Abstract:

A student-centered model in the teaching/learning environment shifts the focus of activity from the teacher to the learner. This method includes active learning where students from the beginning take full responsibility of their learning , cooperative learning where students come to class with more willingness to collaborate in pair or group work, and inductive teaching and learning where students are confronted with challenges rather than teacher ready-made explanations. The benefits of this method are numerous. The learner-centered model has repeatedly been proven to be more effective to the traditional teacher-centered approach to instruction. This is evident in a variety of learning outcomes such as long-term retention, depth of understanding of course material, and acquisition of critical thinking skills.

One such student-centered model is the reversed or flipped classroom which has recently been acknowledged as a reliable alternative to the traditional classroom setting, the standard practice of teacher/student face-to-face encounter. Students, through this learning strategy, often demonstrate a better tendency for learning since it allows them to become more engaged in the learning process in which they depend on their individual efforts and, thus, more predisposed to autonomous learning, the most important pillar in the teaching/learning process. This occurs when students gain their initial exposure to new material prior to class encounter. Students are given a short video to view, a documentary, or a reading assignment before class, and class time is, therefore, devoted to hand-on activities, exercises, workshops where the teacher acts basically as a facilitator/mentor. This kind of prior-to-class exposure can be more conducive to learning since students develop lower levels of cognitive work outside of class and reserve class time to higher order cognitive development, manifested in synthesizing, evaluating and analyzing.

In this study, the presenters will introduce the importance of occasionally flipping classes in an attempt to provide a reliable alternative to the traditional teaching/learning approach. The purpose is to reinforce active learning where the roles of teachers and students change focusing on higher order thinking skills.

In this session, the presenters will share with the audience the significance of reversed classrooms, their merits and demerits, and their possible implementation and implication for teaching and learning. The results of the questionnaire conducted on students will also be shared with the audience to reflect the validity of these implications.

Keywords:

Active learning, teaching, reversed, higher order thinking skills, merits, demerits, questionnaire.