A case study comparing the flipped hybrid classroom and traditional classroom in a post-graduate chemical pathology module

Abstract

This case study compared student performance and experiences in a flipped hybrid classroom (FHC) and a traditional classroom (TC) in a post-graduate chemical pathology programme. Nine students participated in the study. The final summative grades based on clinical case vignettes assessing high cognitive domains were 55.83% (26.94) and 60.61% (36.02) for the FHC and TC, respectively. Students obtained higher scores in the synthesis domain in the FHC compared to the TC. In contrast, higher scores were obtained in evaluating pathophysiology and biochemical test results in the TC.  The thematic analysis of the open-ended questions identified three themes: (1) flipping is fun and informative; (2) TC is better with a bit of flip;  and (3) we know what we like.This study showed that the TC showed slightly better summative assessment performance, and that students are positive about flipped approaches but have their own preferences.