There is increasing pressure for Higher Education institutions to undergo transformation, with education being seen as needing to adapt in ways that meet the conceptual needs of our time. Reflecting this is the rise of the flipped or inverted classroom. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant research regarding the emergence of the flipped classroom and the links to pedagogy and educational outcomes, identifying any gaps in the literature which could inform future design and evaluation. The scoping review is underpinned by the five-stage framework Arksey and O'Malley. The results indicate that there is much indirect evidence emerging of improved academic performance and student and staff satisfaction with the flipped approach but a paucity of conclusive evidence that it contributes to building lifelong learning and other 21st Century skills in under-graduate education and post-graduate education.

The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review

Enhancing Student Engagement Using the Flipped Classroom

Context
There are inconsistent claims made about the effectiveness of the flipped classroom (FC) in medical education; however, the quality of the empirical evidence used to back up these claims is not evident. The aims of this review are to examine the scope and quality of studies on the FC teaching approach in medical education and to assess the effects of FCs on medical learning.

Methods
A literature search was conducted using the major electronic databases in 2016. Peer-reviewed papers were screened and reviewed according to explicit inclusion criteria. The scope and quality of all resultant studies were evaluated. Studies identified as using controlled designs were further synthesised to assess the effects of FCs on learning.

Results
A total of 118 articles were obtained. Full texts of 82 articles were reviewed. Nine of the included 46 articles used a controlled design when examining the effects of the FC. There were generally positive perceptions of the FC approach. However, the effects of FCs on changes in knowledge and skills were less conclusive as the effect sizes ranged from d = −0.27 to 1.21, with a median of 0.08. The varying direction and magnitude of the effect sizes, together with their 95% confidence interval, which contained zero, suggested the lack of strong evidence for the effectiveness of FCs in promoting knowledge acquisition above and beyond the traditional learning methods.

Conclusions
There has been a recent increase of research rigor and variety in measures of effectiveness in studies on the FC in medical education. The FC is a promising teaching approach to increase learners' motivation and engagement. More solid evidence on its effect on changes in knowledge and skills are warranted. Further studies should also examine the long-term effects of FCs with regard to knowledge retention and transfer of knowledge to professional practice and patient care.

A systematic review of the effectiveness of flipped classrooms in medical education

Flipped classrooms refer to the practice of assigning lectures outside of class and devoting class time to a variety of learning activities. In this review, we discuss the range of approaches to the flipped classroom and focus on activities frequently used in these settings. Amongst these, we examine both out-of-class activities (e.g., video lectures) and in-class activities (e.g., quizzes, student discussions). We argue that the value of these activities reflects the particular cognitive processes engaged by the activity regardless of whether the setting is the traditional (lecture-based) classroom or the flipped classroom. Future work should continue to examine the influence of individual activities on student learning and behaviors, particularly when objective measures of learning, such as quizzes and exams, are held constant.

Flipped Classrooms: A Review of Key Ideas and Recommendations for Practice.

This study examined the results of a flipped classroom trial conducted for Business 1112, an introductory business course at Mount Saint Vincent University in the fall semester of 2012. Dr. Findlay-Thompson taught three sections of Business 1112 and used the flipped classroom style for one of the three sections and the traditional lecture-style teaching methodology for the other two. Post-term interviews were conducted with the students in the flipped classroom to gather information on their views of the learning environment in a flipped classroom. As well, a comparison of the quantitative results of the grades between the three sections was used to compare the academic outcomes between the two teaching methodologies. Student views on the flipped classroom were mixed and the academic outcomes were identical between the three classrooms. These findings are discussed in terms of how the flipped classroom teaching methodology needs to be implemented properly and whether or not it is an effective way to engage students in the learning process.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2331035_code1332876.pdf?abstractid=2331035&mirid=4

Evaluation of a Flipped Classroom in an Undergraduate Business Course

Objective. To describe the redesign of a large self-care course previously delivered in a traditional lecture format to a small-group case-based course. Design. Prereadings and study guides were used to facilitate students’ independent learning prior to class. Large lecture classes were replaced with smaller group-based learning classes. This change in delivery format allowed students to spend the majority of class time conducting small-group learning activities, such as case studies to promote communication, problem solving, and interpersonal skills. Assessment. Changes in course delivery were assessed over a 2-year period by comparing students’ grades and satisfaction ratings on course evaluations. A comparison of course evaluations between the class formats revealed that students were provided more opportunities to develop verbal communication skills and tackle and resolve unfamiliar problems in the revised course. The activities resulted in better overall course grades. Conclusions. Redesigning to a small-group discussion format for a self-care course can be accomplished by increasing student accountability for acquiring factual content outside the classroom. Compared with student experiences in the previous large lecture-based class, students in the smaller-class format reported a preference for working in teams and achieved significantly better academic grades with the new course format.

Stefanie P. Ferreri

Papers

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT Redesign of a Large Lecture Course Into a Small-Group Learning Course