Assessment of perception and utility regarding flip classroom among MBBS students: A descriptive study

S Muhammad S Khan; Sabira A Dkhar; Ruqia Quansar

doi:10.4103/JIMPH.JIMPH_14_23

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2023 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 1 | Page : 32-36

Assessment of perception and utility regarding flip classroom among MBBS students: A descriptive study

S Muhammad S Khan, Sabira A Dkhar, Ruqia Quansar
Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Date of Submission	20-Jul-2023
Date of Acceptance	31-Jul-2023
Date of Web Publication	21-Aug-2023

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Ruqia Quansar
Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

DOI: 10.4103/JIMPH.JIMPH_14_23

Abstract

Purpose: A flipped classroom is a type of blended learning technique. In modern times, the teaching techniques need to be improved and changed. The aim of the study was to assess the perception of students with regard to flipped classroom. Materials and Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study design. A total of 152 students participated in this study. Results: After watching the video and before the actual interaction, about 84.2% felt confident. About 56.6% of respondents thought flipped classrooms were superior to traditional classroom instruction. The flexibility of the “flipped classroom,” according to 44.1% of respondents, makes it the most useful feature. The aspect of flipped learning that 43.4% of students liked the most was learning about new ideas before class. A total of 98.2% thought they needed to be more accountable for their education. Conclusion: Although the flip classroom cannot completely replace the traditional classroom but when used in conjunction, it can help students learn more effectively. It has paved the path for improvements to teaching techniques and unquestionably produced a better manner of instruction.

Keywords: Competency-based medical education curriculum, flip classroom, medical education, motivation, traditional classroom

How to cite this article:
Khan S M, Dkhar SA, Quansar R. Assessment of perception and utility regarding flip classroom among MBBS students: A descriptive study. J Integr Med Public Health 2023;2:32-6

How to cite this URL:
Khan S M, Dkhar SA, Quansar R. Assessment of perception and utility regarding flip classroom among MBBS students: A descriptive study. J Integr Med Public Health [serial online] 2023 [cited 2023 Sep 21];2:32-6. Available from: http://www.jimph.org/text.asp?2023/2/1/32/384120

Introduction

A flipped classroom (FC) is a type of instructional strategy and blended learning where students are introduced to subject from home and experience working through it in class in an FC, a type of blended learning technique. The FC is a teaching method that shifts the majority of teacher-centered education outside of the classroom to make more time for student-centered learning activities inside the classroom.^[1],[2] There has been a paradigm change in education toward active, flexible, and student-centered teaching methods that lessen the drawbacks of conventional transmittal models of education.^[3] Contrary to the traditional classroom approach, flipped learning allows students to learn at their own pace and improves communication skills through interactive lessons. The most important benefit of FC is that students learn and retain more for a longer term as there is more ownership over their learning process.

Using instructional strategies that incorporate competency-based medical education (CBME) into teaching methods, this focuses more on how medical graduates develop professionally, as communicators and as clinicians. Every medical graduate must be capable of handling the domains employing knowledge, skill, and attitude.

CBME emphasizes more personalized, student-centric passive learning alongside some active learning or teacher-centric learning. CBME can be provided by using many strategies, including the “flipped classroom.”^[4] However, as the traditional method of teaching where the students rely or depend more on the teacher for the gain of knowledge, it becomes a more tedious work for the teacher and a more relaxed state for a student who makes very less attempts/efforts in understanding the subject. This makes the whole process sluggish and with very little gain and understanding.

Aim

In this effort, we have tried to understand how the students in our institutions perceive when the role is reversed and the teaching method goes from traditional passive teaching to more active learning and whether the students will be able to cope and gain from the new CBME.^[5]

Objective

To assess the perception of students with regard to FC

To assess the utility of FC

Materials and Methods

Ethical statement

The study was approved by the institutional review board, and the approval number is GMC-ETH-89.

Study design

The study has a descriptive cross-sectional study design.

Study tool

The study data collected was done using an online questionnaire, which was pretested in a pilot study on 30 medical students, and necessary changes in language, style, and response were done following the pretest and then later was done through Google Forms.

Study questionnaire

The questionnaire had four parts that are as follows:

Student’s perception of presession instructions/preparation

Student’s perception towards active learning and engagement

Perception towards student-teacher interaction

Utility of FC

Selection study subjects

Medical students belonging to the batch where the concept of Flip classroom was introduced as a part of curriculum and after introduction perception and utility of FC was assessed.

Study population

Study population is the medical students of prefinal year MBBS of Government Medical College, Srinagar.

Sampling technique

It was a purposive sampling done in the study.

Statistical test

All analysis was done in Excel for descriptive results.

Result

A total of 152 students participated in this study, and we found that prereading materials (e-lecture/others) were available on e-learning portal before the FC activity in 69.1% of the students. Around 38.2% watch the videos on time before face-to-face lecture and discussion. About 84.2% were confident after watching the video and before the actual interaction [Table 1]. Majority of about 56.6% found FC better than traditional classroom teaching [Table 4]. A total of 44.1% found that the most helpful part of the “flipped classroom” was that you can rewatch the videos at any time. It was seen that 43.4% of students liked the most about FC were getting an idea of a new concept before coming to class. About 98.2% felt that they had to take more responsibility for their learning

Table 1: Student’s perception of presession instructions/preparation

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Table 4: Utility of flipped classroom

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Discussion

We outline the application and assessment of a flipped learning paradigm in a program for aspiring doctors. The FC allows the students the opportunity to study the material outside of class.

Due to the wide range of subjects covered in the curriculum, medical education requires many pedagogical methods. The use of technology in the form of films, case studies, conversations, and other activities does aid in learning. Innovative teaching strategies like the FC are promoted because they promote participatory learning. The present generation of medical students is made up of millennials, and they approach learning very differently from previous generations. They are more accustomed to using technology and are eager to participate in the educational process.^[6]

The FC was started as a concept in new curriculum and study material in the form of video, and presentation was shared via WhatsApp and YouTube to the students before the actual class interaction.

About 67.7% of students responded that they have gone through prereading material before coming to actual class [Table 1]. This helped them to have a better idea of the subject to be taught, and if they will have confusion or did not have understood anything, the actual class interaction will help that. Similar findings were found in a study conducted by Chowdhury et al.^[6]

Approximately 46.1% of students reported that they somewhat feel confident after watching the video and before the actual class, 38.2% of students felt most of the times confident, 11.2% of students felt rarely confident, 3.8% felt always confident, and 0.7% never felt confident [Table 2]. A study by Gong et al.^[7] reported that students felt more prepared for the actual classroom teaching after watching flip-classroom videos. Watching of videos before actual interaction with the teacher in the classroom gives the students a better chance of active learning, and this increases their interest. Many studies have shown that flip classrooms have proven effective to increase active learning among students and they become more active and participate more in the classroom activities.^[8],[9],[10] About 69.7% of students reported that they felt somewhat confident after water the videos and attending the actual class.

Table 2: Student’s perception towards active learning and engagement

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Almost 42.7% of students responded that they want videos to be for a shorter time and not more than 10 min, 40.9% of students responded that no questions should be asked in flip classroom, 4.2% of students wanted no groups to be made during flip classroom, and 13.4% students wanted nothing to be changed [Table 2]. The students reported that the shorter the videos, the better to grasp them, and once the time is increased, the videos become monotonous and boring and the students lose interest in the videos.^[6]

Students when asked about how to support them during flip classroom, 33.6% of students reported that nothing needs to be changed, whereas 53.3% of students wanted videos to be more interesting and 5.6% wanted more detailed videos.

Approximately 75.7% of students reported that the teaching was able to engage them during the flip classroom teaching [Table 3]. The flip classroom teaching gives the teacher a better chance to interact with the students. The flip classroom gives a student chance to ask questions in the actual face-to-face teaching and, thus, to prepare and listen to the teacher during the flip classroom. The flip classroom teaching makes a student more curious about the subject and they listen more carefully.^{[11],[12],[13],[14]}

Table 3: Perception toward student-teacher interaction

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About 73.7% of students agreed that the teacher was able to provide help to them for more difficult concepts during flip classroom. The student was able to understand certain difficult topics during flip classroom and more clarification was provided during the actual class [Table 3]. The flip classroom provided the students with the opportunity to take notes of difficult concepts during flip classroom and to ask more questions related to it to the teacher in face-to-face teaching.^{[3],[15],[16],[17]}

Around 56.6% of students reported that flip classrooms are better than traditional classroom concept [Table 4]. The flip classrooms provided the students with the better engagement, more motivation, and active learning. The students felt that they have the ability to learn on their own and use different modalities and different ways to learn. The flip classrooms when combined with the traditional classrooms even showed better academic performance by the students.^{[2],[9],[16],[18],[19],[20],[21],[22]}

About 44.1% of students reported that the flip classrooms are better as they can be rewatched again and again without any limitation of time and place and whenever and wherever they are. A total of 13.8% of students reported that the flip classrooms gave them the opportunity to learn at their own pace and even if they forget anything, they can revise at their own convenience [Table 4]. The flip classroom have the additional benefit of being watched again and again and take notes at the pace of the student and even learn at their pace. The traditional classroom does not have this advantage. In the modern tech times, the use of technology can be a boon in terms of learning and that too at the convenience of the student without any hesitation.^{[2],[12],[19],[23],[24]}

Almost 92.8% of students reported that they should be more responsible for their learning [Table 4]. A study conducted by Dong et al.^[25] found similar results.

Flip classroom cannot replace the traditional classroom but can increase the learning abilities of the students when used in combination. The flip classroom has paved way to advances in teaching methods and has definitely created an improved way of teaching. The students have the advantage to learn at their own pace and at their own convenience, which can lead to better academic performances.^{[26],[27],[28]} The flip classroom needs to be designed to adhere adult learning modules.

Conclusion

It was seen that students felt there was a higher utility of FC and preferred it more than traditional classroom teaching.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank each and every student was took time to fill in the forms and become a part of this study.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization: SMSK and SAD. Data Curation: SAD and RQ. Formal analysis: SAD and RQ. Methodology: SMSK and SAD. Writing Original Draft: SAD and RQ. Writing—review and editing: SMSK, SAD, and RQ.

Ethical statement

The study was approved by the institutional review board, and the approval number is GMC-ETH-89.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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