International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-11, Nov- 2019] https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.611.61 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O) www.ijaers.com Page | 390 Who was teaching whom? : flipping higher education Edite Orange 1 , Paula Quadros-Flores 2 , Patricia Ferreira 3 1,3 Porto Polytechnic Institute School of Education, Porto, Portugal 2 Porto Polytechnic Institute School of Education and Centre for Research and Innovation in Education, Porto, Portugal Abstract— The focus on increasingly student-centered methodological approaches is a current concern of all of those involved in educational contexts as they face the challenges of the 21st century. The present study, supported by the “Made by them to them: the students in the learning process” approach [1] and integrated within the scope of the IFITIC project (Innovate in Initial Training with ICT), focuses particularly on Higher Education and presents a reflection on the use of active methodologies in the didactic framing of languages and cultures at the undergraduate level. Starting from the concept of “Made by them to them” in higher education (idem), we turn ed our attention to the curricular area of foreign languages and cultures having conducted a case study for this purpose. The students implemented strategies consistent with the concept, and data collection focused on reflections and field notes written by the Curricular Unit Teacher who accompanied the entire training process. Also, the analysis of contents and results was based on the categories of that same approach. It was concluded that in this specific context, “Made by them to them” promotes a way of learning to learn that drives the students to discover themselves and the world: not only individually in an informal context, but also collaboratively in a formal context where they integrate and share knowledge and skills in a more natural manner, meeting an innovative, enriching and meaningful teaching and learning experience. In this framework of active methodologies, teaching practice is enriched and students are prepared for the real work context, for their journey as individuals and citizens of the 21st century. Keywords— Pedagogical innovation; 21st Century skills, active methodologies, flipped classroom. I. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The information era has thrown humanity into a new paradigm whose digitization, dematerialization, and connection have expanded storage and communication capabilities, overcoming spatial and temporal boundaries, favoring global integration and, consequently, the transformation of personal, professional and social aspects of our lives. This framework implies changes in society in general and in education in particular, as stated by: changes in qualification, training, skills and knowledge, ethical attitudes and behaviors, relationships, organization and evaluation, in the curriculum, in all aspects of the educational phenomenon [2]. Therefore, there is a need to recreate the teaching-learning process by finding new active approaches that respond to students' interests and the challenges of a society increasingly organized around complex digital networks, as the misalignment of these vectors is a generating factor of demotivation among students [3, 4, 5, 6, 7.] Active methods underlie the notion that all activity exercised in this context fosters the construction of knowledge as a process, not linking it exclusively to the moment of discovery, of the final product. Thus, the student actively participates in the preparation of tasks and in the elaboration of knowledge, placing the emphasis, simultaneously, on their reflective and acting capacity. Seeking to make this idea cometo life in this study, we met the guiding principles of active methods as identified by Douglas Barnes [8), by creating relevant tasks for students, promoting opportunities for reflection and negotiation throughout the process, so that they could carry out tasks critically with relevance and connection to their day to day, to their professional future, responding to specific needs and questions of foreign languages and cultures, in an atmosphere of motivation, autonomy and commitment to individual learning and peer learning. Studies such as "It's Not About Seat Time: Blending, Flipping, and Efficiency in Active Learning Classrooms" by Baepler, Walker, and Driessen [9], show us that active methodologies reduce the focus on the teacher within the classroom, increasing student autonomy and providing results as good or even better than those achieved in “traditional classes”. These authors also report that the