Pre-class Activities

How can we engage learners with the lecture outside of class. The flipped classroom includes pre-class activities that engage learners with content before attending the face-to-face classroom. The type of pre-class work varies considerably and can range from targeted pre-reading activities to interactive online course components. The list below includes different types of pre-class actives that can support the flipped classroom.


Pre-class videos

A common element used in the flipped classroom are pre-class videos and screencasts that share the traditional lecture content with the learners. Videos are often created by instructors but can in other cases are Open-Educational resources that focus on in-class content.

There is a wide-variety of different video formats including short video lectures, annotated PowerPoint slides, animations, pencasts, pod casts and interactive quizzes.

DIY Screencasting Guide: This guide describes effective approaches to creating video to engage students with content outside of the classroom.


Targeted pre-reading activities

Learners complete targeted reading before attending the face-to-face class. This differs from traditional reading homework assignments in that the reading is typically specifically targeted to supporting in-class activities.

Pre-class Reading Assignments, Why they may be the most imporant homework for your students :Practical advice for using pre-class reading assignments in conjunction with a reading quiz, to allow students initial and early exposure to material and content to be discussed in greater depth (focusing on remaining problems) at future class sessions.


Other types of pre-class activities

  • Annotated screencasts
  • Student created content
  • Collaborative annotation
  • Animations
  • Podcasts
  • Open-educational resources
  • Web resources
  • Curated resouces
  • Pencasts