Project

Flipping the EBWL Classroom

As part of the Excellence Initiative, RWTH Aachen University has founded the Exploratory Teaching Space (ETS) in order to create and test innovative ideas suited to further improve learning and teaching at the university. ETS is collecting, screening and funding promising concepts brought forward by chairs and institutions within RWTH. We are very proud that our chair's proposal for a pilot project to create a ""flipped"" version of our own largest and one of the university's major lectures, introduction to Business Administration has been very well-received and consequently chosen for funding by the deciding board of ETS. The project builds upon the principles of flip teaching: Instead of having the theoretical basics taught to the students in the classical teacher-centered style, students are tasked to watch a series of videos in which all relevant knowledge is explained as good or even better than it would have been in a traditional lecture. These videos, featuring our group's chair, Prof. Frank Piller, have been produced in not too long episodes of about 10-20 minutes, depending on the subject, to enable students to consume the knowledge in whichever amount fits their individual learning preferences. All videos are available from within the virtual learning room that all students at RWTH use anyways. Depending on personal preference, students can, for example, watch one video of 20 minutes per day and spend the rest of the time with additional literature or watch 3 or 4 videos in a row on a train during their trip home. There appears no feasible way to fit lectures better to the individual lifestyles and learning types of today's students.