Indian School of Business increases ‘Flipped Classroom’ use: MBA News

This year, the Indian School of Business (ISB) will increase its use of the ‘flipped classroom’ teaching methodology, an approach that uses online or video technology to supplement its course structure and encourage active learning. Following its successful implementation on an entrepreneurial decision-making course last year, the school now plans to extend its use from October.

The flipped classroom method was born in the USA as a response to suggestions that traditional teaching methods may not have been the best way to ensure impactful learning. What it does, in essence, is to take advantage of technology to both ease the pressure and facilitate that which takes place in class.

For example, MBA programs using this model can allow students to listen to lectures online, thereby saving classroom time for collaborative learning.  In its first year of use at the Indian School of Business, approximately 200 students saw the flipped classroom in action when product concepts to be discussed on their entrepreneurial course were webcast in advance of class.

ISB was one the first Indian business schools to experiment with the ‘flipped classroom’ approach. However, the signs are that a trend could well be developing. For instance, another leading school, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), has also begun to take advantage of flipped classroom technology on one of its executive MBA courses.

Amongst US business schools, faculties from Tuck School of Business, Columbia Business School and NYU Stern School of Business are all known to have experimented with the model since its initial appearance in American high schools just a few years ago.

“The flipped classroom model of teaching is beginning to take shape globally as well as in India," said Arun Pereira, Executive Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Case Development at ISB, in an interview with the Economic Times.