New methodologies, new opportunities
The incorporation of the Integrated Curriculum at School of Medicine makes it necessary to introduce new methodologies and strategies to ensure that the student is the protagonist of the learning process.
Therefore, the professional practice of professor must become a process of cooperative action and reflection, of enquiry and experimentation, where the teacher learns to teach and teaches because he/she learns: he/she intervenes to facilitate - and not impose or substitute - the understanding of student body and, by reflecting on his/her intervention, he/she exercises and develops his/her own understanding.
To achieve this strategic change in the way students are taught, the pedagogical model of class reverse Flipped Classroom is a fundamental tool : it transfers the work of certain learning processes outside the classroom and uses the time of class, together with the experience of professor, to facilitate and enhance other processes of knowledge acquisition and practice within the classroom.
Thus, the Flipped Classroom allows:
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To make student responsible for their own learning, being the active protagonist. The assimilation of content will take place partially through their personal research activity and finding. And the teacher takes on the role of facilitator of this whole process, generating the content and guiding the learning process.
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To make students autonomous and independent, capable of solving the problems they face, applying the knowledge they have acquired. The aim is to teach student to understand, retain and use their knowledge appropriately, moving from the classic student dependent to an autonomous student .
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Encourage the exchange of knowledge among students globally, through the so-called "cooperative learning", in which each student can take advantage of the work of others for themselves, but without forgetting that this work will always be a complement to their own, never a substitute. Fundamental transversal competences are developed to train a professional, such as teamwork or collaborative leadership.
Differences between the traditional model and the Flipped Classroom
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Pre-preparation of facilitating material on classroom. Motivational. |
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Study for the exam. |
Active, protagonist. Study also to solve problems. |
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Evidence of results
The introduction of flipped learning in university teaching is a fact, and there is already evidence of its applicability and effectiveness also in the specific context of medical education.
Although not all randomised studies demonstrate a clear benefit in knowledge acquisition, a recent published meta-analysis suggests that this strategy on classroom of Schools in Medicine achieves a statistically significant improvement in the performance of student compared to traditional teaching methods.