BackgroundFlipped Classroom is a model that’s quickly gaining recognition as a novel teaching approach among health science curricula. The purpose of this study was four-fold and aimed to compare Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings with: 1) student socio-demographic characteristics, 2) student final grades, 3) student overall course satisfaction, and 4) course pre-Flipped Classroom effectiveness ratings.MethodsThe participants in the study consisted of 67 Masters-level graduate students in an introductory epidemiology class. Data was collected from students who completed surveys during three time points (beginning, middle and end) in each term. The Flipped Classroom was employed for the academic year 2012–2013 (two terms) using both pre-class activities and in-class activities.ResultsAmong the 67 Masters-level graduate students, 80% found the Flipped Classroom model to be either somewhat effective or very effective (M = 4.1/5.0). International students rated the Flipped Classroom to be significantly more effective when compared to North American students (X2 = 11.35, p < 0.05). Students’ perceived effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom had no significant association to their academic performance in the course as measured by their final grades (rs = 0.70). However, students who found the Flipped Classroom to be effective were also more likely to be satisfied with their course experience. Additionally, it was found that the SEEQ variable scores for students enrolled in the Flipped Classroom were significantly higher than the ones for students enrolled prior to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom (p = 0.003).ConclusionsOverall, the format of the Flipped Classroom provided more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, independently facilitate their own learning, and more effectively interact with and learn from their peers. Additionally, the instructor was given more flexibility to cover a wider range and depth of material, provide in-class applied learning opportunities based on problem-solving activities and offer timely feedback/guidance to students. Yet in our study, this teaching style had its fair share of challenges, which were largely dependent on the use and management of technology. Despite these challenges, the Flipped Classroom proved to be a novel and effective teaching approach at the graduate level setting.

This chapter reports on a national study exploring the current state of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and assessing the perceptions of Canadian SoTL scholars at the micro (individual), meso (departmental), macro (institutional), and mega (disciplinary) contexts.

The purpose of this two-year quantitative study was to determine the usefulness of the micro-blogging tool Twitter in large classes for improving the students' sense of community and belonging. Three instructors of large classes were recruited to test the outcomes of using Twitter as a learning tool, one each from the Departments of Geography and Psychology, and the College of Nursing. Twitter was used as a learning tool to allow students to engage in discussion and ask questions in real time during class as well as outside of class. The method used by the authors included surveys that measured students' perception of their sense of community and belonging, their engagement with the Twitter portion of the course, and their thoughts on the use of Twitter for academic purposes in a higher-education classroom setting. Data about students' use of Twitter was further collected using the Twitter Archiving Google Spreadsheet tool. The authors conclude this study showed that Twitter, if integrated into the course and supported by instructor and/or assistants who are familiar with the use of Twitter, improved the sense of community reported by students.

This paper presents the results of a quantitative study that comprehensively assessed the level and extent to which the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) was being conducted amongst faculty and staff at the University of Saskatchewan, and identifies the barriers and challenges faced by SoTL practitioners.

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