{"id":1455,"date":"2026-04-17T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/04\/17\/2026-04-17-the-flipped-classroom-flop\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:10:30","slug":"2026-04-17-the-flipped-classroom-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/04\/17\/2026-04-17-the-flipped-classroom-flop\/","title":{"rendered":"The “flipped classroom”\u00a0flop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mia Gallagher<\/a> · Sports Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u2014 EDTECHNOLOGYSPECIALISTS<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“It’s innovative and will promote more comprehensive learning.” “Your homework will be done in class, isn’t that great?” “Flipped classrooms are the educational model of the future; it’s time to start implementing them now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of the above statements was made at some point or another by my seventh-grade math teacher, Mr. Harris, who decided to break from traditional education norms and “flip” his classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those fortunate individuals who have yet to encounter this dreaded educational model, allow me to enlighten you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Harvard’s Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, the flipped classroom model requires students to engage with course materials (video lectures or reading assignments) before class, which should theoretically “free class time for activities that involve higher order thinking” (group discussions, problem-solving workshops, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, this model appears promising as an innovative approach to content mastery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And indeed, a meta-analysis compiled by “Educational Research Review” claims “the flipped classroom has a moderate positive effect” on students’ academic performance, regardless of discipline, painting a “convincing” picture of this model’s purported efficacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, for any college student already balancing four or five courses, a handful of extracurricular activities and a social life, this idealized picture is far from the difficult experience a flipped classroom promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to my seventh-grade math classroom, I saw the downfalls of this educational experience early and have seen the same trends in other renditions of this format my friends and I have had to suffer through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I didn’t have traditional homework, I spent more time watching and rewatching video lectures than I ever had on math homework in the past. And while our in-class problem-solving sessions did promote collaboration among peers, this behavior was only prompted because my teacher chose to sit and play Candy Crush the whole period instead of guiding our efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, flipped classrooms do look good on paper \u2014 both theoretically and statistically. But as with any other theoretical approach, its application is general and doesn’t fully justify the presuppositions that surround it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what exactly are the presuppositions that ultimately make this approach unsustainable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, let’s consider student motivation. According to a review archived in the National Library of Medicine: “For the flipped classroom to be successful, students must either have their own intrinsic motivation \u2026 or a sense of autonomy to accomplish assignments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say the modern student does not possess the motivation or competence necessary to succeed. If anything, these students are more equipped than ever to make an investigative investment in their educational journey due to the resources at their disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when asked to watch what is often an hour-long video lecture outside the mandated in-person class period, this is where a student’s motivation begins to break down. For evidence of this, look no further than this post from the forum site “College Confidential”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I didn’t really like (the flipped classroom), mostly because the lectures the professor posted were longer than the class was each week. Because he wasn’t constrained by his allotted, scheduled class time, he would go off on tangents that were interesting to him but that weren’t necessary for the lecture.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, the time investment one must put into such a course far outpaces the rewards to be gained, inevitably leading to a drop in student buy-in and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flip side (no pun intended) of student motivation is educator intent. According to Shelley Wright, a teacher who chronicled her flipped classroom attempt in an article “The Flip: End of a Love Affair:”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The reality is that many, if not most, teachers who opt for the flipped classroom strategy are not pursuing a student-centred approach to teaching and learning. The traditional model of learning is simply being reversed, instead of being reinvented. The lecture (live or on video) is still front and center.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever intentions my seventh-grade math teacher brought to this process, the execution was far from the innovative approach he promised. As Wright describes, if the instructor doesn’t create an in-class environment conducive to active learning, then this model is doomed to fail every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From my initial experience with the flipped classroom, to later iterations I’ve endured in high school and at GCC, I can confidently say this “student-centered” approach devolves into the same traditional classroom experience the educational system has used for centuries almost every time it’s implemented \u2014 just with more technological flair and added stress for all parties involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So before bending over backwards to embrace whatever “educational model of the future” comes next, please take a moment to consider whether this innovative flip may become an inevitable flop in the long run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It’s innovative and will promote more comprehensive learning.” “Your homework will be done in class, isn’t that great?” “Flipped classrooms are the educational model of the future; it’s time to start implementing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[54,70,18],"class_list":["post-1455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-editorials","tag-issue-2026-04-17","tag-mia-gallagher","tag-news"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",860,483,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",150,84,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",300,168,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",768,431,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",860,483,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",860,483,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-04-17-24-the-flipped-classroom-flop-1.jpg",860,483,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\"It's innovative and will promote more comprehensive learning.\" \"Your homework will be done in class, isn't that great?\" \"Flipped classrooms are the educational model of the future; it's time to start implementing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1642,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions\/1642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}