fundamental knowledge of the new content. Real-world,
scenario-based, simulative activities can become routine as training time becomes less of a scarce resource.
All trainees have more time to ask questions as related
to the application, and demonstrations as well as tactile
activities become the focal point of the live instruction. In other words: rather than focusing on what
trainers assume trainees need to know, the session
can hone in on what they really do need to know
(Pierce, 2011, p. 76).
Cost-effectiveness: Freeing up class time for real-world
application of content means trainees can partake in

on-the-job, skills-based training; not only reducing the

need for subsequent training sessions, but increasing
efficacy of the training and productivity of the workforce. Additionally, many of the learning objects, such
as prerecorded lectures, are inexpensive to produce.
Furthermore, trainers can receive real-time evaluation
data and immediate indications as to the success of the
training, since using class time to simulate on-the-job
scenarios gives them the opportunity to determine if
learners are acquiring knowledge as intended (Pierce,
2011). These principles aside, the greatest indication of
the value of the flipped learning in the corporate realm
rests on its achievements in existing applications.

FLIPPED CLASSROOM IN PRACTICE

Much has been documented regarding the successful
deployment of flipped learning at thousands of K12 institutions. One only needs to visit the website of Clintondale
High School, Michigan to see a functional and hugely
successful example. In fall of 2011, Clintondale became
the first fully flipped school in the United States. All of
its classes are now taught this way, and since the flip,
the results have been staggering: graduation rates rose
dramatically, and are now over 90 percent. College attendance went from 63 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in
2012 (Rosenberg, 2008, para. 13). Similarly, one does
not need to look far to find evidence of the flipped classroom infiltrating higher education institutions such as
colleges and universities. Even Harvard University, ever
the academic benchmark, has succumbed to the allure of
the flipped classroom. One Harvard physics professor not
only employs the flipped model but has also developed
an accompanying site entitled Learning Catalytics, which
distributes free interactive software for other instructors
to use that facilitates student discussion and application of
concepts covered in lectures (Educause, 2012). As per their
K12 counterparts, flipped university classrooms represent a move away from standard lectures and tutorials and
a move towards scaffolded learning experiences based on
a series of activities and workshops, or by mediated online
discussion (Hunt & Sankey, 2013, p. 786).
One of the most telling indicators for the future of
flipped learning and its potential for use in training and
development is the overwhelming success of the Webbased collection of educational videos known as the Khan
Academy. For those in any doubt: The site currently provides; 4700 videos, 560 practice exercises and Computer
Science lessons with interactive ability and offered in 28
languages, in 216 countries, in 20,000+ classrooms and
reaching over six million students worldwide (Flynn,
2013, para. 1). It is hard to dispute that a resource

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awarded the ASTD 2013 Champion of Learning Award

that enables third-graders to build robots has something
to offer the corporate environment (Khan Academy,
2014). The Bank of America appears to agreeat least for
its customers, who, thanks to a recent collaborative effort
with Khan Academy, were offered a series of self-paced
online learning courses on money management (Meister,
2013). Similarly, the Stanford School of Medicine is harnessing the omnipresence of the Khan Academy to offer
free video-based health and medicine tutelage to any person with Internet access (Khan Academy, 2014).
Espousing a humanized classroom model, the
Khan Academy expresses a desire to use technology
to humanize education and ensure that teacher time is
spent on human interaction not lecture (Flynn, 2013,
Foundations section, para. 3). Whether you are a highschool student, or adult consumer banker, there is a niche
for accessible, user-friendly, engaging, and empowering
self-paced instruction. Virtual programs such as the
Khan Academy are not just an exercise in incorporating
cutting-edge technologies into modern learning platforms but actually reshaping the way in which these
technologies are employed (Rivero, 2013). The classroom
is being reimagined, and the transformative educational
paradigms regularly being exported to youth are becoming commonplace. After all, video content is engaging
to studentsmany of whom grew up on YouTubeand
easy for instructors to produce (Koller, 2011), which
happens to be great news for the increasingly strained
purse-strings of corporate organizations.

CURRENT MODELS OF FLIPPED

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
New-hire orientation is an integral part of training
and development for organizations across the spectrum.
Therefore it comes as little surprise that McAfee, an
American-based computer security software company,
uses flipped-classroom training for new hires. Learners
are able to complete technology-based training and orientation activities when convenient in order to use faceto-face time fully for in-depth discussion and hands-on
activities. According to a report in Forbes magazine:
With that change, McAfee turned its training around
in a way that both saved both time and produced
more lucrative sales: its sales associates now attribute
an average of $500,000 per year in sales to the
skills they learned through the new training model.
(Meister, 2013, para. 3)

Discover Financial Services is another example of an

organization to flip the training of recent hires. Guided

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There can be no argument

that the flipped classroom
has the potential to
revolutionize the way in
which corporate training and
development is implemented.
by a New Hire Advisor, essentially a content facilitator,
new employees complete training coursework through
e-Learning, video instruction, and self-study (Freifeld,
2014). Coined Customer Service 2.0 (giving a nod to
Web 2.0 technologies), this innovative training program,
with obvious influences from Khan Academy, acknowledges the application and advantageous potential of
using flipped training to improve problem-solving skills,
greater self-direction, and improved business metrics
(Freifeld, 2014, Discover Financial section, para. 7).
There are also public emergency officers currently
exploiting flipped training to revolutionize human performance development. Frank Lipski, a firefighter and
emergency health medicine training officer, uses his
website Modern Firefighter as a training resource bank
and information database to share knowledge with current and future firefighters. The website is enriched with
social media, discussion opportunities, and podcasts.
Information is easily accessible, relevant, and can be
accessed when learners make time to learn. Additionally,
Mr. Lipski includes a brief testimonial to the effectiveness
and future of flipped training: I am a student of flipped
training techniques and I feel the concept of providing
material to our members at exactly the time they are ready
to learn is the way of the future for fire service education
(Lipski, 2014, About section, para. 4). Time as a valuable
resource has made flipped training an attractive alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction, and the application of new skills it fosters, enabled by the accessibility
of information, is enticing to all types of organizations.

DRAWBACKS OF THE FLIPPED

CLASSROOM
Critics of the flipped classroom are often quick to dispute
the nature of preassigned content and contend that a prerecorded lecture is no better than a live lecture. While to
a certain degree this may be true, this conjecture is really
missing the most integral point of flipped learning: to

maximize class time. More compelling is the argument that

organizations, wooed by its cost-effectiveness, are likely to
implement flipped learning with no sincere regard for the
educational strategies and mechanism for instruction it
espouses. For instance, when eLearning gained popularity at the turn of the millennium and was hailed as the
next catalyst for the evolution of training and development, firms chose to take advantage of the potential for
cost reduction by reducing instructional positions and
downsizing facilities rather than seizing an opportunity
to invigorate learning (Cross, 2012). In this scenario,
stakeholder buy-in would be limited only to the potential
money-saving solutions of this framework, and the effectiveness of instruction sorely compromised. However, in an
era of global competition and cost-cutting measures, this
phenomenon is by no means limited to the flipped model.

CONCLUSIONS
There can be no argument that the flipped classroom has
the potential to revolutionize the way in which corporate
training and development is implemented. Whether this
potential is realized or not is contingent on many factors;
there is no one-size flip to fit all. For organizations aligning with constructivist ideals, looking to integrate modern Web-based applications and cognizant of the need
for a reimagining of the conventional classroom environment, the flipped classroom will prove impossible to
resist. Equally, corporations that see the value of in-class
instructional sessions prioritizing creativity, experiential
learning activities and authentic skills-based training
that directly correspond to increased levels of productivity and ROI will be similarly allured. For a multitude of
institutions, the nuances of the globalized economy beg
the question: how can educational class time and professional training time be maximized to meet the demands
of specialized instruction, difficult schedules, various
learning styles, expensive travel costs and constantly
changing curriculum? (Bergmann & Sams, 2014, p. 29).
For many the answer is clear: flip the classroom. As a
result, this model is likely to be a loud voice dictating the
future of training and development.

References

Educause. (2012, February). 7 things you should know about

flipped classrooms. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir
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Flynn,T.M. (2013, October 7). What can Khan Academy teach
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.com/what-can-khan-academy-teach-corporate-training
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Hamdan,N., McKnight,P., McKnight,K., & Arfstrom,
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Elementary School. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy
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/v/spout-bot-at-santa-rita-elementary-school
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Meister,J. (2013, August 13). How MOOCs will revolutionize

corporate learning and development. Forbes. Retrieved from
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MELANIE T. JACOT is a trained educator and event producer for Intellor Group, a multimedia services
provider that specializes in audio, web, and videoconferencing. She is currently pursuing a masters
degree in instructional systems design at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She may be
reached at mjacot1@gmail.com
JASON NOREN is a Baltimore, Maryland, native who currently serves as the professional development
coordinator for the nationally recognized, private-school system Sterling Education. In this capacity, he
works with administrators to ensure the successful implementation of professional opportunities, mentors
and assists teachers in best practices utilizing the curriculum, and facilitates professional learning communities. He has gained a multitude of skill-sets from academia and professional studies. He completed
a 4-year high school trade program for graphics printing and communications; graduated magna cum
laude from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he studied music education; has completed certificate coursework in both music and Spanish; and is working toward a graduate degree in
instructional systems design, a program in which he studies how to develop training and development for
academic and corporate firms. He is also a small-business owner of a popular franchise in Maryland,
Playtime Piano. He may be reached at jason.noren@sterlinged.org
ZANE L. BERGE, PhD, is professor and former director of the graduate training systems programs at
the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is recognized internationally as a scholar
and speaker in the fields of distance education and training in the workplace. He may be reached at
berge@umbc.edu

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