To Flip or Not To Flip, Exploring the Best Mix: An Action Research on the Teaching Pedagogy for Research Methods Module.

Flipped classroom pedagogy has been very popular recently in disciplines of language study and nursing with many advantages, such as increasing the level of lecturer and student interaction, as well as having a positive impact on students’ motivation, engagement, and performance. However, there is limited evidence on this radical transformation within the business school in higher education. In order to explore the best practice of implementation of this pedagogy, action research was adopted to evaluate students’ motivation, engagement, satisfaction, and performance in a Research Methods module among postgraduate students comparing 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 cohorts. The flipped classroom approach was delivered in 2016-17 with online Sorative quiz and varieties of activities within the class, and support via WhatsApp and Viber, PowerPoint with narrations, and online reading material
for before and after the class. This was compared to 2015-16 cohort when the blended teaching approach was fully adopted and the 2014-15 cohort when the traditional teaching style was used with some podcasts and videos to be watched after the class. Moreover, influencing factors of an effective use of flipped classroom were identified and evaluated according to students’ perceptions and performance. Additionally, this research developed an evidence-based flipped curriculum framework to help educators to design curriculum with evidence-based teaching strategies.