by Kaneisha Gaston - Engagement Librarian, Sage Publishing
Teaching research methods can be challenging. However, there are various instructional strategies that make the process both manageable and engaging. Flipping the classroom is one strategy, providing instructors with discipline-specific approaches to not only introducing a research method, but also ensuring learners’ mastery of that method. Here are three tips for using flipped instruction in research methods courses.
1. Keep Learners at the Center
All instructional strategies and instructional content are learner-centered. However, scholars note that academic and professional backgrounds, prior knowledge, motivations, and learning abilities, learners’ interests will vary in methods classrooms. Therefore, flipped classrooms work best when the assigned tasks are:
aligned with curriculum and learners’ goals,
supported with practical scenarios to achieve maximum gain and engagement,
responsive to learners’ abilities or universally designed,
scaffolded and developmental,
and, time-bound.
Each Sage Campus course addresses these needs by providing:
clear objectives, curriculums and subject maps for both course clarity and alignment,
interactives, advice, and reflections,
courses developed using the ADDIE, Open University Learning Design, and Universal Design for Learning design approaches,
course level for target users,
and, estimated completion times for individual courses and broader learner pathways.
By keeping learners at the center of your flipped classroom teaching plan, you will offer an enhanced learning experience.
2. Prepare for a Flipped Classroom
In preparing for a flipped classroom, it is essential to acknowledge the differences between traditional classroom models and the flipped model. The classroom in a flipped model is an active space, and the lecture becomes a task for the learner to complete without the physical presence of the lecturer. Here are some guiding questions to consider when designing a flipped learning experience:
What is the focus concept or skill?
How should learners understand that concept or skill?
How will learners interact with the learning content?
How will learners demonstrate learning?
How will learners collaborate with others during the learning process?
What will learners need to prepare for the in-class learning experience or for future learning experiences (application)?
From there, shape your flipped classroom around what learners will learn (concept or skill), do (interactive task), create (demonstrate learning), share (collaborate with others), and prepare (bring into the next learning experience).
3. Put Research Methods in Context
To provide a clearer understanding of your lesson’s focal research methods, provide learners with contextual introductions to and explorations of that research method (Remler & Van Ryzin, 2021). First, allow learners to explore a self-identified “problem of practice” (Mertler, 2021). These learning tasks encourage learners to seek out different perspectives on a problem of practice, use their own interests to drive inquiry, and connect their findings to larger discipline-specific approaches. For example, learners in the course Gather Your Data Online explore a problem of practice during a decision tree activity, where they draft a relevant research question and map the different potential types of data that may exist, so they can strategically select the most effective research method. These kinds of early-stage, hands-on activities facilitate maximum opportunities for practice and confidence building in solving their own research problems.
Second, allow learners to unpack research methods as part of the research process by presenting methods many may find difficult. Dr. Strawinska-Zanko at Nova Southeastern University used Sage Research Methods (SRM) cases in addition to the assigned course textbook to better understand statistical methods applications. Learners, who typically struggled with selecting an appropriate statistical method, were assigned an SRM case to read along with mandatory reflection questions to address their need for independent learning and reflection on this part of the research process. Learners were able to create using their own explanations of those steps, represented their reflections using visual aids, and selected research methods for their work based on the new information gained.
Lastly, encourage learners to engage with published research and contemporary research frameworks (Wren & Wren, 2009). Learners can review, analyze, and replicate both real and imagined research studies and methods as practice. Sage Campus provides such practice with data visualization methods for graduate dissertations in Introduction to Data Visualisation. Learners in an engineering MSc program were tasked with creating the ‘worst visualization’ possible using what they learned as participants in this course. This opportunity to critique a single visualization using a common framework provided learners with a tool to use when creating their own original visualizations.
Implementing a flipped classroom can be challenging, but with learner-centered approaches, careful preparation, and contextualized learning tasks, it can be a highly effective teaching and learning method. Not only does it promote active learning and personalization, but it also encourages learners to think critically and independently. Despite the challenges, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, making it a worthwhile approach to explore in education.
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