Abstract:

The flipped classroom model (FCM) presents many advantages with regard to the traditional model of master classes focused on the transfer of information from teacher to student: the students play a leading role in attendance sessions, increasing their motivation and satisfaction, active methodologies and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are naturally integrated into the learning process, and certain transverse competencies can be developed and evaluated in the classroom.

Motivated by these advantages, the authors have two years of experience on the FCM application in the context of Thermal Engineering at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). Under the framework of two projects financed by the Program for Promoting Teaching Innovation (PIIDUZ_16_032 and PIIDUZ_17_299), different methodologies and resources have been implemented for in-class and home activities. On the one hand, a combination of lecturer’s notes, educational videos and training questionnaires was implemented in the Moodle platform for home preparation of the subject. On the other hand, some of the attendance classes have been redesigned, reducing the theoretical explanations by the lecturer, enhancing students’ participation and practical learning.

Different FCM experiences have been carried out by the authors during the last two academic courses. With the end of evaluating the success of experiences, different application forms and questionnaires were designed and fulfilled by the lecturers and students. Mainly, they consist of observation cards to register the main events of each session, and polls to know the opinion of students and to quantify the degree of satisfaction.

The observations and results of these experiences in different subjects and academic levels are here analyzed and compared with respect to various criteria. In all cases, the reception from the students was very positive, but the influence on the learning process depends in large extent on the use that students make of the materials provided by the teacher. Some aspects to this respect are discussed in the paper.

Keywords:

Flipped classroom, engineering education, University innovation.