Comparison of Flipped Model to Traditional Classroom Learning in a Professional Pharmacy Course

Colleen Mccabe,Stefanie Ferreri,Megan Smith

doi:10.3390/educsci7030073

Abstract

The flipped classroom is an approach to incorporate active learning that is being used in secondary education, higher education, and professional schools. This study investigates its impact on student learning and confidence in a professional degree program course. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate pharmacy students enrolled in a semester-long didactic traditional classroom course compared to students learning the same material using a flipped model through online self-study modules in a hands-on experiential learning course. Before and after each learning experience, students of each group completed a 16-item knowledge assessment on four topic areas and rated their level of confidence with each topic area on a Likert scale. There was a significant difference in knowledge with students in the traditional course scoring higher than students using flipped approach in the experiential course. Furthermore, the flipped experiential course students did not improve assessment scores from pre-test to post-test. For confidence rating, the traditional course group ranked confidence higher than the flipped experiential group for all topics. These findings challenge the notion that the flipped model using self-study in an experiential setting can be a substitution for didactic delivery of pharmacy education.

Highlights

While numerous pharmacy education studies have focused on student confidence and preference, this study focuses on the impact of student learning by quantifying academic success [13,14]
This result was expected, as the traditional course group completed a semester of learning with the self-care material and the flipped experiential group had yet to be exposed to self-care material
For post-test knowledge assessment scores, there was a significant effect (p < 0.001) with the traditional course receiving higher post-test scores than the flipped experiential group (74% vs. 55%). This result could be explained because students in the traditional course group had two exposures to self-care material, whereas the flipped experiential group had one exposure

Summary

Introduction

The flipped classroom is gaining momentum across a variety of educational institutions This approach has been cited in health professional programs such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, and pharmacy [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Studies in these fields focus on student perception, satisfaction, and some on academic test scores. The flipped classroom lacked evidence for knowledge and skill acquisition compared to traditional methods even though students liked the flipped method [8] In nursing, they found neutral or positive academic performance outcomes, but mixed results in student satisfaction [9].

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