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UTEP Journal Article Flips the Classroom in Nursing Education

Last Updated on August 21, 2019 at 12:00 AM

Originally published August 21, 2019

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

Franchesca Nuñez, Ph.D., assistant professor at The University of Texas at El Paso’s School of Nursing, is the first author on a journal article that examines the flipped classroom teaching model to enhance student engagement, learning outcomes in nursing education, and application challenges.

Franchesca Nuñez, Ph.D. (left), assistant professor at UTEP’s School of Nursing, is the first author on a journal article titled 'It Takes More Than One Somersault to Flip a Classroom.' It was co-authored with Diane B. Monsivais, Ph.D., professor and interim associate dean for graduate nursing education at UTEP. Photo: UTEP Communications
Franchesca Nuñez, Ph.D. (left), assistant professor at UTEP’s School of Nursing, is the first author on a journal article titled “It Takes More Than One Somersault to Flip a Classroom.” It was co-authored with Diane B. Monsivais, Ph.D., professor and interim associate dean for graduate nursing education at UTEP. Photo: UTEP Communications

A flipped classroom reverses the traditional learning environment by having students study lesson content before class and apply the content to active learning activities while in class.

Nuñez co-authored the paper “It Takes More Than One Somersault to Flip a Classroom” with Diane B. Monsivais, Ph.D., professor and interim associate dean for graduate nursing education at UTEP. The paper was recently published in Nurse Educator, a peer-reviewed journal for nurse educators and nursing school faculty and administrators.

Nuñez and Monsivais described the challenges faced by students and faculty in transitioning medical-surgical and pathophysiology courses in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program from a traditional classroom model of teaching to a flipped classroom approach. They also presented solutions to overcome those challenges such as developing a course guide to orient students to the flipped classroom model, prioritizing pre-class activities for students, assessing students' abilities to view online video recordings outside of class, and administering weekly in-class quizzes as an incentive for students to complete pre-class activities.

“Nursing is an applied science and the flipped classroom method provides students more opportunities to apply meaning to new information obtained via pre-class content, practice decision-making, and make judgments about patient outcomes while in-class,” Nuñez said. “Being aware of common challenges faced during the implementation of the flipped model and corresponding solutions may ease the transition to this form of teaching/learning method.”