Without fear of change: the flipped classroom as a flexible model in different learning environments

Abstract

The study presented is the result of a research study conducted within a historical moment which led to the pandemic in 2020, and the unexpected situation experienced by university professors of transforming their face-to-face teaching to a virtual model. The resulting situation of confinement was utilized to explore how professors in Spain who implemented the Flipped Classroom (FC) model adapted to the change. The main goal was to verify if the FC model facilitated the transition from face-to-face to virtual teaching of university courses. A quantitative, non-experimental and descriptive approach was considered as the most adequate to reach the objective proposed, with the use of an ad-hoc Likert-type questionnaire. A total of 130 individuals completed the questionnaire, of which 48.5% were men and 51.5% women. The results showed that professors had to make very few changes to their courses. The female professors, and those who had less teaching experience with the FC model, mentioned having to make more modifications. Our findings show that the FC model facilitated the transition from a face-to-face university teaching model to a virtual one.

Keywords

• Active methodologies
• Face-to-face teaching
• Virtual teaching
• Higher education