21st century employers seek graduates who are adaptable creative self-motivated and willing to try new things. To enhance the development of such skills a growing body of research suggests moving away from traditional teaching and learning approaches such as lectures and ensuing seminar formats towards more student centred methods.
Once such approach is flipped learning. This alternative delivery style has been influential in improving student employability skills across wide ranging disciplines within the sector. It is a blended learning approach where students are first exposed to new material outside of a formal lecture setting thus enabling increasingly active and student led learning to take place in class time. This format requires the completion of pre assigned activities either independently or in small groups before scheduled sessions. Class time is then spent within interactive and student led learning environments where theory can be applied in practice. This type of approach requires students to take greater ownership of their learning and supports them to learn independent of their tutors.
The outputs within this toolkit reflect on the recent implementation of a ‘flipped’ learning approach between September and December 2015 to facilitate the delivery of a final year undergraduate sport coaching module; telling how it help turn timetabled sessions from places where students historically disengaged attended intermittently and under achieved to more dynamic engagement with consequent improvements in attendance satisfaction interaction and achievement. Insight into tutor experience and resultant impact on their motivation satisfaction and continued professional development are also presented.
Colleagues from across the sector interested in finding out more about flipped learning in relation to student engagement curriculum design delivery and enhancement of practice can contact Rick via email at rick.hayman@northumbria.ac.uk
Dr Rick Hayman is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MSc Professional Practice in Sport Coaching Degree within the Department of Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria University Newcastle. As a Senior Fellow of the HEA and over ten years’ experience as an academic within Higher Education he is passionate about teaching in innovative ways that inspire students and positively impacts upon their overall student experience.
