Practitioners recommend that instructors keep videos brief and simple (as short as 3-5 minutes) to help students focus and to make it easier for students to find what they need to review. 

Informing students in advance of technology requirements for participating in the course can help them to be active participants.   

Students can benefit from frequent communication about the nature and procedures for a flipped course as well as your expectations about how they should engage.  Student “buy in” to the flipped model can be encouraged by actively involving them in a discussion about how the flipped model works and why it can improve their learning. 

Consider asking your students to help create a list of expectations for the active-learning class activities: what do they expect to get out of the course?  What can they do to enhance their own learning?

Requiring students to take simple quizzes or other assessments before online class meetings not only helps to ensure that students prepare carefully but also can serve as a useful starting point for conversations about course content. 

Students taking a course online may not be able to access non-verbal cues during an in-class lecture, which may create awkward silences.  Professor Vigmostad recommends frequent checks for understanding either verbally or through the chat feature.  

Scholars have found that online instructors are most effective when they have characteristics suggested by the acronym “VOCAL.”  Effective online instructors are Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical, and a Leader-by-example.  (These qualities also work well in traditional classrooms.)

It is helpful to provide ongoing support for students for both the technology and the flipped model of instruction. Professor Vigmostad’s Statics class benefits from dedicated technology support logged into all online classes at the university.  This way the instructor will not spend valuable class time troubleshooting problems.