Abstract
Introduction
Education encounters several shifts and changes due to knowledge flow and technological revolution. The change in the world is no longer limited to a teacher’s role in transferring knowledge to learners, but rather training them on how to obtain knowledge and directing them to self-learning. Besides, it is also essential to renew teaching methods in line with the latest developments in the field of information and communication technologies to keep abreast of future developments and challenges. Zaitoon (2004) points out that many educational studies have pointed to the enormous change that will occur due to introduction of internet into the educational process and changes in the form of a modern school. To be specific, several strategies have emerged based on the use of new technologies such as e-learning strategy, smart teaching strategy, integrated learning strategy, flipped class strategy, and web-quest strategy (Al-Khalifa & Mutawea, 2015).
Flipped classroom is one of the recent trends that emerged in 2006, which relies on internet and use of modern technological media such as video clips and audio files. The flipped classroom has basically two stages: The first stage takes place before students’ coming to class in which they get knowledge via computers, smartphones, or tablets. The second stage of learning occurs in a classroom where students interact with discussions, exercises, and learner-based activities such as problem-solving activities, laboratory experiments, role-play, and collaborative and innovative projects (Abanmi, 2016; Al-Roussa, 2018; Long et al., 2017). According to Flipped Learning Network (FLN, 2014), flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.
Bishop and Verleger (2013) define flipped learning as “an educational technique that consists of two parts: interactive group learning activities inside the classroom, and direct computer-based individual instruction outside the classroom” (p. 5).
Accordingly, the flipped classroom is a unique mixture between two theories of learning: constructivism, in which active learning takes place in classroom under the teacher’s supervision and behaviorism from which direct-based lectures stem. Such direct-based lectures are watched by students before attending classroom (Al-Roussa, 2018).
Flipped learning has many advantages in education such as giving teachers more time to help students receive their inquiries. Besides, it creates an environment for collaborative learning and offers opportunity to develop students’ self-learning skills in classroom (Kim et al., 2014). It also ensures good utilization of the class time and increases students’ efficiency in academic achievement (Al-Zain, 2015). As for, flipped learning allows students to repeat a lesson more than once based on individual differences. It also provides an opportunity for a teacher to make optimal use of classroom time in guidance, motivation, and assistance, thus improving the learning environment (Strayer, 2007). R. Davies et al. (2013) state that flipped learning encourages a better use of modern technology in education. In the same vein, Metwally (2015) emphasizes the use of the flipped classroom strategy in teaching and learning.
In flipped classroom, there are some difficulties that should be considered, among which are availability and internet speed in all regions, teachers’ training to act the role of a guide instead of an instructor, production of internet and CD- or DVD-based learning materials, and students’ acceptance to be responsible for their learning.
The teachers’ practice of instruction is influenced by many factors such as their understanding of the discipline and its processes of instruction, scientific trending, open mind, thinking ability, and beliefs about good teaching, which reflects their perceptions of how students learn.
Chingshe (2000), Al-Roussa (2007), and Al-Qahtani (2014) demonstrate a strong relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices, meaning that teachers’ beliefs largely reflect their philosophy of teaching, their perception and judgments, which in turn have an effect on their behavior in a classroom. Accordingly, teachers’ beliefs may constitute either obstacles or ways to renew their teaching practices.
Problem Statement
The last decade of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century has witnessed a dramatic progress in the field of technology in general and in information technology, namely, computers and communications. Due to great technological progress and its widespread use in the means of communication, the author found it important to integrate these media in the educational process to increase interaction between a teacher and a learner. However, the current situation in state education focuses on traditional methods. The author has noticed such issue in the field-based education schools, which is manifested in Islamic education teachers’ reliance on the traditional teaching methods that are confined to instruction, dialogue, discussion, presentations, and lectures. In such type of learning, the student’s sole role is to remember rather than acquiring information. Such approach does not fit with the trends of the current generation, which aim to enable students to seek for sources of information and make them responsible for their leaning through integration of technology in the educational process to make it more interesting. Several previous studies have confirmed the weakness of the traditional method of teaching in different levels of education (Abanmi, 2016; Abdul-Ghani, 2016; Al-Roussa, 2018; Al-Tayeb & Sarhan, 2015; Al-Zain, 2015; Metwally, 2015).
The author has investigated this area of research due to the importance of investigating the relationship between the teachers’ practices and beliefs. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no single program was devoted to practices and beliefs about flipped learning. These issues motivated basically the conduction of this study, which aimed to answer the following questions:
How effective is the proposed program in developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of flipped classroom?
How effective is the proposed program in modifying practitioner teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom?
Is there a correlation between the teachers’ practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom?
To answer these questions, the author formulated the following null hypotheses:
There were no statistically significant differences at .05 between mean scores of the posttest of the experimental and control groups in practices of the flipped classroom.
There were no statistically significant differences at .05 between the mean scores of the posttest of the experimental and control groups in the scale of belief about the flipped classroom.
There is no correlation of statistical significance at .05 between the practitioner teachers’ practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom.
Objectives of the Study
This study aimed to achieve the following objectives:
To measure the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing practitioner teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom.
To measure the effectiveness of the proposed program in modifying practitioner teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom.
To measure the correlation between the practitioner teachers’ practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom.
Significance of the Study
The significance of the study lies in the following aspects:
This study may contribute to the use of modern teaching strategies that are in line with the requirements of the 21st century such as flipped classroom.
This study may assist learners to learn in the right place and time through the use of technical applications.
This study could provide faculty members, supervisors, and researchers with an observation card and a scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom.
The importance of the study lies in drawing the researchers’ attention to conduct further studies on the practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom.
Definitions of Terms
Effectiveness
It is the ability to perform the right actions or to determine the desired or expected effect of a learning program to achieve the objectives for which the program was set. Such effectiveness is measured by identifying the increase or decrease in the mean scores of the study group (I. Davies, 1980).
The operationalized definition of effectiveness is the extent to which the proposed program can have an effect on developing the practitioner teachers’ practices and modifying their beliefs about the flipped classroom in the Department of Islamic Studies. This effect is statistically calculated by
Flipped classroom
It is a form of integrated education that employs modern technology to provide education that matches the needs of students and the modern-day requirements. In such form of learning, students watch short video lectures at home or during the time allocated for exercises, projects, and discussions. The classroom takes the form of “a training workshop in which students explore what they want to investigate about content of the syllabus and test their skills in applying knowledge and communicating with one another” (Al-Khalifa & Mutawea, 2015, p. 463).
The flipped classroom is defined as a transformation from traditional classroom learning to active learning, including exercise, projects, and discussions. What has been done as a homework changes into using computers and smartphones to watch video lectures before attending a classroom.
Beliefs
Wenden (1986) defines beliefs as “opinions which are based on experience and opinions of respected others, which influence the way they act” (p. 27). The operationalized definition of the term is a practitioner teacher’s opinion on the flipped classroom in which it is viewed as a reality and a guide for their behaviors and thinking.
Limitations of the Study
The study is limited in its scope to the following:
The study targeted bachelor female students, who study Methods of Instruction in Islamic Studies in the Department of Islamic Studies at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University.
The proposed program includes two stages. In the first stage, the proposed program was applied on the experimental group through the course of Methods of Instruction. In the second stage, the author assessed the extent to which the practitioner teachers applied practices of the flipped classroom during the period of field education.
The author used an observation card to measure the teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom and a scale of belief to measure their beliefs about flipped classroom.
Previous Studies
The concern of this section is to review the previous studies that have investigated the teacher’s practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom at national and international levels.
Davies et al. (2013) aimed to identify how technology was used to teach undergraduate students the technical skills and to recognize the benefits of the flipped classroom and its effect on their achievement and satisfaction, using “Spreadsheet” at Brigham Young University. They found that using technology in flipped classroom was effective in students’ achievement and it has facilitated the learning process and motivated students to learn. Hao (2014) demonstrated the role of flipped classroom in motivating students to learn and developing their attitudes toward flipped classes in the university courses. Al-Zain (2015) conducted a study on 77 female students majoring in Early Childhood and Special Education to measure the effect of the flipped learning strategy on students’ academic achievement in the Faculty of Education at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. She found the effectiveness of the flipped classroom in students’ achievement and so the author recommended teachers’ encouragement to use the flipped learning strategy.
Abdul-Dhaher (2016) aimed to study the effect of a proposed flipped-classroom-based program on the development of students’ achievement, retention of learning, and their attitudes toward flipped learning in the Department of Mathematics in Al-Wadi College of Education. Her sample consisted of 63 students in the first year of Philosophy and History of Mathematics. She found the effectiveness of the flipped-learning-based program in students’ learning.
Abanmi (2016) aimed to study the effect of the flipped class strategy on second high school students’ achievement and attitudes toward the course of Tafseer. A total of 60 students were selected from the King Abdullah Educational Complex. A positive effect was detected for flipped learning on the development of students’ academic achievement and their attitudes toward the course of Tafseer.
Abdul-Ghani (2016) aimed to measure the effect of the flipped learning strategy on students’ achievement and retention of learning in teaching History. In total, 100 female students were chosen from second high school students. The main finding is the effectiveness of the flipped classroom strategy in raising the level of students’ achievement and retention of learning.
Al-Garibah (2017) aimed to measure the effectiveness of the flipped classroom strategy in the fourth year high school students’ achievement in the Al-Hadeeth course in Riyadh. A total of 33 students were selected from the science track of the high school. The findings showed the effectiveness of the flipped classroom in teaching Hadeeth and its positive effect on students’ remembrance and understanding.
Aimed to measure the effect of the flipped classroom on the academic achievement of 71 students in the first grade of the secondary class. The results showed the effectiveness of the flipped class in the students’ academic achievement at cognitive levels (i.e., remembering, understanding, application, analysis, composition, and evaluation).
Al-Roussa (2018) aimed to study the effect of the flipped classroom on students’ achievement and development of habits of mind in teaching Strategies and Assessment of Science Instruction. A total of 54 students were selected from the Department of Curriculum and Methods of Instruction of Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. It was found the effectiveness of the flipped classroom in students’ academic achievement.
As for the studies on beliefs, Harington (2002) aimed to recognize how preservice teachers’ beliefs grow during field training and measure the effect of co-teachers’ beliefs and practices on preservice teachers’ beliefs and practices. The sample was divided into two groups: The first group included three preservice teachers and the second one included three co-teachers. The author used a questionnaire, recorded interviews, and an observation. The study found that there are factors that have influenced the beliefs and practices of teachers, including social and political rules inside and outside the classroom. It was also found the effect of co-teachers’ beliefs and practices on preservice teachers.
Murphy et al. (2004) aimed to explore the beliefs of the second-grade students, preservice teachers, and teachers about good teaching. The study sample consisted of three groups: students (60), preservice teachers (61), and teachers (22). The author used the Tokman card for corrective feedback and interviews. The findings showed that beliefs about good teaching seem to have been formed at an early age, with a clear difference between the beliefs of second graders and teachers during service.
Al-Roussa (2007) investigated the effectiveness of a proposed program in developing practices and modifying beliefs about active learning. The author used the scale of beliefs about active learning on 50 female teachers. The results showed the significant effect of the proposed program on modifying teachers’ beliefs about active learning.
Al-Qahtani (2014) aimed to measure the effectiveness of a proposed active-learning-based program and its strategies in modifying beliefs of 23 Geography teachers of the sixth grade about active learning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The results showed the effect of the proposed training program on the modification of teachers’ beliefs about active learning.
Reviewing the previous studies on practices and beliefs about flipped learning has demonstrated the following:
Previous studies emphasized the importance of flipped classroom and its positive effect on students in terms of their participation and willingness to take responsibility for their learning.
This study has aligned with the studies of Al-Roussa (2007), Davies et al. (2013), and Al-Zain (2015) in terms of sample (undergraduate students) and good attitude toward conduction of the flipped class at university level.
This study agreed with Abdul-Dhaher (2016) in the identification of the effectiveness of flipped-classroom-based program in teaching.
Some previous studies recommended the application of flipped classroom in teaching, paying attention to beliefs, and the necessity of recognition of beliefs to recognize the relationship between beliefs and teaching strategies.
Research Methodology
The study followed one of the true experimental designs, namely, posttest-only control group design. Two equal groups were selected: Group 1 is experimental and Group 2 is control. The proposed program is applied only to the experimental group. After the period of application of the proposed program, the posttest was applied to the subjects of the experimental and control groups. Table 1 shows the experimental design of the study.
Experimental Design.
This design helps avoid seven threats to internal validity, namely, history, maturation, selection, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression, and sampling effects (Al-Sherbini, 1995). Selection of this pretest-free type of experimental design is due to the fear of the effect of the pretest on the posttest, which may have an effect on the internal validity of the experiment. In addition, using pretest may have a negative effect on the practitioner teachers’ motivation to study the program later for their feeling of difficulty of the items of the program (Adas, 1996).
Population and Sample of the Study
The study targeted all the female undergraduates in the sixth year of Islamic Studies at the Al-Kharj College of Education, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University in the second semester of the academic year 2018–2019 whose number reached 95 students. From this population, 50 female students were selected, meaning that 52.632% of the population was selected as a sample for the study. They were randomly selected and divided into two groups: experimental group (25 students were taught using flipped classroom) and control group (25 students studied the course traditionally).
Procedures and Instrumentation
This study aimed at developing teachers’ practices and modifying their beliefs about the flipped classroom. To achieve this goal, the author followed these stages:
Preparation of Materials of the Experiment
Determining the topics of the course of Methods of Instruction of Islamic Studies (2), which were taught, using the flipped classroom.
Drawing on the flipped classroom, the educational materials were prepared. It is the stage of learning that occurs before students’ attendance to classroom through offering them the content of the lectures, including course-related videos and presentations, so that the practitioner teacher studied them before attending the lecture at the right time and place.
Preparation of quizzes and activities of the flipped classroom, which contributes to the detection of the extent to which the students are pre-aware of the contents of lectures.
Design of study instruments (observation card of the practices of flipped classroom and a scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom).
Conduction of the Experiment
Guiding practitioner teachers to watch the videos and presentations before coming to class at the right time and place.
Holding a quiz at the beginning of lectures so that the students correct each other to ensure that the students are aware of the content of the lectures, providing them with opportunities to ask questions and correct their ideas before starting exercises.
Assigning activities and tasks for students and encouraging them to perform those tasks and activities.
Evaluation of the trainees’ performance at the end of the program to determine the level of their performance using the instruments of the study (an observation card and a scale of beliefs).
Instrumentation
To achieve the objectives of the study, the author designed the observation card of the practices of the flipped classroom and a scale of beliefs as follows:
Observation Card of the Practices of the Flipped Classroom
An observation card of the practices of the flipped classroom is designed according to the following steps:
Determining the objective of the observation card, which aimed to measure the level of the teacher’s ability to practice flipped class.
Writing the statements of the observation card: The first draft of the statements of the observation card was written, which consisted of three main categories of practice. Subpractices were then formulated for each of the three categories. The clarity and accuracy of the statements were considered in a way that there was no more than a possible answer.
Determination of the scoring system of the observation card: After wording the observation statements, a five-point scale was chosen, describing the level of the teacher’s proficiency of the practice described in the statements (see Table 2).
Levels of Subjects’ Responses and Scores According to the Likert-Type Scale.
Validity of the observation card
Face validity
The first draft of the observation card was refereed by an expert panel, specializing in Curriculum and Methods of Instruction to determine the validity of the instrument in measuring what it aimed to measure, clarity of the statements, and their appropriateness to achieve the objectives of the study. The researcher made modifications in the observation card according to the suggestions of the panel. The final draft of the card consisted of 32 statements, which were classified under three categories.
Internal validity and reliability
The researcher measured the internal validity of the instrument, using Pearson correlation coefficient, by calculating the correlation coefficients between the observation card statements and the sum score of the card. Table 3 shows the correlation coefficient values for each statement with its category.
Validity and Reliability of the Observation Card of the Flipped Class Practices.
To measure the reliability of the observation card, the author measured the reliability of the instrument through Cronbach’s alpha (see Table 3).
Table 3 shows a statistically significant correlation between the observation card of the teaching practices and its categories, which indicated the validity of the content of the observation card. The reliability coefficient ranged between .750 and .851. The sum of the reliability coefficient for every category ranged between .890 and .963. The value of the reliability coefficient of the card is .990, which was high, indicating the reliability of the observation card and teaching practices.
Scale of Beliefs About the Flipped Classroom
The scale of beliefs about the flipped class was designed according to the following steps:
Scoring of the Subjects’ Responses According to Likert-Type Scale.
Validity of the scale of beliefs about flipped classroom
Drawing on the literature review on beliefs and flipped classroom, the author determined the beliefs about flipped classroom in a scale, consisting of five main categories. The author prepared the first draft of the scale of 21 statements distributed in five categories.
Face validity
The scale was refereed by a group of experts and specialists in Curriculum and Methods of Instruction to consult them on the appropriateness and clarity of the statements of the scale, and the extent of statements’ belonging to its main categories. The author addressed the referees’ comments and reflected them in the final draft of the scale.
Internal validity
The internal validity of the scale was calculated by measuring the correlation between the score of each statement and its category (see Table 5).
Validity and Reliability of the Scale of Beliefs About Flipped Classroom.
Reliability of the scale of beliefs
The reliability of the scale of beliefs was measured via Cronbach’s alpha (see Table 5). Table 5 shows a statistically significant correlation between the scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom and categories and statements of the scale. This correlation indicated the validity of the content of the scale of beliefs. The reliability coefficient ranged between .729 and .847. The reliability coefficient for the categories ranged between .875 and .915. The value of the reliability coefficient of the scale of beliefs is .941, which is high, indicating the reliability of the scale of beliefs and its statements and categories.
Findings and Discussion
The concern of this section is to present and discuss the findings of the study that were based on statistical methods. The findings of the study were structured according to the hypotheses of the study.
Statistical Treatment
To achieve the objectives of the study and perform data analysis, the mean and standard deviation were calculated to test the statistical differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. Eta-squared was used to calculate the effect of the experimental treatment, whereas the Pearson correlation was used to determine the validity coefficient of the research instruments. In this study, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to calculate the internal coefficients’ reliability of the items of the instruments of the study.
Validation of Hypotheses and Analysis and Interpretation of Findings
Validation of the first hypothesis
There were no statistically significant differences at .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the observation card of the practices of flipped classroom.
To maintain the validity of this hypothesis, the means, standard deviations, and
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Table 6 shows statistically significant differences at .01 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. The value of the effect (η2 = 0.390) was high, indicating a strong effect of the proposed program on developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom.
To maintain the validity of the subpractices in the observation card of the flipped classroom, the statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups and the value of the eta-squared were calculated. Tables 7 to 9 demonstrate each statement in each category.
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Table 7 shows statistically significant differences at .1 and .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups where the
Based on these findings, the author emphasized the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing practitioner teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom in the category of organizing the classroom environment and lesson presentation.
Table 8 shows statistically significant differences at .05 and .01 and between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups where the
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Besides, it shows that the mean scores of the experimental group (12.520) are greater than those of the control group (8.480), meaning that the difference was in favor of the experimental group because they all agree on the statement of this category, except Statement 19 (i.e., encouraging students to communicate their ideas clearly to members of the group) which was not of statistical significance.
The effect size of the eta-squared ranged between 0.798 and 0.086 whose effect was large and medium, which indicated the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom in teaching and learning the lesson content.
Table 9 shows statistically significant differences at .01 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups where the
Means, Standard Deviations, and
It can also be seen from Table 9 that the mean scores of the experimental group (12.280) are greater than those of the control group (6.080), showing the difference in favor of the experimental group. The value of the eta-squared ranged between 0.292 and 0.699, which is large, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of flipped classroom in lesson evaluation.
Based on these findings, the null hypothesis was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis was retained. Statistically significant differences were detected at .05 between the mean scores of posttests of the experimental and control groups in the observation card of the practices of the flipped classroom in favor of the experimental group. As the proposed program has a strong effect on developing practices of the flipped classroom, the first question of the study was answered: How effective is the proposed program in developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of flipped classroom?
Validation of the second hypothesis
The second hypothesis states nonexistence of statistically significant differences at .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom. To validate this hypothesis, the means, standard deviations, and
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Table 10 shows statistically significant differences at .01 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. The effect size of eta-squared is large (0.281), indicating the effectiveness of the proposed program in modifying the practitioner teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom.
To validate each category of the scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom, the author calculated the difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups and the value of the eta-squared (see Table 11).
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Table 11 shows statistically significant differences at .01 and .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. The
Table 12 shows statistically significant differences at .01 and .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. The
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Table 13 shows statistically significant differences at
Means, Standard Deviations, and
The range of eta-squared (0.120–0.508), meaning that it is of large and medium effect, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed program in modifying the practitioner teachers’ beliefs about students’ participation in conversation and discussion in class.
Table 14 shows statistically significant differences at the level of .01 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups where the
Means, Standard Deviations, and
The effect of eta-squared ranged from 0.352 to 0.400, meaning that it is of large effect size, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed program in modifying the practitioner teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom, namely, students’ cooperation in class.
Table 15 shows statistically significant differences at .01 and .05 between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups where the
Means, Standard Deviations, and
Based on these findings, the null hypothesis (Hypothesis 0) was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis (Hypothesis 1) was retained. There were statistically significant differences at .05 between the mean scores of post-scales of beliefs about the flipped classroom of the experimental and the control group in favor of the experimental group. As the proposed program had a strong effect on the modification of beliefs about flipped classroom, the second question of the study was answered: How effective is the proposed program in modifying practitioner teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom?
Validation of the third hypothesis
The third null hypothesis states that “there is no correlation at .05 between the practitioner teachers’ practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom.” To validate this hypothesis, the author used the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the correlation between the practitioner teachers’ scores in the observation card of the practices of flipped classroom and the scale of beliefs about the flipped classroom (see Table 16).
Correlation Between Practices and Beliefs of Practitioner Teachers.
Table 16 shows a statistically significant positive correlation at .01 between the practitioner teachers’ practices and their beliefs about the flipped classroom in favor of the experimental group. Table 16 also shows a Pearson correlation coefficient of .984, indicating a strong correlation between the practitioner teachers’ practices and their beliefs about the flipped classroom.
Based on these findings, the third null hypothesis was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis was retained, which stated that there is no positive statistical correlation at .05 between the practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom of the practitioner teachers.
Discussion of Findings
The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed program in developing the practitioner teachers’ practices of the flipped classroom, which could be attributed to the following reasons:
The proposed program included a theoretical educational material on flipped classroom, which familiarized the teacher with the nature of this type of learning, and the purpose of its implementation in a way that increases their participation in the educational process.
The content of the program was associated with the development of performance of the teacher’s practices, who were interested and enthusiastic in using the flipped classroom in teaching.
Perhaps, the teacher’s desire to learn new methods in instruction has opened horizon before the teacher to acquire the practices of the flipped classroom.
The female students’ use and employment of modern technology in the educational process have made learning enjoyable and exciting.
Involving students in looking for sources of information before attending the classroom made them responsible for their learning, increasing students’ motivation to learn, and maintaining retention of their learning.
Giving students an opportunity to study topics at home using video has provided more time for students’ activities and applications of their knowledge more widely and deeply in the class.
The flipped classroom strategy emphasizes the idea of self-learning, which is free and flexible. Besides, it provides continuous training and active participation in the classroom to understand and absorb content, resulting in deep cognitive knowledge.
Availability of course content on the internet has enabled students to access it more than once, thus enhancing their understanding of this content and maintaining students’ progress in the learning process in the speed that matches their level.
The flipped classroom may have contributed to the effective use of class time. The students’ practice of various applications and interactive activities of different levels and diversity of methods of interaction between the teacher and the students in the class prepared the students to master the material of the course.
Students’ watch of video clips before coming to the class may enable students to prepare questions for the teacher in the classroom, which will help students understand and contribute to correct their misconceptions before practice.
One of the important factors for success of practicing flipped classroom is the teacher’s taking of some time to recognize the rules and concepts that strategies of flipped classroom depend on and to reflect on their roles as teachers in the light of flipped learning.
Students’ responsibility for their learning outside the classroom increases their motivation and stimulates them for achievement and then their attitudes toward the course content.
Teachers’ understanding of the flipped classroom practices made it easy to practice it well with students in the class.
Training teachers in using the observation card that measures the teacher’s level of proficiency in applying practices of flipped classroom may have contributed to directing students’ attention to the basic practices of the flipped classroom and thus helped them master the practices of the flipped classroom.
This result agreed with the previous studies (Abanmi, 2016; Abdul-Dhaher, 2016; Abdul-Ghani, 2016; Al-Amri, 2018; Al-Garibah, 2017; Al-Roussa, 2018; Al-Zain, 2015; Davies et al., 2013; Hao, 2014), who all found the effectiveness of flipped classroom in teaching.
The results also revealed the effectiveness of the proposed program in the modification of teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom, which could be attributed to the following reasons:
The program’s inclusion of theoretical background in the flipped classroom has increased the teachers’ enthusiasm in recognition of its advantages and possibilities of its application at all levels, which created an effect on the modification of teachers’ beliefs about flipped classroom.
It can be said that the success of teachers’ uses of a new method that does not agree with their previous beliefs and principles showed great possibility for adaptation of beliefs.
Providing teachers with an opportunity to practice dialogue and discussion during training contributed to unfolding the teacher’s beliefs, which can be modified through discussion and persuasion.
This finding was agreed with Harington (2004), and Al-Qahtani (2014) who have found the positive effect of beliefs on good teaching. The findings also revealed a positive correlation between the teacher’s practices and beliefs about the flipped classroom. The author has ascribed this result to the effect of teachers’ beliefs about flipped learning on teachers’ practices of this type of learning. Several previous studies emphasized the associations between teachers’ practices in classroom and their decisions and plans. These beliefs have an effect on the teachers’ acquisition of knowledge and reflection of this knowledge into practice in the future. Besides, these beliefs work as mental models that guide teachers’ practices and process new information. Accordingly, it can be said that teaching practices are best when the teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom are positive. Besides, the level of proficiency of practicing the flipped classroom could lead to the modification of beliefs about it. This finding is similar to those of Al-Roussa (2007), and Al-Qahtani (2014), who found associations between teachers’ beliefs and their practices. The results also confirmed that the teachers’ classroom practices reflected their teaching philosophy and influenced their selection of such philosophies. Furthermore, the identification of teachers’ beliefs assisted in designing these programs in a way that matches their needs.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the author recommended the following:
Making a good use of the proposed program in organizing training courses and workshops on strategies of flipped classroom for practitioner teachers.
Using the proposed program in training faculty members in the colleges of education, which may assist them to acquire the practices of flipped classroom.
Including strategies of flipped learning in teacher education programs in the colleges of education and encouraging them to use self-learning.
Directing faculty members’ attention majoring in curriculum and methods of instruction to practitioner teachers’ common beliefs to equip them with the desired practices.
Designing a website on flipped classroom for teachers of Shariaa, which presents different strategies of the flipped classroom with suggestions on how to apply them in different stages and with different numbers of students.
Suggestions for Further Research
Based on the findings of this study, the author proposed the following areas of research:
Conducting a study to explore the effectiveness of flipped learning in the development of self-learning skills.
Conducting a study to measure teachers and supervisors’ attitudes toward the use of flipped classroom in general education.
Investigating obstacles of using flipped classroom in general education and the mechanisms to overcome them.
Conducting a comparative study on pre- and in-service teachers’ beliefs about the flipped classroom.
Conducting a study that include field notes from external and internal observers to come up with stronger reliable results.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
Funding
ORCID iD
