FLIPPING THE CLASSROOM - A PILOT FOR A PRACTICE BASED COURSE

Flipped learning, where 'students gain first exposure to new material outside of class,' [1] is a rapidly upcoming phenomenon in higher education. The method where students prepare for class through online or offline material and then work with the theory in a face to face setting (F2F), works [2]. Guided by other teachers' successful and less successful attempts [3], Fontys Academy for Creative Industries conducted a pilot with flipping the classroom in the fall of 2014. The subject was Communication Skills, for first year students, and the course lasted twelve lessons (one semester). Testing consisted of a list of 45 multiple choice questions. The flipped course had the same theoretical content as the traditional setting conducted in 2013-2014; it was the teaching method that differed. Twelve lessons were 'flipped', using Bloom's taxonomy and Kolb's learning styles to design the classes. The theory was offered through screencasts, animations or by providing reading material. All learning material was accompanied by visual notes. Preparatory assignments were mandatory in order to gain access to the classroom. Statistics show that the screencasts were watched more than once by a majority of the students. Results were positive. Test results were higher on average, going from a 6.4 to a 6.7 (out of 10; N= 344 in 2013; 325 in 2014), and students evaluated the quality of the course also higher, going from 6.9 to a 7.4. Teachers were given an 8.0 on average in the evaluation, whereas in 2013 this was a 7.2. Moreover, more students passed the retake of the test in 2014, meaning that while in 2013, 26 students failed the test twice, in 2014 this number was down to 10. This is a decrease of over 50%. A majority of the students attended the lessons even though attendance was not mandatory. This is consistent with findings in other studies that students still prefer F2F contact [4]. Topics for discussion are the assignments that were considered ` too broad' by the students, leading to unsatisfactory results in class. This is in line with findings that explain that students sometimes have difficulty forming their own learning objectives [3, 5]. Still, this first pilot has yielded promising results when it comes to utilizing new teaching methods.