How to Flip Your Classroom With Immersify: Embracing Flipped Education in 5 Simple Steps

The benefits of flipped classrooms—in terms of learning outcomes, teaching experiences, and demonstrating program value—are enormous. 

But recognizing the advantages of a teaching approach doesn’t necessarily make it easy to implement. That’s especially true of the flipped classroom: its emphasis on pre-work and lower reliance on lectures can sometimes feel more like a theoretical concept than a practical teaching strategy.  

That’s where Immersify comes in.  

When you've got access to smartphone-based learning activities that come pre-aligned to your existing programs, flipping the classroom quickly moves from a strong principle to a frictionless practice. 

In this short guide, we’ll talk you through how Immersify allows educators to embrace a learning culture built around pre-learning and higher-order teaching. Read on for: 

• A quick refresher on flipped classrooms (also known as the reverse classroom model) and their importance in healthcare education 

• A five-step process covering how to implement a flipped classroom with Immersify 

• Practical examples of how flipped education can look across disciplines 

What Does It Mean to Flip the Classroom? 

According to the Academy of Active Learning Arts and Sciences (an educational body that champions flipped learning, also known as AALAS), the flipped classroom model can be summarized as follows: 

There are plenty of ways educators can use classroom time once they’re free of the need to introduce key information, and the AALAS’ 'active’, ‘practical’ applications are a great place to start. Hands-on learning is hugely important in disciplines like nursing and dentistry, and the model is a great way to ensure students experience those practical elements of healthcare programs more often.  

Classroom time can equally be spent in: 

• Discussion 

• Group learning 

• Targeting specific areas that students may be struggling to grasp 

These are all productive uses of classroom time. In fact, Harvard’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning points out that this expanded set of in-class possibilities is the most important part of flipped learning. But it also notes that, in the eyes of some educators, the difficulty lies in making or finding the pre-class resources that make a flipped education work. There’s inevitably going to be hesitancy here among educators faced with the huge task of adapting years of already adequate resources to suit this new approach.  

Immersify resolves this problem by creating, supplying, and aligning those learning resources for you. Below, we’ll take you through the five Immersify-supported steps to fully flipped learning, allowing you to take full advantage of the benefits without the need to create a new suite of learning activities. 

DISCOVER THE DATA-BACKED ADVANTAGES OF REVERSE CLASSROOMS | ‘5 Benefits of Flipped Classrooms for Universities and Colleges’ 

Flip the Classroom in 5 Steps 

With Immersify’s support, embracing a reverse classroom model (as flipped education is sometimes known) becomes a simple process. We’ve broken it into five stages (and, since Immersify does the heavy lifting, the first two are taken care of for you!). 

Step 1) Curriculum Review 

Once your institution is signed up with Immersify, flipping the classroom begins with your existing curriculum.  

There’s no work required on your part here: it’s just a question of sending your syllabi or module outlines across, and we’ll take it from there. 

Step 2) Content Mapping 

After we’ve received your curricular details, our team of clinicians identify which of Immersify’s digital activities correspond to each class. 

These activities (spanning AR experiences, simulated scenarios, lessons, quizzes, and so on) have been created by expert educators and clinicians and produced by specialist developers and 3D artists.  

There’s no material to be created from scratch: it’s just a question of mapping it to program structures that already exist within our quality assured platform.  

Step 3) QR Code Distribution 

With the mapping process complete, you’ll receive a tailored document in which your planned lessons are matched to Immersify’s learning activities.  

This mapping document also contains QR codes linked to each activity, which you can send to students via email, lecture slides, or printouts.  

From an educator’s perspective, that’s as technical as it needs to get: the platform is accessed through students’ smartphones, so integrating Immersify is as simple as distributing those QR codes. 

Step 4) Students Complete Pre-Work 

With Immersify’s content matched to each lesson and QR codes on hand to guide students straight to it, you need only share the relevant code ahead of class to get your flipped classroom underway. 

Your students will now be equipped with the fundamentals of each class, delivered through a multimodal mix of lessons, quizzes, and simulations. 

And, crucially, all of this takes place before they step into the classroom: a keystone of the reverse classroom model.  

Step 5) Class Time Shifts to Higher-Order Learning 

With that early exposure in place, educators have the option to shift their focus away from delivering information and toward a variety of higher-order teaching approaches. 

They might focus on clinical judgment, group discussions, edge cases, or specific areas that students find challenging (especially with the support of Immersify’s analytics capabilities, which make it easy to identify those areas). 

This allows educators to harness the proven benefits of a flipped education and enjoy a more fulfilling mode of teaching that extends more readily beyond repeated lectures. 

HERE’S HOW FLIPPED EDUCATION OFFERS AN INSTITUTIONAL EDGE | ‘Education Leaders: Why the Flipped Classroom Model Is a High-Impact Teaching Strategy for Value-Focused Institutions’ 

How Immersify-Backed Flipped Learning Looks in Action 

Pre-Class Urethral Catheterization Activities 

Let’s imagine that you’re planning a class introducing students to urinary catheterization. Traditionally, much of this session might focus on introducing the key equipment and explaining the procedure step by step. There's no question that this information is essential, but delivering it during class time isn’t always the most efficient use of valuable face-to-face teaching.  

By shifting that foundational learning (such as equipment identification, procedural stages, and related principles like infection prevention and hand hygiene) to pre-class materials, you can dedicate in-person sessions to hands-on practice, discussion, and skill refinement, maximizing both engagement and learning outcomes. 

And, with Immersify, that shift is effortless. You’ll be supplied with a QR code that links to our expert-authored resources on urethral catheterization, including lessons on male and female catheterization equipment and an interactive ‘spotter’ exercise that tests students’ ability to recognize each item.  

Having assigned this work, you’ll now have a class with a good working knowledge of the core equipment and key step involved. In turn, that gives you the option to redirect your teaching toward any number of more nuanced considerations, such as: 

• Clinical reasoning (when should you avoid catheterization?) 

• Technique variation (how do different patient demographics, like sex or age, impact approaches?) 

• Communication and dignity (how do you articulate the procedure without prompting anxiety?)  

In short: by flipping your classroom with Immersify’s resources, you’ll be able to offer a richer education experience (for you and your students) while ensuring those core instruction hours reflect the benefits of your expertise.  

SEE IMMERSIFY’S PRE-LEARNING RESOURCES IN ACTION | ‘Simulation Spotlight: A Dental Charting and Examination Procedures Q&A’ 

Flipped Learning and Immersify: The Key Takeaway 

With Immersify by your side, flipping your classroom becomes the natural way to deliver key information: 

• Immersify sends QR codes linked to resources supporting core subject areas 

• You distribute these engaging, multimodal activities prior to class 

• Students arrive equipped with core knowledge, freeing your time and unlocking your expertise for higher-order teaching, thinking, and learning 

Invert Your Instruction With Immersify 

When your pre-work is pre-made and pre-mapped, flipping your classroom couldn’t be simpler. Get in touch with our team of experts to discuss how Immersify can help you unlock a more satisfying, value-led, and multidimensional teaching experience. 

This article was reviewed for clinical accuracy and educational relevance by Hilary Gupte (BSc, PGCE), a registered nurse and experienced clinical educator.