A Digital Logic Flipped Classroom for Promoting Students’ Preclass Preparation and Participation in Classroom Activities Using a Guided Reflective Thinking Mechanism

Contribution: This study used a guided reflective thinking mechanism to improve students’ acceptance of flipped classrooms while promoting the development of students’ will and self-regulated learning strategies to enhance their preclass preparation and participation in classroom activities.

Background: Previous research has provided evidence of the impact of flipped classrooms on student learning, but an understanding of the relationship between flipped classrooms, learning strategies, and learning outcomes is limited.

Intended Outcome: The learning strategies used by students in the flipped classroom were examined, and the effectiveness of incorporating a guided reflective thinking mechanism into the flipped classroom teaching design of a digital logic (DL) course was evaluated.

Application Design: Referring to the strategic learning model, this study integrated the mechanism of guided reflective thinking into the instructional design of a flipped classroom for first-year students in the Department of Electrical Engineering of a junior college in Taiwan.

Findings: The results show that the flipped classroom teaching design that guides the reflective thinking mechanism can promote the development of students’ strategies to enhance their attitude, motivation, time management, concentration, self-testing, and solving learning difficulties, thereby improving their performance in DL courses. Furthermore, self-testing strategies are the most important predictor of students’ performance in DL courses.