The flip side of traditional nursing education: A literature review

The flipped classroom (FC) andragogy purports an improvement of critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students. This literature review explores fourteen research studies and discusses outcome measures reported on the effectiveness of using this teaching modality. Students described the learning activities during the classroom meeting times as valuable and indicated the interaction and engagement were beneficial to their learning. Many students opined an increased comprehension of the subject matter. Overall, the FC required more work on the part of the students and the faculty, and the majority of students preferred the traditional classroom (TC) passive method of learning over the FC active learning andragogy as a result of the substantial time commitment required for preparation necessitated by the FC. Five of the fourteen studies evaluated student learning outcome measures; four studies showed an improvement in the FC environment compared to the TC and one reported the FC was at least as effective as the TC. Further studies with quantifiable outcome measures are required to determine the effectiveness of a FC on critical thinking and problem-solving skills of nursing students.