Student Perspectives on Flipped Classrooms in Engineering Education

Many have presented evidence that improved learning can be achieved by active learning [1,2]. This is currently inducing a major change in teaching and learning. Teachers experiment with incorporating elements of active learning in their teaching, or changing their teaching method radically. However, active learning is a complex concept. How do students perceive these changes? What helps students to develop active learning? Is it enough that teachers adopt a new teaching method, e.g. flipped classroom?

Since some years, teachers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology are experimenting with flipping their classrooms. This process began with experiments with Peer Instruction [3,4]. Students expressed that understanding the textbook was the main obstacle. In the flipped classrooms today, interactive web lectures on the platform Scalable Learning (www.scalable-learning.com) are used to help students prepare for the in-class activities, where lectures have been replaced with interactive teaching based on clickers. A growing number of teachers are interested in flipping their classrooms. On a specific study programme at KTH, almost all courses in the first two years of study now contain flipped teaching. The courses cover many different subjects, e.g. mathematics, mechanics and physics.

We believe that a deep understanding of how students experience this new way of teaching and learning is necessary in order to (1) design learning activities that really lead to active learning, and (2) help students develop their ability to learn actively, by challenging and developing their beliefs about learning.

The present study focuses the student perspective. We investigate how students have perceived flipped classroom in a number of courses at KTH, and what advantages, drawbacks, strengths or difficulties they experience with the method. Some students have experience of many different implementations of flipped classrooms. Data was collected in focus group interviews with students and analysed by inductive content analysis.

Our results show that some students find it hard to develop active learning, even in a flipped classroom setting. Preliminary analyses indicate that this may be due to students’ underlying beliefs regarding teaching and learning, or factors promoting surface approaches to learning, e.g. a heavy work load or focus on examination.

We believe that a better understanding of the student perspective will help teachers design a better learning environment, where more students can develop active learning.

[1] L. Deslauriers, E. Schelew, & C. Wieman, Improved learning in a large-enrollment Physics class. Science, 332, 862-864, 2011. [2] S. Freeman, S. L. Eddy, M. McDonough, M. K. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, & M. P. Wenderoth, Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering and mathematics. PNAS, 111(23), 8410-8415, 2014. [3] E. Mazur, Peer instruction: a user’s manual, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1997. [4] M. Cronhjort, L. Filipsson, & M. Weurlander, Can peer instruction in calculus improve student learning?, Proceedings of the 9th International CDIO Conference; Boston, 2013.

Proceedings of the 12th International CDIO Conference, Turku, Finland, June 12-16 2016