Moving Take-Home Work Into the Classroom


Take-home assignments are a traditional staple of higher education. However, the rise of powerful AI tools has made it difficult to verify student thinking and authentic learning. This creates frustration for instructors who want assignments to reflect a student's own progress rather than their ability to use a tool.

One practical response is to rethink when assessment happens. By using a flipped classroom model, you can move core content delivery to pre-class activities. This frees up valuable class time for active learning, allowing you to observe formative and summative work as it happens. Flipping your course is not an all-or-nothing decision; even small changes can make learning more visible and allow you to reinforce expectations around AI in the moment.


An example

Franco Rivera (fictional) teaches a large undergraduate course. Typically, Franco used class meetings to introduce concepts, followed by a take-home assignment. When he noticed students using AI to bypass the thinking required for these assignments, he shifted his approach.

Now, before class, Franco’s students complete a short reading or a video, paired with a brief task to confirm understanding. These are graded as complete or incomplete. During class, students work in small groups on components of a larger assignment. As Franco circulates, he identifies patterns, clarifies difficult concepts, and coaches students on competencies such as problem-solving and peer feedback. Because in-class work is required to submit the final assessment, the process becomes as important as the product.


Key principles and benefits of flipping aspects of your course

  • Prepare students before class. Use readings or short videos to introduce core ideas. You can even encourage students to use AI here to support their initial comprehension.
  • Use low-stakes tasks. Emphasize process over polish. Low-stakes work signals that preparation matters and reduces the incentive to cheat by removing the pressure to "ace" practice activities.
  • Make learning visible. When work happens in class, you can engage directly with a student's thinking.
  • Break down assessments. Instead of one major submission, use checkpoints. Assess some formatively (e.g., peer feedback or completion grades) while others weigh more heavily toward the final grade.

Overcoming challenges

As with most decisions in teaching, there are trade-offs to consider.

  • Varying preparation levels. Students who skip pre-work may struggle. Explain clearly why pre-work is essential to the in-class experience.
  • Planning time. Flipped activities take time to design. Start small by flipping just one or two complex topics per semester.
  • Student engagement. Debrief regularly. Ask for student feedback on how the flipped approach is working for their learning.

Evolving your teaching practice

These questions will help you think through ways that flipped learning might be a useful method in your course. They’re also useful questions to ask yourself and your students along the way — both to validate whether the flipped approach is working, and to identify refinements you can try in the coming weeks.

  • What pre-class work is necessary to enable students to participate in your in-class activities?
  • By moving concept delivery to pre-class work, what high-value activity can you now prioritize during class time?
  • Which areas of your course cause students the most struggle, and how could a flipped approach provide a solution?
  • How might flipping portions of this course change your role from a lecturer to a coach or advisor?
  • What cognitive capacities should students develop during the course, and how could you use class time toward this outcome? Likewise, what should students be able to *do* by the end of the course? What experiences or changes in attitude should be apparent? How could you use class time to help students develop these attributes?

Learn more: Additional resources

Bishop, J. L., & Verleger, M. A. (2013). The flipped classroom: A survey of the research. ASEE National Conference Proceedings. https://peer.asee.org/22585

Jensen, J. L., Kummer, T. A., & Godoy, P. D. (2017). Improvements from a flipped classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 14(1), ar5. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-08-0129

MIT Sloan Educational Technology. (n.d.). How to flip your classroom [Self-paced training]. https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/trainings/self-paced-training-how-to-flip-your-class/

Wiggins, G. & McTighe. J. (1998). What is backward design. In G. Wiggins and J. McTighe (Eds.). Understanding by design (pp. 7-19). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.