Description
This session reports on qualitative data, collected in 2020, to explore how course designers, team leaders and practitioners conceptualise and implement Flipped Learning in the context of an Online pre-sessional course at a UK university.FL is a relatively novel approach, usually combined with technology (Bergmann and Sands, 2012). FL proposes to move the low order thinking skills tasks outside the classroom and the high order thinking skills tasks into the classroom (Lockwood, 2014). However, as Abeysekera and Dawson (2015) explain FL is difficult to define. This could be one of the contributing factors to FL being conceptualised, and implemented, in different ways.
This session explores how principles of FL informed the design of an OL EAP presessional course. In line with similar courses, this presessional follows a top-down approach. It is conceptualised and designed at institutional level. Practitioners, often hired for the duration of the programme, are then asked to follow the syllabus and materials designed in-house.
This session starts by investigating how FL is conceptualised by course designers and team leaders. It then explores practitioners' understandings of FL, followed by the approaches to implementing activities informed by FL. The data presented shows discrepancies in conceptualisation not only at a course design level but also among instructors. Interestingly, activities are also implemented differently despite using the same materials and syllabus. Therefore, this session questions the limitation of presessional induction programmes (Kirk & King, 2022) and calls for an explicit approach to explain how FL is conceptualised at a course level in order to facilitate practitioners' roles in the classroom.
This session will be of interest to both practitioners and course designers, as it aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion around how the principles underpinning the design of presessional courses are communicated to practitioners. It also opens up the space to explore how practitioners implement prescribed syllabus and materials in their classes.
| Period | 21 Apr 2023 |
|---|---|
| Held at | British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes, United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- Paper, Flipped Learning, Theory, Practice, Teachers, Presessional.