The Impact of the Flipped Classroom Instructional Model on Mpharm Students in Two Pharmacy Schools in the UK
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U The Impact of the Flipped Classroom Instructional Model on MPharm Students in Two Pharmacy Schools in the UK This thesis is submitted in accordance with the requirements of University College London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Mona Abdulaziz H Almanasef The Research Department of Practice and Policy UCL School of Pharmacy January 2018 Plagiarism Statement This thesis describes research conducted at the UCL School of Pharmacy between 2013 and 2017 under the supervision of Professor Jane Portlock and Dr Angel Chater. I certify that the research described is original and that any parts of the work that have been conducted by collaboration are clearly indicated. I also certify that I have written all the text herein and have clearly indicated by suitable citation any part of this thesis that has already been published. ______________________________ _____________________ Signature Date 2 This thesis is dedicated to My beloved parents who have always been there for me My best friend, Dalia, who encouraged me to go on this adventure My wonderful brother, Ali, who has a special place in my heart 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank God for giving me the strength and patience to complete this work. Sincere gratitude and appreciation is extended to my supervisors, Professor Jane Portlock and Dr Angel Chater, for their invaluable guidance, and encouragement. I am very much grateful for their support throughout the PhD journey, which helped me to build my skills and competence as a researcher. Many thanks go to Professor Felicity Smith, and Professor David Taylor for their valuable input in my upgrade Viva. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the E-learning coordinator at UCL School of Pharmacy, Mr Adam Phillips, for his great support with creating the online learning materials for this research. I would like to acknowledge with great appreciation all the academics in the Pharmacy Practice Department, at UCL School of Pharmacy and the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at University of Portsmouth, who collaborated with me to conduct this research. Particularly, I would like to thank Mrs Louise Brown, Mr Nick Warren, Ms Maaya Modha, Mr Zachariah Nazar, and Ms Nadia Bukhari. Sincere thanks go to all MPharm students who took part in this research project. Without their participation, completing this study would not be possible. Many appreciations also go to the UCL Arena Centre for Research-based Education for offering me the opportunity to join the Teaching Associate Programme (TAP), which helped me to develop my core knowledge in various areas of teaching and learning. I am very much grateful to Dr Li Wei, the senior lecturer of epidemiology and medical statistics at UCL School of Pharmacy, for her help and advice with the quantitative data analysis. I am deeply indebted to my best friend, Dalia Almaghaslah, for her generous and unconditional support throughout the way and beyond. 4 My colleagues and friends in the Research Department of Practice and Policy, thank you very much for being a lovely, supportive, and caring family. Special gratitude and appreciations must go to Naoko Arakawa, Dalal Alsaeed, Zahra Alsairafi, Eneyi Kpokiri, Mai Almanea and Asma’a Alhaqan, for their effort in lending a listening ear especially during the write-up stage. My lovely family: thank you very much for your support, prayers, and endless love. Mom and Dad: I am very much grateful for your ‘every day phone call’ making sure I was OK. My little brother, Ali: your inspirational words meant a lot to me. Finally, I would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia for funding my research. 5 Abstract Introduction: A “flipped classroom” uses technology to shift the traditional lecture outside the scheduled class time and uses the face-to-face time to engage students in interactive activities. Aim of the study: Assess the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of using the “flipped classroom” teaching format with MPharm students in two pharmacy schools in the UK: UCL School of Pharmacy and the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at University of Portsmouth. Methods: An experimental mixed methods design was employed, with final year MPharm students in two phases; 1) a qualitative study using focus groups 2) a quasi-experiment measuring knowledge acquisition and satisfaction by delivering a session on rheumatoid arthritis, in two teaching formats: the flipped classroom and the traditional lecture. Results: The flipped classroom approach was preferred over the traditional lecture for delivering a pharmacy practice topic, and it was comparable or better than the traditional lecture with respect to knowledge acquisition. In addition, this teaching approach was found to overcome the perceived challenges of the traditional lecture method such as fast pace instructions, student disengagement and boredom due to lack of activities and/ or social anxiety. However, high workload and difficult or new concepts could be barriers to pre-class preparation, and therefore successful flipped classroom. The flipped classroom encouraged learning scaffolding where students could benefit from application of knowledge, and interaction with peers and the lecturer, which might in turn facilitate learning consolidation and deep understanding. This research indicated that the flipped classroom was beneficial for all learning styles. Conclusion: Implementing the flipped classroom at both pharmacy institutions was successful and well received by final year MPharm students. Given the attention now being put on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), understanding effective methods of teaching to enhance student achievement and satisfaction is now more valuable than ever. Impact Statement The traditional lecture has long been the norm in university teaching settings worldwide. Class time is usually spent on delivering the knowledge-based content of the curriculum rather than engaging students in interactive learning. MPharm graduates in the UK are expected to show a range of pharmacy- related cognitive and practical skills and a range of transferable skills such as the independent learning ability that is necessary for the continuing professional development. Pharmacy practice has moved away from focusing on products towards a more patient-oriented emphasis. Higher education is expected to produce active, self-directed, lifelong learners with critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These skills may be better developed by employing active learning and other high-level teaching approaches. This research extends the current knowledge of the impact of the flipped classroom to undergraduate pharmacy students and it suggests evidence- based recommendations that might be valuable for successful flipped classroom implementation. The key strengths of this research are its mixed methods design, which allowed for a deeper understanding of MPharm students’ perceptions and experiences and it is the first in the UK to investigate the flipped classroom in the context of pharmacy education. This study has shown that the flipped classroom teaching method was preferred over the traditional lecture for teaching a pharmacy practice topic. The second major finding was that the flipped classroom pedagogy could potentially overcome the perceived challenges of the traditional lecture method including fast pace and lack of student involvement. In addition, learning scaffolding encouraged by the flipped classroom method might assist in adopting a deeper approach to learning, which is not normally achieved in the traditional lecture. It seems from this study that implementing the flipped classroom in MPharm programmes considering the practical recommendations suggested by this research could possibly improve the National Student Survey (NSS) results relating to teaching on the course. Accordingly, raising the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) performance for the institution, which is heavily dependent on NSS data. This research will also serve as a basis for future studies since it has thrown up many questions that require further investigation both locally and internationally. 8 Table of Contents PLAGIARISM STATEMENT .................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ 4 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. 6 IMPACT STATEMENT............................................................................................. 7 ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................. 17 PREFACE.............................................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 22 1.1 ADULT LEARNING .......................................................................................... 22 1.1.1 ANDRAGOGY................................................................................................ 23 1.2 LEARNING TAXONOMIES ................................................................................ 35 1.2.1 BLOOM’S TAXONOMY.................................................................................... 35 1.2.2 THE SOLO TAXONOMY ...............................................................................