Nanyang Technological University (NTU) plans to put lectures and
course content of half of its nearly 3,000 undergraduate courses
online within the next five years, so that more "flipped-classroom
teaching" can be done.
The idea of the flipped classroom reverses the traditional teaching
arrangement by delivering instructions, often online, outside of
the classroom, leaving classroom time for deeper learning
activities such as homework and discussions.
The university will spend about $75 million implementing this
unconventional learning model, with some 1,500 courses to use it by
2020. For a start, it targets to convert at least 150 undergraduate
courses to use the new pedagogy in this academic year, which
started in August, with a third of them already completed.
This was revealed at the official launch of NTU's $45-million
learning hub, The Hive, yesterday. The building - composed of 12
eight-storey-high towers of stacked, rounded rooms - is designed to
support the teaching method.
Kam Chan Hin, NTU's senior associate provost of undergraduate
education, said while the approach is suitable for the bulk of the
university's courses, particularly those that would benefit from
student interactions, not all can be converted to go online.
Professor Kam added: "The ability to take learning into their own
hands is an invaluable skill that will stay with our students even
after they graduate."
The Hive, which took almost three years to complete, has done away
with traditional classroom layouts. Each of its 56 "smart"
classrooms, designed with no corners, comes equipped with flexible
clustered seating, electronic whiteboards, multiple LCD screens and
wireless communication tools.
NTU has, in the past three years, converted tutorial rooms in other
buildings into such classrooms. A second learning hub, with more
smart classrooms, is being built and will be ready by 2017.
Then, it will have about 200 smart classrooms to support
flipped-classroom learning. The university has already introduced
the approach in some programmes such as renaissance engineering and
medicine, and the approach will be rolled out progressively for
others.
Under the approach, students may go through course content at their
own pace via videos or recorded PowerPoint presentations before
class. They then form groups of five or six, and discuss questions
as a team during class time.
The Hive, which has almost no straight edges, was dreamed up by
renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick.
It had been nicknamed the "dim sum-basket building", as the
structure resembles the round wooden trays used for Chinese
snacks.
