Flipping the Classroom for Exploration of the World Libraries

The use of “Flipped classrooms” has become widely employed in recent years as a means to offer students an interactive and engaging learning environment. The adoption of enabling technologies by universities provides opportunities for student-centered learning. The rapid growth and widespread use of mobile devices and ubiquitous connectivity also makes teaching and learning different in the new “Knowledge Age” (Hutchings & Quinney, 2015). The flipped classroom is usually associated with providing course materials with pre-prepared lecture notes or pre-recorded videos for students to engage with outside of the classroom, and then engages students with technology-mediated experiences in participatory in-class activities and collaborative works that are meaningful for knowledge acquisition (Al-Zahrani, 2015; Balan, Clark, & Restall, 2015; Chen & Summers, 2015). Much literature suggests that flipped classrooms have a great impact on students‟ perceptions, attitudes, engagement and performance in learning (Bergmann & Sams, 2014; Brooks, 2014; Chao, Chen, & Chuang, 2015; Clark, 2015; Egbert, Herman, & HyunGyung, 2015). To encourage class interaction and engagement in learning, various strategies should be employed in a flipped classroom, for example, the use of IRS (instant response system) to elicit feedback from students. Other approaches, such as role-playing, group work (using cloud resources), reflection and sharing are also used to encourage ABSTRACT Globalization has generated a trend of learning all subject domains in English. In learning with English, various innovative teaching approaches have emphasized that active learning experience is a necessary foundation for learners’ knowledge acquisition. With the advancements in the integration of mobile technology into the classroom in various subject domains, learning has shifted its role from being passive to active in nature. In this study, a “flipped classroom” approach was adopted in a course entitled “Exploration in the Library World. ” The course was taught in English. Instructional contents were pre-recorded and uploaded to a learning management system. Students brought their own mobile devices to the class. An enriched learning environment with the use of technologies in this class aimed to offer students a more engaging learning experience. During the class period, an IRS (instant response system) was frequently used as a major tool for eliciting feedback from students. Other approaches such as role-playing, group work (with cloud resources), and reflection and sharing strategies were also used to ensure active learning among students. Mobile devices were used to support needed interactions in class activities. The implementation of the “flipped classroom” design was assessed by the 40 students who were enrolled in the course. A 5-point Likert scale was used to reflect the students’ attitudes toward the implementation. According to the gathered data, the students reacted positively toward following aspects, including: (1) Quality of the digital learning materials (4.23, SD = 0.39), (2) Exploration of foreign knowledge (4.41, SD = 0.44), (3) Collaborative learning activities (4.34, SD = 0.48), (4) Use of online instant feedback (4.28, SD = 0.48), (5) Reflective journal writing (4.01, SD = 0.53), and (6) Adoption of mobile devices (4.30, SD = 0.43).