South African students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom: A case study of higher education

ABSTRACT

Universities have traditionally made use of the face-to-face model of lectures and tutorials as a passive mode of course instruction. When lectures are made available online and class time is used for conceptual understanding and cognitive skills among students, the approach is known as ‘flipping’ the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceived experiences of flipped classrooms at a South African university. A quantitative survey method was used in this research study to elicit students’ perceptions about a flipped classroom. A structured questionnaire called the Student Perception of Instruction Questionnaire was used to collect data from 130 students enrolled for a Database course over a 4 week period. The results show that the students’ experienced the flipped classroom as positive and enjoyable. Even though they worked harder in the course and needed more technical assistance, most would opt for a similar course in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Flipped classrooms
• university
• Bloom’s taxonomy
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liezel Cilliers

Liezel Cilliers has completed a Master in Education and is currently the Deputy Dean of Research in the Faculty of Management and Commerce at the University of Fort Hare. Her research interest investigates how technology effects education at the university level. Of particular interest is the flipped classroom and cyber bullying among university students.

Johannes Pylman

Johannes Pylman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Fort Hare. His research interests include educational leadership and management in primary education from which he has published widely in journals, book chapters and conferences. He teaches education leadership and management; education law and philosophy as well as educational psychology in the Department.