Fostering Self and Peer Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom through the Flipped Classroom Approach for Postgraduate Students

Aim/Purpose:
The flipped classroom approach is one of the most popular active learning approaches. This paper explores the effectiveness of a new pedagogy, known as
FOCUSED, for postgraduate students.

Background:
The flipped classroom approach is a trendy blended learning pedagogy which
capitalizes on the flexibility of online learning and the stimulating nature of
face-to-face discussion. This article describes a pilot study involving postgraduate students who experienced the flipped classroom approach in one of their courses.

Methodology: In additional to online activities, students adopted a newly learned approach to solve a related problem that was given by another group of students during classes. Quantitative data were collected from pre- and post-tests for both self-learned online materials and group discussion during classes so that the effectiveness of the flipped classroom pedagogy could be examined from the perspective of a holistic learning experience.

Findings: It was found that the average scores for the post-test for the self-learned online video were much higher than for pre-test, even though the post-tests for both online and face-to-face learning were higher than the respective pre-tests. The qualitative data collected at the end of the flipped classroom activities further confirmed the value of the flipped classroom approach. Even though students could self-learn, more students valued peer interactions in the classroom more than the flexibility of online learning.

Keywords blended learning, flipped classroom, online learning, peer interactions, postgraduate students