Abstract
Recent reform of medical education highlights the growing concerns about the capability of the current educational model to equip medical school students with essential skills for future career development. In the field of ophthalmology, although many attempts have been made to address the problem of the decreasing teaching time and the increasing load of course content, a growing body of literature indicates the need to reform the current ophthalmology teaching strategies. Flipped classroom is a new pedagogical model in which students develop a basic understanding of the course materials before class, and use in-class time for learner-centered activities, such as group discussion and presentation. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of the flipped classroom in ophthalmology education. This study, for the first time, assesses the use of flipped classroom in ophthalmology, specifically glaucoma and ocular trauma clerkship teaching. A total number of 44 international medical school students from diverse background were enrolled in this study, and randomly divided into two groups. One group took the flipped glaucoma classroom and lecture-based ocular trauma classroom, while the other group took the flipped ocular trauma classroom and lecture-based glaucoma classroom. In the traditional lecture-based classroom, students attended the didactic lecture and did the homework after class. In the flipped classroom, students were asked to watch the prerecorded lectures before the class, and use the class time for homework discussion. Both the teachers and students were asked to complete feedback questionnaires after the classroom. We found that the two groups did not show differences in the final exam scores. However, the flipped classroom helped students to develop skills in problem solving, creative thinking and team working. Also, compared to the lecture-based classroom, both teachers and students were more satisfied with the flipped classroom. Interestingly, students had a more positive attitude towards the flipped ocular trauma classroom than the flipped glaucoma classroom regarding the teaching process, the course materials, and the value of the classroom. Therefore, the flipped classroom model in ophthalmology teaching showed promise as an effective approach to promote active learning.
Highlights
As our understanding of the pathophysiology of diseases keeps on expanding, and new treatment technology continuously emerges, the limitations of the traditional lecture-based teaching becomes obvious
Twenty-two students participated in the flipped glaucoma classroom and lecture-based ocular trauma classroom
This study for the first time assessed the effectiveness of flipped classroom model in the ophthalmology clerkship teaching
Summary
As our understanding of the pathophysiology of diseases keeps on expanding, and new treatment technology continuously emerges, the limitations of the traditional lecture-based teaching becomes obvious. Passive learning experience during the hour-long lecture inevitably bores students and deprives them from acquiring essential survival skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication[3]. These growing concerns on the quality of medical education call for a reform of the traditional didactic teaching approach to better prepare students for their future career development. Medical school students usually have the ability to learn the information on the textbook on their own, but they need guidance from instructors for solving problems in real clinical practice [6, 7]. Students are required to play an active role during the class rather than passively absorbing lecture materials
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