Learning modules: problem-based learning, blended learning and flipping the classroom

ABSTRACT In 2020, the author introduced a new learning and assessment programme to the compulsory Land Law course at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law. This article introduces, explains and evaluates the programme design. The Learning Modules programme has five components: structured pre-tutorial activities guiding students through a problem; tutorials in which tutors facilitate discussion on the problem; post-tutorial quizzes testing understanding of ideas arising in the problem; and exam-oriented review exercises in the form of modelling exercises and example exercises. First, the article discusses three pedagogical theories: problem-based learning, blended learning and flipping the classroom. Secondly, the article outlines the Learning Modules programme. Thirdly, the article uses student survey data from 2020 and 2021 to evaluate the extent to which the programme represents problem-based learning, blended learning and flipping the classroom. In doing so, the article considers how closely a programme needs to conform with the classical characteristics of each theory to be considered to represent them. The article concludes that the programme can be said to represent each of the three theories, depending on how they are formulated.