Business Management Teaching-Learning Processes in Times of Pandemic: Flipped Classroom at A Distance

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to present a teaching–learning experience carried out before the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze its usefulness in times of social and academic restrictions, as well as its fit into an online teaching format. In recent years, much research has been done on the development and application of new teaching methodologies, but the current health emergency situation means that it is necessary to assess how these methodologies are useful in a context of social distancing. Managing teaching–learning processes following the closure of educational centers due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 presents a significant challenge, not just in Business Management, but across all subjects. In the context of a pandemic, active methodologies take on greater importance as a way of adapting to new, socially distanced educational needs. This article presents a study carried out among students of Business Management at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). The study focuses on the context of the flipped classroom methodology, with students being asked to rate the effectiveness of this methodology, before and after the pandemic. Following the appearance of the pandemic, opinions have been strengthened in favor of the inverted classroom methodology, which is shown to be a powerful methodological alternative compatible with online teaching. Educational authorities must strengthen the technological tools as well as the teacher skills needed to develop capacities related to the rapid response to current and future teaching challenges.

Some Web-Based Experiences from Flipped Classroom Techniques in AEC Modules during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Some studies reflect students' dissatisfaction with online learning in general during the lockdown period, and particularly with the communication and Q&A in online classes whereas the combination of online teaching with flipped learning model has improved students' learning, attention, and evaluation of modules [44,48]. Conversely, this study has not detected such degree of dissatisfaction among students in view of the results [26,43,54].…”

“…Diverse studies focused on evaluating the readiness of lecturers and the feasibility of LMS [40,41], others on collecting students' perceptions [42][43][44], on analyzing the impact of the online format on studying at home [44,45], on learning achievements [46,47], and on the efficiency of flipped teaching methods [44,[48][49][50][51][52]]. It appears that blended learning methods have suffered less than other teaching approaches during this sudden shift to remote teaching [51].…”

“…Online higher education has taken a step forward, and, somehow, most lecturers are increasingly teaching online on a regular basis [50,52,56]. Instructors and administrators realized that physical attendance to classes is not linked to learning outcomes [46,48].…”

Efficacy of Social Networking Sites for Sustainable Education in the Era of COVID-19: A Systematic Review

“…The pause in traditional learning approaches due to the COVID-19 pandemic requires educational institutions of all sizes to adopt eLearning as the only option for sustainable educational activities [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, the sudden advent of COVID-19 and associated containment measures adopted by governments across the world posed other peculiar challenges regarding the use of LMSs for eLearning [15,[19][20][21]25,26].…”

Implementation of the agricultural university educational programs during a pandemic: participants’ opinions

“…One issue was the switch-over of classes at all levels of education, except for preschool, into a distance format [1,2]. Modern development of technical means of communication, the level of development of teaching competencies in the field of information technology, technical equipment of the overwhelming majority of Russian universities made it possible to pass this stage quite painlessly and practically without prejudice to the quality of education [3,4,5]. At the same time, the issue of developing feedback with participants in the educational process for timely informing the organizers about emerging situations and problems in order to eliminate them has received great urgency [6,7].…”