Use of Flipped Classroom for the Teaching of Postgraduate Students

Abstract

Background: Flipped classroom uses a face-to-face approach and delivery of content to the students on an online platform. It combines principles of self-directed learning and active participation. There are not many studies that analyzed the benefits of this approach in India. Methods: A flipped classroom session was planned for postgraduate students of community medicine. The faculty conducted discussion on topic and content. The content was selected and sent to students. Students were divided into three groups. A small group teaching session was held after 1 week. Improvement was objectively measured using a pre-posttest. Feedback from the students was taken on Likert's scale and open-ended questionnaire. Results: All students (n = 10) agreed with topic selection and quality of content. All were satisfied with the approach and admitted to being interested in attending another session. Eighty percent agreed that teacher-student interaction was better as compared to a regular classroom. Average pre-test multiple-choice question score was 60% and posttest score 87.7% (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Flipped classroom is a useful tool to improve the learning experience of students. However, sessions should be well planned with discussion and consensus among stakeholders. Further research is required for evaluating the benefits of this method on larger scales.