Chinese Undergraduates' Perspectives on a SPOC embedded flipped classroom

Abstract

A recent considerable transformation from an elite educational system to a stage of massification within the area of higher education in Mainland China calls for the use of a Small Private Online Course (SPOC) embedded flipped classroom. This raises questions about whether the proposed model is perceived as important and effective. This study reports on the feedback of a four-month experiment using a SPOC embedded flipped classroom model which involved 150 English-major undergraduates at a public university in Mainland China. Adopting an online-based questionairre, the study explored the attitudes of students towards learning of the English language through the proposed format. Major findings revealed that the proposed model was partially perceived as contributing to the development of students' autonomous, active and collaborative learning skills. However, some issues remained in relation to the time allocation of online learning and in-class sessions and students' lack of strong motivation in self-driven learning. Pedagogical suggestions were offered such as the provision of an introductory program.