An Empirical Study of Students’ Perception of and Key Factors Affecting Overall Satisfaction in an Intensive Block Mode and Flipped Classroom

Abstract

Results of recent studies have suggested that intensive methods of delivery might improve engagement, attendance, and achievement for students from diverse backgrounds. Contributing to this area of inquiry, this study assesses how students perceived their experience studying a certificate course that was delivered in an online intensive block mode and flipped classroom (BMFC), pedagogy amidst COVID-19 restrictions. The subjects were students enrolled at Melbourne Institute of Technology between July 2021 and January 2022 across four certificate courses, three at postgraduate and one at undergraduate level. These certificate courses differed from normal degree courses in several aspects: (a) a shorter 4-week (undergraduate) or 5-week (postgraduate), instead of a 12-week duration, (b) subjects were taken sequentially instead of concurrently as in a normal semester, (c) taught using an online flipped classroom rather than the in-class approach, and (d) open to both high-school leavers and mature aged students who did not study full-time. A questionnaire involving 10 perception-based questions was used to survey students’ satisfaction with the BMFC delivery, in relation to their learning and engagement experience. The mean, median, and mode calculated from the responses revealed that students regarded the BMFC approach as more satisfied than not on a 5-star rating scale in 7 out of the 10 questions. This is further supported by high correlations among the questions (the lowest at r = 0.48 and the highest at r = 0.87). Multiple regression analysis using the first nine questions as predictors of the 10th question (overall satisfaction) revealed that six of these are statistically significant predictors (p < 0.05) of the overall satisfaction, implying that an increase in the overall satisfaction can potentially be achieved by improving these key factors of the BMFC delivered certificate courses. Our findings correlate with existing research that student learning and engagement might be improved by intensive modes of delivery. Furthermore, the BMFC pedagogy proposed in our study differentiates us from existing research, where block scheduling was used only in a face-to-face delivery in pre COVID-19 environment. Our study, therefore, contributes a novel delivery method for learning and teaching that is suitable for both online and face-to-face mode in a post COVID-19 era.

The Impact of Compressing MBA Courses on Student Satisfaction: Empirical Results

“…Moreover, a study of compressed face-to-face undergraduate general education courses at Brigham Young University measured workload and perceived value and found that compressed course effectiveness can be subject-specific [7]. Furthermore, a recent study evaluated undergraduate and postgraduate certificate courses (four-week and five-week programs) at Melbourne Institute of Technology and found six factors to predict the overall satisfaction of students in online intensive block mode and flipped classroom (BMFC) [16]. None of these studies were in MBA programs.…”

Effective Assessment in a Block Pedagogy

“…Whilst research in block teaching and learning has seen an increase in the past few years because of the raise in block delivery previously mentioned, it remains a rather novel approach that needs exploration. Research to date has focused primarily on the comparison between traditional and intensive courses (Kucsera & Zimmaro, 2010;Rawls & Hammons, 2012) or students and academic staff perspectives of intensive courses (Burton et al, 2002;Dixon et al, 2021;Kwan, 2022). However, given that the possible benefits of block mode have been confirmed in previous research, a move towards a deeper analysis that allows one to identify effective practices in block pedagogy seems imperative.…”

“…For that reason, the aim of this study was to examine the impact of instances where academics decided, based on their expertise and experiences, to change the type of summative assessment for block teaching as they transitioned from a traditional delivery, which is known henceforth as adapting summative assessments, and to identify which types of summative assessments are most effective in block teaching. While the limited research on the topic typically focuses on one course or discipline (Kwan et al, 2022;Kofinas et al, 2017), this study examines the impact of summative assessment type on student achievement through a whole institution approach, involving all transitioned first-and second-year students at a UK university, during the academic years 2020/21 and 2021/22. This aim will be achieved by investigating three hypotheses: H1: Students who enrol for modules that adapt summative assessments for block teaching achieve higher final grades than students who enrolled for the same modules when traditionally taught.…”

Application of Business Simulation Games in Flipped Classrooms to Facilitate Student Engagement and Higher-Order Thinking Skills for Sustainable Learning Practices

“…Moreover, the gaming platforms help students put theories with flipped learning into practice for enhancing engagement and higher-order thinking skills in a virtual environment. Consequently, these institutions must ensure that as learners successfully navigate these challenges, they make a vital contributions towards the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their respective nations [7,8]. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, college graduates are facing formidable difficulties in their job searches.…”