‘I Couldn't Imagine Doing It Any Other Way’—The Use of Flipped Classroom Design for Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology Students in a Regional Australian University

Objective

To explore the use of flipped classroom (FC) design for occupational therapy and speech pathology students studying in regional Australia.

Setting

Occupational therapy and speech pathology students in a regional Australian university in Central Queensland.

Participants

33 occupational therapy and speech pathology students provided survey data; 5 students supplied in-depth data from focus groups; three educators completed teaching reflections.

Design

A multiple case study methodology was implemented based on Yin's definition¹. Case study one involved occupational therapy students and case study two involved speech pathology students. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was embedded within each case study. After participation in a unit using FC design, students completed a quantitative survey followed by a focus group for each case. Document analysis of teacher reflections and unit evaluations was also completed.

Results

Quantitative results show that student confidence, knowledge, and satisfaction are strongly supported by the FC approach. Rich qualitative data from the cases yielded four themes: individual attributes of the educator; purposeful and flexible design features; the role of the student as an active learner; facilities and resources for flipped classrooms.

Conclusion

This case study data supports the benefits of FC design for health professions students, has enabled the development of a conceptual framework which could be applied to health professions and beyond to other disciplines, and has also provided the foundations for guidelines to support educators to implement FC methodology.