Flipping the classroom : does it work for the skills laboratory?

Abstract

Flipping the classroom is an instructional model in which students gain basic knowledge outside of class, followed by active learning in class. At Ghent University, teaching clinical skills on simulators was recently incorporated in the curriculum in a new compulsory course. Due to the large number of students, time for supervised skills laboratory practise is limited. Therefore, the flipped classroom model was used to maximize an active learning experience. Online ‘learning paths’ and 1-2 hour practical sessions on surgical skills, injections, anesthesia and reproduction were developed for the fifth year students. Learning paths include text, pictures, videos of the skills, links to background information, a forum and a compulsory pre-class test, for which a minimum score of ≥75% was required. All students (n=292) had followed the session on surgical preparation and asepsis. The learning path was viewed by 287/292 students prior to the practical, for 38±24 minutes (range 2-134 minutes). However, some students reported more time spent on preparation than recorded, using a printout of the text. The test score of ≥75% was attained by 290/292 students, with a median of 2 attempts (range 1-16).

Subjective instructor feedback indicated that students were well-prepared. Informal student feedback indicated the need for additional live demonstrations, especially for complex skills. Future improvements to the learning paths could be including slow step-by-step demonstration of the skill with narration as well as stimulating narration of the steps by the student, by including this into the test.