Editorial

Doing What Everybody is Talking About: Flipping the Classroom

Every now and then an idea materializes that has been in the air for some time. One of the latest examples in teaching is the idea of flipping the classroom, that is, instructors let students study the contents of a lesson at home before they meet with them and use classroom time for activities that build upon students’ preparation. In doing so, the valuable time with the instructor can be used more effectively than for mere presentation of course contents. The idea of flipping the classroom has arisen in many teachers at many places at the same time. This is because modern media provide ample opportunity for students to familiarize with basic facts. However, this does not mean that teachers have become obsolete. On the contrary, these new technical developments give teachers the opportunity to realize the full potential that lies in good teaching. It is a fascinating challenge to investigate new ways of using classroom time effectively. Instructors will have to prepare differently and explore a new repertoire of interactive methods.

I did it. After asking myself for a while, “Why go to the lecture hall and tell 300 students basically what is on my slides?” this semester I flipped the classroom. Students find my slides one week in advance of the next session on our online platform. To make sure that they engage in the contents, each student has to complete an assignment before the session. There are different kinds of assignments that vary over the course of the semester. Students either answer knowledge questions regarding the session’s contents, write short essays answering challenging questions or they generate items that could be used in the final exam. Students get feedback from student tutors regarding the quality of their work. In the weekly classroom sessions, several different things happen. I prepare the sessions by making a list of questions that I can ask students. From previous semesters, I know where students typically have difficulties in understanding the contents (e.g. statistical concepts) or where they want to discuss empirical findings. I can prompt these questions, and discussions, and structure the session along these lines. Beyond this, there is room for students’ questions or other kinds of input. Typically, there are current events or reports in the media that I can relate to and give more time to than in the traditional classroom. At the end of the session, we talk about the assignments that students completed at home.

Before I tried it, I was worried about whether students would still come to the session after they had worked with the slides and had completed the assignments. However, participation did not change compared to the traditional lecture. Moreover, my impression is that students like this new format. I cannot tell whether they like it more than the old format, but what I can tell is that I like the flipped classroom more. The sessions are livelier and both questions and discussions are on a higher level than before. I am curious to see the results of the final exam. I hope that students’ learning will benefit from the flipped classroom. If so, I will write an elaborate report about what we are doing here at Heidelberg University.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to receiving your papers about experiences with the flipped classroom. You will find one of these by Hussey, Richmond, and Fleck in this issue. Psychology as a science offers the toolkit for designing flipped classrooms and corresponding evaluation studies. Let’s use these tools and take the lead in this new development.

The Current Issue

The current issue includes one research article, one review, three reports and nine book reviews. Moreover, you will find the abstracts of the current issue of Teaching of Psychology.

In their research article, Dietrich et al. present results of a project setting out to model and measure scientific competencies in psychology, sociology, and political science. The authors present a general theoretical model and use empirical evidence from expert interviews as well as inspection of study program curricula to describe scientific competences in all three domains.

Green, Hood, and Neumann review literature on student satisfaction with university psychology courses and its predictors. Looking at students’ satisfaction in psychology specifically has not been done before, although in some countries psychology is one of the most frequently studied subjects. Among other predictors, students’ expectations for a course – something relatively easy for instructors to influence – were found to be important for satisfaction with teaching quality.

Bebermeier, Nussbeck, and Ontrup report on an approach to improve learning and teaching statistics by using online questionnaires. With the online questionnaires, students had the opportunity to reflect their learning, to practice, and to get performance feedback. Completing the online questionnaire was associated with better achievement in statistics and positive evaluations by the students.

The report by Koch and Vogt introduces a large-scale project to improve psychology teaching in an interdisciplinary setting. The project is part of the “quality pact for teaching,” a program launched by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and aims at intensifying interdisciplinary networking in teaching, promoting student engagement, and motivating students to take a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. The authors describe a diverse set of measures that were taken and how psychology students benefited from them.

Hussey, Richmond, and Fleck provide a primer for creating a flipped psychology course. Based on the literature, these authors describe valuable teaching tips that may aid the implementation process as well as common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Please also take a look at the book reviews and the abstracts from Teaching of Psychology. Remember that we are open to your submission of manuscripts on psychology learning and teaching. We are looking forward to receiving papers based on your recent work! I hope you enjoy reading this issue of PLAT.