Leigh Osofsky (North Carolina; Google Scholar), Flipping Classrooms in an In-Person World (JOTWELL) (reviewing Heather Field (UC-San Francisco; Google Scholar), How the Pandemic Flipped My Perspective on Flipping the Tax Law Classroom, 19 Pitt. Tax Rev. 267 (2022)):

In this illuminating article, Heather Field describes her adoption of a flipped classroom model for teaching tax law during the pandemic. Like many, Field learned lessons from her pandemic teaching that will continue to be instructive now that we are (hopefully) back to an in-person teaching world. Field’s thoughtful article is well worth a read for those (like me!) wanting to do more with flipped classroom teaching. …

Field’s flipping of classes involved providing students before-class mini-lecturettes, which gave students an overview and explanation of the material. Class time was then spent going through problems, potentially with polls and additional bonus problems added in to the class to better gauge student understanding. Overall, her experience was a positive one. Students appreciated the opportunity to review the content at their own pace and potentially revisit it, students had more time in class to work on problems, Field was better able to direct students to the important parts of the course, weaker students were able to participate more fully in the class, Field could cover more difficult material much more efficiently, and Field had the opportunity to think more carefully though all her explanations of the course material. …

Field’s article is a useful and inspirational synopsis of how she made the switch to flipped classrooms during the pandemic. I really appreciate Field sharing her process and journey. I believe that many professors will find the article useful as they continue to grow in their teaching practices.