This paper shares the results of a study undertaken by the Diploma in Chemical Engineering (DCHE) to evaluate the effectiveness of flipped classroom implemented in a Year 3 core module entitled Plant Safety and Loss Prevention for the past 2 years. The study concerned the redesign of the module using an evidence-based teaching approach supported by extensive use of info-communication technology (ICT) tools.
The paper consists broadly of 3 sections. The first section firstly provide a brief but concise literature review of the flipped (also known as inverted) classroom approach. Being a relatively new approach to teaching and learning, flipped classroom had garnered strong followers in many disciplines from medical to mathematics to engineering to business, and yet at the same time raised doubts over its viability and long-term effectiveness. Given the conflicting findings to-date, this paper strives to provide a balanced view of the relative merits of the approach, as well as challenges faced from both the perspective of faculty and students. This concludes with a summary of calls by various authors for a more comprehensive study of flipped classroom.
Section two of the paper then shares the approach taken by the authors who had collaborated to design a comprehensive blended learning research to qualitatively assess the effectiveness of flipped classroom as applied in the context of the above said module. The first author is the subject-matter expert in the field of chemical process safety while the second author is the educational advisor and specialises in the way humans learn. This paper builds of the curriculum re-design effort presented by the authors in previous CDIO conferences. The pedagogy for evidence-based teaching using the flipped classroom is presented in a separate paper for this conference. In this paper, we share a heuristic developed by the second author of an evidence-based framework for evaluating teaching and learning experiences, with a view to unpacking the components of the experience and identifying which features have significantly impacted student learning (e.g. positively, negatively or other), and on what basis. These include learning events (e.g. a lesson, workshop session) that has been conducted, or in predicting the likely outcomes for a planned future event. The research lasted 6 weeks, implemented from mid-April till end-May 2016. It is worth noting that flipped classroom was implemented for the entire duration of the module, which is 15 weeks. Students are selected to take part in the research as co-participants, providing feedback on their learning experience. The first author who conducted the lessons, regularly reflected on his teaching practices, and often made improvements to his teaching materials within days upon the conclusion of each lesson.
The last section of the paper shares the findings from this study, and limitations of current work. It concludes with our frame on the state of flipped classroom and our plans to move forward in this exciting new educational approach.
Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference in Calgary, Canada, June 18-22 2017