Over the past year, Professor Peter Sankoff has been conducting research on the "flipped classroom", an innovative pedagogical technique designed to make the best possible use of classroom time, and engage students in the process. Last March, he won a Teaching and Learning Educational Fund grant from the University of Alberta to study how this technique could be used in law school classrooms, following up on his use of "capsules" - short packaged video lessons delivered through the internet to students before class - developed for a course on Evidence in 2012. The goals of the flipped classroom are simple: provide students with a better platform for in-class learning; reduce lecture time in class to allow more space for other activities; and give students a resource they can access on multiple occasions, and on their own time.
But does it work? Professor Sankoff recently travelled to Ottawa to meet with Associate Professor Craig Forcese of the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law section - one of the small number of professors in a Canadian law faculty currently running a similar style of flipped classroom - to discuss this very question. They wanted to share their experiences and reasons for using the technique, and to accomplish that, they filmed a seminar held for faculty at the University of Ottawa. In this seminar, which runs around one hour, they discussed "How to Flip the Class Without a Flop", by answering questions from other professors, discussing the philosophy of the flipped classroom, and explaining why they think it works so well.
The seminar was moderated by Professor Ellen Zweibel, and took place on October 8, 2013 in Ottawa.
To watch the seminar, click here.