Students' experiences and engagement in a flipped classroom course on pharmacokinetics

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether the flipped classroom method enhances the quality of students' learning by exploring the change in students' processes of understanding, their relation to study success, and students' experiences of the course. Methods: A mass pharmacokinetics course, comprising 148 second-year pharmacy students was transformed by using the flipped classroom method. Students answered a 'HowULearn' questionnaire in their first and last lecture before (n=126) and after the course (n=100) to measure their processes of understanding. Paired sample t-test, chi-square test and correlation analysis were used to analyse the change in students' scores, examine the relationship between the scales, and course grade. Students' experiences of the course were examined with open-ended questions, and these responses were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The response rate to the first and second questionnaire was 68%. Surface-level processing statistically decreased significantly (t= 3.72; p <0.001) and deep-level processing increased (t= -2.34; p= 0.022) during the course. The proportion of students scoring low on deep-level processing was smaller and the percentage of students representing high on surface-level processing was smaller during the course. At the end of the course, surface-level processing was negatively related to exam points (r= -0.34; p= 0.003). Deep-level processing (p= 0.82) and surface-level processing (p= -0.11) were not statistically significantly related to course grade at the beginning of the course. According to students' experiences the new course design, including pre-lecture tasks, supported their learning with 63 students out of 84 (75%) students reporting feeling this way. Conclusions: The study showed that the flipped classroom approach resulted in decreased surface-level and increased deep-level processing. This suggests that the flipped classroom method can improve students' processes of understanding.