Source: http://edudemic.com/2011/12/15-flipped-classrooms/

What is a "Flipped Classroom"?

Flipping the classroom is a strategy in which the teacher still provides direct lecture or instruction, however this is not done during class time.  The students receive the lecture outside of class.  The students typically view videos of the lectures at night (on-line or DVD), or sometime before the class.  The students then come to class to do hands on activities and homework problems.  The students work in small groups, as the teacher (s) spend class time helping the students comprehend and apply the material.  In the flipped classroom the teacher no longer stands in front of the class covering concepts, he/she allows the students to uncover or discover the concepts in their own way, resulting in deeper learning and retention of the course material and concepts.   Using the flipped classroom students take responsibility for their learning both inside and outside the classroom. (Brunsell & Horejsi, 2011)

How does one Flip their classroom?

Step 1: Course material videos are created or found on-line.  They can be comprised of video podcasts or one of Salman Khan's videos.  He has created over 2,200 videos on many different subjects.  Camtasia is an excellent screen-capture software that can be used to create your own high-quality videos.  The videos you decide to use can be uploaded to a media sharing website such as YouTube or Vimeo or burned onto a DVD. (Brunsell & Horejsi, 2011)

Step 2: Find a partner.  Collaborating with another person who is also flipping the classroom is what Bergmann and Sams have done, and they have been very successful.

Step 3: Class time is spent working on hands-on activities, projects, problems, peer tutoring and student-to-teacher tutoring.  Teaching a concept to someone, not only helps the person being taught, it helps improve understanding for the person teaching.  "Students are effectively educating each other," as stated by Andrew P. Martin evolutionary-biology at University of Colorado at Boulder.(BERRETT, 2012)

Some examples:

Conclusions:

Many of the videos and the links above show the what and why of Flipped Classrooms.  Many educational establishments are realizing the value of flipped classrooms and are actually providing training to professors at the university level.  Now with all the technology available, and our students desire to utilize this technology, the biggest concern tends to be low-income students who may not have the necessary tools.  Flipped classrooms are now getting attention from Bill and Melinda Gates, of Microsoft, who fully support Salman Khan and his non-profit Khan Academy which has over 2,400 instructional videos, that are FREE. (Toppo 2011)

As more teachers start to experiment with flipping their classroom, we may see improved engagement of the students.  This interactive collaborative learning will result in our students becoming independent learners. (Young 2011)