Using a Flipped Classroom to Increase Understanding, Retention and Engagement in a Virtual Anatomy and Physiology Course

In Fall 2020, in order to maximize student understanding and retention of material in my online undergraduate combined Anatomy and Physiology course, I decided to alter my traditional method of lecture delivery and to flip the class. I also intended that this method would allow for increased student engagement in the virtual class and a more discussion based synchronous class would allow a sense of community to develop, which I saw as especially important while the class was geographically distant during the pandemic. Students were required to watch two or three short videos up to 20 minutes each, before attending each virtual class that met twice weekly. During our synchronous class, students completed activities such as small group work on case studies, answering short answer questions, polls, reviewing material and asking open questions. Mid-way through the semester I reviewed the class format, the students’ preparedness for class, their understanding of the material and satisfaction with the format. I found that the flipped class format allowing for increased small group work in class and content discussion, helped to create a sense of community in the virtual class, however by week 6 of the semester the number of students that were not viewing the content videos before class was increasing and their preparedness was falling. Results from a mid-semester survey indicated that 40% of students were happy with the flipped classroom, whereas 48% of the students preferred a hybrid format, requiring them to watch a single video up to 20 minutes before attending class and covering more content in lecture format in our virtual class. Just 11% of students indicated a preference for changing to a traditional synchronous lecture format. I learned that 48% of students reported the flipped format increased their understanding of the material with 25% of students being neutral and 76% of students reported the flipped method improved their retention of the material. In response to the mid-semester survey, I opted to complete the second half of the semester using the hybrid model, in which the students watched up to 20 minutes of pre-recorded material before our virtual class and in class we completed a mixture of lecture and small group and individual activities. With this hybrid model students continued to be engaged in the virtual class and mastered the content. In conclusion, I found that the flipped classroom was helpful in promoting student understanding, retention and allowed for a greater sense of community in an online setting. However, the students found it difficult to review all of the lecture material before attending class and were missing content with the flipped model, therefore a hybrid model was more popular and ultimately successful.