Using the flipped classroom to improve student engagement and to prepare graduates to meet maritime industry requirements: a focus on maritime education

This paper challenges maritime educators (MEs) to utilise the flipped or partially flipped classroom to meet increasingly diverse stakeholder needs. Given the international and geographically dispersed nature of the maritime industry (MI), the skills required are more complex than in a domestic situation. Further considerations include continuous improvement of learning and teaching practices whilst engaging with a unique student cohort, preparing a graduate suited to specific MI requirements and working within constrained university resources. At first, this may appear to be addressing too many divergent stakeholder expectations. The authors propose using backward course design (a design that meets the needs and goals of the specific nature of the MI through stakeholder consultation) as a premise to flipped teaching, thus unifying stakeholder requirements. Skills developed in the flipped classroom are particularly useful within the international nature of the MI. The skills required for effectively working in a linguistically and culturally diverse industry such as teamwork, decision-making, problem-solving and conflict resolution are practised in the flipped classroom. These skills along with specific consideration of MI-based cases and examples discussed in class time produce a more work-ready graduate attuned to specific industry requirements. This paper provides two application examples of the flipped classroom in the MI and highlights how this approach can lead to improved teaching outcomes for MEs.