It’s Not the Upside Down: Creating a Flipped Classroom Experience for Critical Appraisal

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Critically appraising medical literature is a skill that every medical student needs, however, finding experienced instructors and time in the curriculum can be challenging – especially with multiple campuses. An assistant director worked with an associate director to design a flipped classroom model for teaching critical appraisal skills to medical students. In addition, the assistant director designed an in-house training program and facilitator guides to ensure that librarians had the skills to deliver the sessions to campuses around the state. METHODS: Using Kaltura, the assistant director designed and recorded short video tutorials with embedded formative assessments for prognosis, harm, and diagnosis. Librarians attended a “teach through” where they were introduced to the material. Students completed the video tutorials and a summative quiz within a course management system ahead of a facilitated small group session. The summative quiz included questions to assess satisfaction and comprehension. All librarians reviewed the summative quiz data to customize the sessions. RESULTS: Summative quiz feedback was positive. The data provided by the embedded formative assessments showed that students were able to answer questions based on the information provided in the tutorials. In addition, anecdotal evidence from the course director shows that students were satisfied with the new modality. Librarians used both the summative and formative quiz results to tailor the sessions to individual campus needs. This also allowed for scaffolding and reinforcement of instruction across the three sessions. CONCLUSIONS: The flipped classroom model allowed librarians to maximize critical appraisal instruction while minimizing face-to-face classroom time. In addition, librarians felt comfortable serving as facilitators rather than lecturers for material that librarians had not previously taught. We will continue to use this model since it provides the students with self-directed learning opportunities with minimal disruption to course and librarian schedules.