Impact of flipped classroom model in increasing the achievement for medical students

BACKGROUND: Over the past few years, there has been a parallel development in the use of the internet and technology for teaching purposes. The Flipped classroom model (FCM) used by the instructor aims at spending more time interacting with students rather than lecturing them. There are very few studies about the effectiveness of FCM on student performance and perception as compared to the traditional lecture in colleges of medicine. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the FCM on the academic achievement of students in terms of increased performance and perception as compared to the traditional lecture the medical students in Al-Neelain University-Sudan. METHOD: This case-control study compares using (FCM) in the medical students at Al-Neelain University and the traditional lecture and its effect on students' academic achievement. The students were randomly assigned into two groups (A & B), flipped classroom group A (30 students as a test), and traditional classroom group B (33students as control). Major outcome indexes were pretest and posttest results used for students' academic achievement performance assessment and a questionnaire used for student perception evaluation about the FCM. Finally, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS programs. RESULTS: Although the pretest and posttest scores showed highly statistically differences within each group (A&B) with P<.000, when comparing the pretest and posttest scores of the studied groups showed that, there were no statistically significant differences between the pretest and posttest scores between them with P=0.912 and 0.100 respectively. However, more than 80% of participants were satisfied with using a flipped classroom. While more than 90% of students were more motivated to learn in flipped classrooms meeting learning targets when they used FCM. CONCLUSION: There was a positive student perception towards using the FCM, despite no significant effect of FCM on medical students' academic achievement.