Use of a Mobile Anonymous Question-Raising System to Assist Flipped-Classroom Learning

Abstract

Flipped classroom emphasizes the following. First, the instructor uses a digital platform to store course contents, including video lectures. Then, students retrieve these contents from the platform and learn by themselves before class. Finally, the instructor helps the students acquire their knowledge by asking questions in class, thereby helping the students to attain their learning goals. In previous studies, it was found that students might be affected by their peers and their own personalities, causing them not to express their opinions and views; this in turn might cause the students not to learn well; in some extreme cases, some students might even give up entirely. To solve the problem that students may hesitate to ask questions in class, this research developed a mobile anonymous question-raising system (MAQ) and used it to help students raise questions. By conducting an educational experiment, it was found that the use of MAQ in class could indeed help students to learn better in a flipped classroom setting.