On 27th August 2016, DWIT student Ms. Nikita Gautam under the supervision of Academic Officer of DWIT, Mr. Bijaya Kumar Shrestha presented their research paper entitled, “Flipped Classes: New e-learning Object in Nepal and Perspective of Teachers.” in the 3rd International IT Conference on ICT for Intelligent Computing. This paper was put forward with the joint effort of DWIT and Asst. Prof. Manoj Sakya of Kathmandu University. This was the second time that a DWIT student worked as a co-author on a research paper and presented it at an international conference.

Click to view the article on the first conference presentation: http://dwitnews.com/dwit-students-present-at-it4d/

Nikita Gautam, a junior year student from DWIT the co-author and one of the presenters at the conference. Let us hear her overall experience about the research:

My involvement in this research taught me an important lesson that research is all about appropriate writing with collecting, analyzing and presenting the DATA. Since this was a small research paper which had to be completed within a limited amount of time, there were some significant challenges that I had to face. Designing the survey questionnaire was one of the  major challenge, where small details could also impact a lot in the result analysis. Each and every detail had to be brainstormed and collected, carefully keeping the research objective in mind.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="467"] Mr. Bijaya Kumar Shrestha presenting his opinion about the event during the closing ceremony[/caption]

Another tough part of the research was analyzing the data. Since the research was conducted among a limited number of teachers, the analysis was a major part of the paper. Raw data itself could not reflect anything and find relationship among the collected data, considering detailed information about each individual participant of the survey was challenging. For this, a weekend discussion session was arranged with Asst. Prof. Manoj Sakya, where an estimated one-hour long session had to be extended to a four-hour long session as each detail about the data had to be correlated and analyzed carefully. The usable and impacting data on the results were carefully distinguished and separately analyzed  for further analysis.

Not only this, the LITERATURE REVIEW section was one of the major parts of the paper. For writing this section I had to read  more than a dozen research papers on flipped learning. Going through each paper was not enough as useful information from each paper had to be dug out like a hidden meaning of a puzzle. Writing the paper taught how a word could change the picture of the meaning of the research for example, “Can’t be generalized vs difficult to generalize”. Two days of back to back presentation practice were done in order to shape our presentation in a proper manner and at last, we were able to complete the presentation on time and appropriately as well. During the closing ceremony of the event, Mr. Bijaya Kumar Shrestha was selected for expressing his thoughts on behalf of the participants about the event, where he provided some feedback to the organizing committee as well. Finally, I’d like to say that this was a new and amazing experience which I shall treasure throughout my life.

[caption id="attachment_13239" align="aligncenter" width="469"] Research Team - Ms. Nikita Gautam, Mr. Bijaya Kumar Shrestha, Asst. Prof. Manoj Sakya[/caption]

Paper abstract is as follows:

Flipped classroom is a new teaching method for traditional classes which makes the instructional materials available online to the students. Flipped classroom model is gaining popularity among K to 12 schools of various developed countries and is also rapidly drawing the attention of teachers, students, parents, and school administration. This is also known as an inverted classroom or reverse instructions, a simple method to flip the things done inside a classroom with the things done at home, by incorporating technology. In this flipped model of teaching, teachers prepare video lectures for various lessons and deliver it among their group of students through the internet or other modes of delivery, outside the class. This methodology frees up classroom time and has been abundantly practiced in developed countries. In face of this situation and being a new practice in Nepal, there are obvious challenges and different perceptions of teachers on it. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspective of teachers on flipped course delivery method using internet technology as a supporting tool, in addition to the traditional method. For this, a survey was conducted among teachers of a school who are preparing flipped class videos. Teachers were found to be highly motivated towards the flipped class model. Despite different challenges such as using new technology, camera phobia, and others, teachers were found ready to face the challenges and adopt new teaching methodology. They also percept that the students will be benefited from the practice.

 Image: Nikita Gautam