Students sink their teeth into flipped learning

29 Apr 2020

International classroom enjoy full learning experience virtually

Dental students from England, Northern Ireland and Malaysia came together to attend their first ‘flipped learning’ Zoom seminar. Flipped learning inverts the traditional concept of classroom-based learning: students acquire the required information on their own before class, then use classroom time to deepen their understanding through debate, synthesising information and problem-solving activities with peers. 

Clinical Senior Lecturer, Doctor Raj Ariyaratnam from the Division of Dentistry facilitated the student-led, peer-assisted, clinical case-based session, and students selected from a variety of topics on facial pain, collecting information under their own direction and presenting, discussing and debating with their class on Zoom.

The class have all remained in close contact during the crisis, sharing their preparation and work through social media, as well as creating their own learning documents.

One international student said: “Though it was the middle of the night and I am in self-isolation, I was able to participate in and contribute to the facial pain seminar.  The audio visual reception was very clear, and I presented my topic without interruption”.

The students are keen to continue to accelerate their learning online, and Dr Ariyaratnam and his team are working on combining Zoom with Nearpod, the student engagement platform in a bid to assist their revision prior to their open-book exams online.  Nearpod allows the tutor to create learning presentations containing quizzes, polls, videos and images, allowing the students to interact without inhibition.

Doctor Ariyaratnam says: “Due to this crisis our students are scattered all over the world, and some are in quarantine. While we support our students in every way, we must look for different teaching and learning ways and models which can be delivered with minimum disruption and resources.

I am confident that we have the resources, resilience and determination to overcome this unprecedented challenge, learn from this experience and come out on the other side stronger, wiser and more socially conscious and responsible.”