The Impact of Flipped Learning on Cooperative and Competitive Mindsets

Jung Kwon,Hyung Woo

doi:10.3390/su10010079

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of flipped learning in business education, especially teaching corporate sustainability. Although the effect of flipped learning has been demonstrated in many education avenues, it is still rare in business education. To address this, we designed a flipped learning course for teaching corporate sustainability and implemented it in the autumn semester of 2016 at H University. The six classes of 157 university students were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups according to a pre-test–post-test control group design. The treatment groups were provided with the funnel experiment as pre-learning material based on flipped learning, but the control groups were instructed without it using the existing instructor-led ways. ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) was used to verify the difference between the pre- and post-test scores of the cooperative/competitive mindset to compare the two groups. The results revealed that the cooperative mindset scores in the treatment groups were improved more than those of the control groups. The competitive mindset scores in the treatment groups, on the other hand, were decreased more than those of the students in the control groups. These findings suggest that flipped learning methods may be a promising approach to enhance students’ awareness of sustainable management in business.

Highlights

The instruction of business administration is by nature practical learning, as it focuses on understanding management principles which appropriately apply to real workplaces
The effect size of 0.05 on the cooperative mindset is at a practically significant level, which means that the cooperative mindset of the treatment group was improved compared with the control group by the flipped learning designed in the present study
We examined the effectiveness of a flipped learning method supported by the funnel experiment in enhancing students’ understanding of the necessity of sustainability in business

Summary

Introduction

The instruction of business administration is by nature practical learning, as it focuses on understanding management principles which appropriately apply to real workplaces. In order to improve the effects of educational interventions on the learning of the concept of sustainable business, flipped learning using Nelson’s funnel experiment was employed and investigated in this study This experiment was popularized after being introduced in Deming’s book [26], “Out of Crisis”, where he quoted Dr Nelson, Director of Statistical Methods, Nashua Corporation. By assigning the funnel experiment as homework prior to class, the present study aimed to verify the effectiveness of flipped learning in business education, that is, determine whether it is a helpful teaching method for students to recognize the problems that will be brought about by tampering and competition and to be aware of the importance of sustainability in business. The attempts and results of the present study can provide implications for the developmental direction of sustainability education and the improvement of the business education process in universities

Flipped Learning

Corporate Sustainability Education

Flipped Learning Design and Data Collection

Analysis and Results

Discussion