Student Adaptation to the Modular Use of the Flipped Classroom in an Introductory Biomedical Engineering Course

The Flipped Classroom model moves direct instruction outside of the classroom, allowing more time for student-centered in-class activities. Guides to Flipping the Classroom suggest investing time at the start of the course to promote the Flipped Classroom model to students. However, this may not be the best use of time if the instructor only plans to use the Flipped Classroom model to teach a small portion of the class. Reasons for not flipping the entire course include deciding that only portions of the course would benefit from the Flipped Classroom model, or perhaps as a pre-cursor to flipping the entire course in subsequent offerings. Students in an Introductory Biomedical Engineering course were taught using the Flipped Classroom model only for the Biotransport module (2 class periods out of 19 for the term) in the middle of the semester. Aside from instructions to watch screencasts of lecture material and complete online quizzes before class, the Flipped Classroom model was not promoted to students. After the module, students were asked to complete a survey about their perceptions of the module. Classroom observations were recorded, and YouTube Watch Time data were obtained. The survey results show that the majority of the students found the transition to the Flipped Classroom easy or somewhat easy to adapt to despite not receiving information about the benefits of this pedagogical model. Students indicated that having clearer instructions about what is expected of them would further smoothen this transition. These findings suggest that instructors may be able to successfully use the Flipped Classroom model in a modular fashion when expectations for students are clearly communicated.