Flipped Classroom and Peer Learning: A New Approach to the Educational Process at University

Abstract

In this paper, a new flipped classroom model at the university emerged. The innovation of the model lies in the combination of two methods of the students' learning process: students work together in small groups before the class (cooperative learning) and also conduct presentations in groups within the class (group peer tutoring). Indeed, during the semester students alternate in the roles of the tutor and the tutee in the classroom process. The teaching experiment was carried out at the Department of Business Administration of the University of Patras in the context of the Calculus course of the 1st semester. Of the 344 participating students, 179 chose to follow the procedure of the flipped classroom while 165 the traditional lecture. It was revealed that the proposed model of the flipped classroom induces the students’ academic performance of the students. In addition, this level of academic performance is maintained even after the semester in mathematics and in courses in different cognitive subjects. The proposed flipped classroom model that emerged, can offer benefits to the educational process and the students in terms of both traditional and distance learning environments.