Introduction to the Spring 2014 ConfChem on the Flipped Classroom

Students' active engagement is one of the most critical challenges to any successful learning environment. The blending of active engagement along with rich, meaningful content is necessary for chemical educators to re-examine the purpose of the chemistry classroom. The Spring 2014 ConfChem conference, Flipped Classroom, was held from May 9 to June 12, 2014, and contained 8 papers and a poster session discussing a variety of ways to engage students within a flipped learning approach to the classroom. This communication introduces the conference, suggests that the flipped classroom is a growing trend, and invites readers to engage in further discussions on how technology can be leveraged to transform the face-to-face practice with our students.