Abstract:

A large number of Higher Education students are becoming increasingly disengaged in their studies. This is a serious issue since the lack of interest could affect students' academic success and overall performance. A flipped learning approach, which encourages students to take an active role in their learning path, has recently attracted a lot of academic attention.

The exponential growth of new educational resources, as well as the most diverse pedagogical practices in distance learning, boosted by the, still recent, pandemic compulsory restrictions, have opened new horizons and standards in the educational field. This fast transformation has led to the development of the most diverse educational experiences, ranging from the e-Learning, b-Learning to a similar latest concept of hybrid learning.

An experience of using structured interactive learning materials as Open Educational Resources (OER), specially developed as part of an Erasmus+ Project, in a Portuguese Higher Education Institution (HEI) will be described in this paper. This was performed, using the well-known Flipped Classroom (FC) method, in some courses in the area of Mathematics, from the first year of several Higher Education degrees in the Management and Communication areas. Some of the contents and resources developed and used, will be exposed as well as the dynamics and methodology used for their development. An attempt will also be made to clarify the concepts underlying “online” supported teaching methodologies where, in this context, the FC may be framed.

The feedback from the teachers involved and from the enrolled students who participated in this experience was positive and encouraging. In a very summarized and, eventually, very reductive way, the main revelation was that the promotion of independent learning modules increases the sense of duty and allows students’ active participation in their learning process. However, it was felt that traditional didactic processes are still the majority in the current pedagogies offered by academics and it is expected that these will continue. The findings provide crucial information regarding priorities for the pedagogical design of the shared program materials. Differences in student expectations and abilities must be accommodated within an engaging paradigm.

Keywords:

Interactive Learning Materials, Higher Education, Online Learning, Distance Learning, Flipped Classroom, Research Projects.