The Flipped Classroom: Motivating Student Nurses to Learn Independently

The flipped classroom has become an internationally recognised teaching strategy in higher education institutions including those which deliver nurse education and training. In 2014, the author "flipped" a first year module of the undergraduate nurse training programme at a University in the United Kingdom. Through the creation of on-line lectures and self-paced, independent e-learning activities students steered their own direction, pace and depth of learning. Class time was then dedicated to engaging students through discussions, debates and active learning exercises. The aim of this research was to explore, using self-report questionnaires, the extent to which the flipped classroom stimulates student’s motivation to engage with elearning activities. The research concluded that the flipped classroom delivery model motivates students to learn independently. The primary motivational stimuli included a heightened student enjoyment of e-learning that provided intrinsic motivation and peer group work as an extrinsic motivator.