TO FLIP OR NOT TO FLIP? EXPLORING THE BEST MIX: AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY REGARDING TEACHING PEDAGOGY FOR A POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH METHODS MODULE

Flipped classroom pedagogy has become popular in several different disciplines. Key advantages being the increased level of lecturer and student interaction, which can have a positive impact on students’ motivation, engagement and performance. However, there is limited evidence regarding such impact within business and management education. In order to explore best practice regarding the implementation of this pedagogy; action research was adopted to evaluate students’ motivation, engagement, satisfaction and performance in a postgraduate research methods module, focusing on different cohorts (2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17). The flipped classroom approach was delivered in 2016-17 using Socrative quizzes reinforced by in-class activities and support via Whatsapp, Viber, PowerPoint with narrations, Youtube / TED videos and online reading materials (before and after the classes). This was compared to the 2015-16 cohort when a blended teaching approach was adopted and the 2014-15 cohort when a more traditional teaching style was used.

Many challenges were acknowledged when the flipped approach was adopted. Compared to results in 2014-15: students’ motivation, engagement, satisfaction and performance were improved significantly when a more blended teaching strategy (2015-16) was used. However, there were no significant differences between this blended teaching approach (2015-16) and the flipped classroom approach (2016-17) in terms of students’ motivation, engagement and performance; according to the feedback from questionnaires, focus groups and their performance results. Although students’ satisfaction of the module was improved in 2016-17. Moreover, influencing factors of an effective use of flipped classroom were identified and evaluated according to the students’ perceptions and performance. Additionally, this research developed an evidence-based conceptual framework to help educators to design curriculum with rigorous evidence-based teaching strategies.