I highly recommend an orientation of some sort for both parents and students if you plan to flip your class. Parents need to know that their child will be required to use technology, they need to know that the student might struggle in the beginning because how they learn will be changing, and they need to know about your LMS, among other things. I typed up a "flyer" that I passed out during freshmen orientation. I discussed it with all the parents and students that attended the orientation. I also passed it out at the beginning of the school year and went through the document again with all the students. I took time to answer their questions and tried to make them comfortable with what we were about to undertake. The "flyer" had information on what flipped learning is, why I wanted to use it, how it would change the dynamics of the classroom, and a section about Edmodo, which is what I used for my LMS.
Within the first few days of school, I took some time to orient students with Edmodo. I gave them the "assignment" of getting their usernames and passwords set up. Then, in class, I went through the various capabilities and features of Edmodo. I actually wish I had spent more time with orientation of Edmodo and flipped learning. Students did fine getting started with only a few setbacks, but I think we could have had an even smoother transition with a more formal orientation.
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