Examining Student Perceptions of Flipping an Agricultural Teaching Methods Course

Abstract

To meet the needs of the 21st century student, college instructors

Student Perceptions Concerning their Experience in a Flipped Undergraduate Capstone Course

“…The low variability (standard deviation) for each construct elucidates a general consensus regarding positive student perceptions in a TBL formatted course. Overall, the positive findings are consistent with previous literature regarding the implementation of a flipped approach in agricultural courses (Barkley, 2015;Conner et al, 2014a;Conner et al, 2014b;Gardner, 2012). The findings serve as general reassurance that the move toward a more student-centered course design is appropriate for this specific course; although the present data could also be useful in defending the inclusion of the TBL pedagogical practice in other capstone courses within Colleges of Agriculture, general courses within Colleges of Agriculture, and potentially in courses in other disciplines.…”

“…In the flipped classroom, teacher-centered activities are shifted to online formats consisting of video lectures or other forms of media (newsletters, magazine articles, research articles) that introduce students to the content before attending a face-to-face class session (Conner et al, 2014a;Conner et al, 2014b;Michaelsen et al, 2004). "…this allows for more of the social and studentcentered activities to occur during class time" (Conner et al, 2014b, p. 69) when students may struggle to apply to the content to real-world problems (Bergman & Sams, 2012).…”

“…Ideological acceptance of and advancements in technology have provided a natural segue into improved restructuring course delivery methods within institutions of higher education (Conner et al, 2014a;Kim, Kim, Khera, & Getman, 2014). Teaching approaches that can embed the acquisition of the aforementioned skills have a greater chance of being viewed positively by students as well as employers (Currey et al, 2015).…”

“…Many studies concerning the flipped classroom and its benefits can be found throughout the educational literature; such instances include flipped learning in nursing education (Bristol, 2014), pharmacy education (See & Conry, 2014), information technology (Kong, 2014), engineering education (Mason et al, 2013), and many other areas (O'Flaherty, Phillips, Karanicolas, Snelling, & Winning, 2015). The popularity of this pedagogical practice within Colleges of Agriculture is seemingly growing as it is the focus of several recent studies (Barkley, 2015;Conner et al, 2014a;Conner, Stripling, Blythe, Roberts, & Stedman, 2014b;Gardner, 2012).…”

“…It is important to note that the development of OpenCourseWare (OCW) by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (MIT, 2002) was the driving inspiration for Khan and has led to the creation of many similar programs (e.g., Udacity, Coursera, and EdX) (Bishop & Verleger, 2013). These websites demonstrate an increasing ideological acceptance of technology usage within the learning environment (Bishop & Verleger, 2013;Conner et al, 2014a) that can aid in flipping classrooms around the world. initiated by implementing strategies to ensure student accountability for content delivered in a flipped scenario.…”