Abstract
Research evidence suggests that active learning and student engagement are important considerations in teaching and learning environment within higher education. Notably, existing research has frequently focused on the design of teaching models/approaches that could provide more flexible and focused learning opportunities for learners on campus and at home. The Flipped Classroom Model is considered one possible model that promotes active approaches to teaching and learning and can help increase the levels of students’ interaction in the classroom. However, the introduction of the Flipped Classroom Model in higher education has received both positive and negative responses from the main stakeholders, lecturers and students. Studies have found that teacher attitudes and their beliefs about teaching and learning determine the adoption of any instructional methods. In addition, barriers and/or challenges in implementing new instructional methods have also been found to affect teachers’ response to pedagogy change.
The objective of this study was to investigate the pedagogical reasoning underpinning the adoption or non-adoption of a Flipped Classroom Model in higher education. The study explored what influences the teachers’ adoption of the model and what drives or inhibits adoption. In addition, contextual factors that foster and undermine the adoption of the flipped model are identified.
The research design utilised a mixed-method approach using a convenience sample of lecturers teaching in three universities in New Zealand. Individual, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire data were collected. The data collection and analysis process produced a rich set of data that provided a multi-layered view of the participants, both of adopters and non-adopters of the Flipped Classroom Model.
Findings indicate that the pedagogical reasoning underpinning the adoption and non-adoption of a Flipped Classroom Model within higher education was multidimensional. Participants’ positive attitude towards technology-based instruction in general and disinterested attitude towards the implementation of Flipped Classroom Model were shown to co-exist. The emphasis on technology use, especially the use of video-clips as opposed to live lectures, and a lack of understanding of the Flipped Classroom Model concept may be possible reasons that some participants steered away from adopting the model. In addition, assumptions about students’ inability to embrace autonomous learning were also shown to be reasons why some participants did not want to adopt the Flipped Model. A range of other factors also undermined the adoption of Flipped Classroom Model, most notably, time pressures, lack of institutional support, and general ideas about pedagogies for effective student learning.