Is Flipped Approach a Panacea? A Systematic Review of Trends, Conceptions, and Practices of a Decade of Research

Abstract

Recently, the flipped learning approach has been widely endorsed as an effective active learning alternative that responds to some of today's educational challenges, such as learner engagement. Flipped learning is a movement coping with the global rise of hybrid and digital learning, not just a teaching model. Although this review covers studies published before the Covid-19 pandemic, the findings of this review were analyzed during the lockdown witnessing the escalation of digital approaches. This review systematically revealed patterns, trends, conceptions, and practices in research into the flipped approach in higher education published from (2010- 2019). It employed a descriptive analysis of 169 empirical studies in three highly indexed databases while focusing on authorship, subjective definitions, methods, theoretical frameworks, the role of media, and video in practice. Accordingly,  the review provides an exhaustive summary of studies capturing the evolution of the flipped approach not restricted to a specific subject area or a study group. The findings revealed that the disciplines of education and medicine led the flip research. While the faculty was almost silent, students were the prominent participants in the investigation. Most studies employed the mixed-method research design, while they didn't employ a theory to guide the research. Furthermore, this review recommends using enhanced classification frameworks to contextually define key concepts addressing the gap of a unified framework defining this tangled and rich approach. Finally, this review suggests a better understanding of the flipped approach focusing on its value more than its modality.