Abstract:

This paper presents the experience of flipping a postgraduate introductory marketing module from both the module leader’s and students’ perspective. In line with the majority of postgraduate marketing teaching across the UK, the class contained predominately international students (94% international, 6% UK/EU) who, in previous years, due to the differences in educational systems, have found difficulty in developing the required higher order learning skills, such as, application, analysis and synthesis which are necessary to pass the module. It was therefore decided to move from the more traditional ‘sage in the stage model’ of delivery to a ‘guide on the side’ approach (Gilboy, et al., 2015). The traditional dyadic lectures were replaced with two 15-20 minute videos each week which the students were required to watch and make notes from before attending the lecture session. During these lectures sessions, in line with previous research, a number of different active learning strategies were implemented, such as pair and share, small group discussion and answering individual questions using an online voting system (Roehl et al., 2013). These activities were designed to help the students to develop the required skills, such as, applying marketing theory and analysing companies’ current marketing strategies. More details on the specific activities used will be provided in the paper.

Feedback from the students in relation to their learning experience was predominately positive with typical comments of ‘helpful’, ‘effective’, ‘useful and interesting.’ Students also commented that this way of delivering the model also resulted in them ‘being more prepared for classes’ and ‘working harder’ than they were in other modules. The feedback also highlighted additional benefits for international students, such as, being able to watch the videos at their own pace and have multiple viewings to allow them to understand the language being used. The main areas for improvement were related to more technical issues, such as, the quality of the sound recording when viewed through the VLE and the length of some of the longer videos which will be addressed before the module runs again. From the module leader’s perspective flipping the classroom took a considerable amount of extra time to record the videos and to develop the active learning activities for each lecture. However, whilst some improvements will be made for next year significantly less time will be required. The lectures sessions were definitely livelier, interactive and there was increased student engagement than in previous years. Overall, both the students and module leader felt it had been a positive change and will therefore continue to develop the module using this method of delivery.

Keywords:

Flipped teaching, marketing, international students, postgraduate students.