Enhancing student engagement of a first-year class through the flipped classroom approach
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Date
2020-06
Authors
Motaung, Hadio Rose
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
As the use of technology evolves, and we progress towards the 4th industrial revolution, tertiary institutions find themselves under pressure to meet global standards in the provision of education using innovative teaching and learning methods. The flipped classroom is a teaching and learning approach that uses technology to deliver academic content outside the classroom, and reserves in-class interaction for in-depth discussion of the course content. Teaching at a rural university has its challenges, and the need to be innovative and make use of technology threaten the level at which lecturers can apply creativity in their approaches to teaching. The purpose of this study was to explore lecturers’ perspectives of enhancing student engagement of a first-year class through the flipped classroom approach. The study adopted activity theory as a theoretical framework to understand the perspectives of participants regarding the phenomenon under investigation. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with three lecturers, who were purposively selected because they would provide rich data since they actually make use of the flipped classroom in their classes. Data collected from this research was analysed by using thematic analysis, during which data was interpreted and organised into themes. The findings indicate that the reasons for using the flipped classroom are to enhance the level at which students engage with the content of the module, and to use the given lecture time efficiently. Resources were found to play an important role in the flipped classroom, and usage varied according to lecturer preference. The nature of a learning environment that is conducive to a flipped classroom also played a key role in the effective delivery and facilitation of the flipped classroom. Indeed, a correlation was found between the flipped classroom and student engagement. Therefore, this study recommends that universities make it compulsory for lecturers to use various methods of teaching and learning, especially methods that use technology. Staff development programmes can assist lecturers to use various methods. Policies on teaching and learning methods should be reviewed, to accommodate compulsory use of innovative teaching methods. Students need to be trained well in advance before a new teaching and learning method is implemented, to avoid some of them falling behind with the work.
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Keywords
Dissertation (M.Ed. (Education Studies))--University of the Free State, 2020, Activity theory, Flipped classroom, Rurality, Innovative teaching and learning methods, Education, Rural -- Challenges