Development of an intensive mode neuroanatomy unit utilising the Flipped Classroom

In 2011, Macquarie University opted for an intensive mode session three during the summer break, which compressed a traditional teaching program of 13 weeks into a shorter block session of five weeks. In that year, the Department of Chiropractic ran an intensive mode neuroanatomy unit. To do this, the traditional offering for that course was offered in the compressed timeframe without change to curriculum, learning outcomes, teachers or format of the course. The pre-recorded lectures were made available online, and the practical and tutorial content and time was retained. The outcomes that were collected and compared with those attained that year in the traditional offering were the standard numerical grades (SNGs) and the results of a questionnaire that measured student satisfaction with the course. The cohort in session three did significantly worse (p = 0.001). However, the overall satisfaction with the course was the same for the two cohorts. This experience demonstrated the necessity for considerable change in teaching strategy when transitioning a unit taught traditionally to intensive mode delivery. Without such change, the quality of the learner experience may be severely impacted. We have looked to the Flipped Classroom teaching model to redevelop this unit for the upcoming session three, 2013, and will compare the same outcome measures of this cohort to the first session three and to the traditional mode session two cohort of 2013, with the aim of measuring whether this is an effective way to improve learning and teaching in an intensive mode delivery of the course.