Developing a flipped classroom framework to improve tertiary education students' learning engagements in India

Abstract

There is a large proportion of the population in India that has very limited access to higher education (HE). Of this, the northern states seem to worse off than their southern counterparts. The access to HE is further problematized by a lack of access to personal computers; however, there is a large proportion of the population that has access to mobile phone technology. Linked with this is the possibilities that the flipped classroom methodology could offer HE in North India; leveraging the affordances of mobile technologies. This paper reports on a preliminary, scoping study undertaken to understand the level of consciousness of a flipped classroom methodology in North India and if there is any appetite to see this trialed in HE classrooms. A qualitative research study was undertaken using a sample of 26 lecturers from different universities in Punjab, New Delhi and Maghalay. The results showed that participants, although not fully understanding it, generally had a positive view towards flipped classrooms. This suggests that it would be helpful to make teachers more aware of using the flipped classroom methodology and provide them with adequate training to adopt this methodology. It also suggests that using a social networking site (for example, WhatsApp), to help facilitate flipped classrooms might be considered.