The Flipped Classroom for Teaching Millennials: A Competency-Based Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

This paper describes a competency-based pedagogical framework as the basis for designing a flipped classroom for millennials taking an undergraduate course on sustainable business. Its theoretical underpinnings are culled from the literatures on learner empowerment, epistemological belief systems, and the social construction of knowledge. The desired learning outcomes of this pedagogical framework include the development of cognitive competencies, collaborative knowledge acquisition skills, and motivational skills. In a flipped classroom of an undergraduate sustainability course, students acquired these competencies and skills to use intelligently information about sustainability which they found on the Internet. The paper describes in some detail how the course was taught in an actual class to impart such competencies and skills. The flipped-classroom pedagogy allows for better student learning outcomes by incorporating student collaboration, and by fostering critical thinking and ethical reasoning. The paper demonstrates how teacher and student benefit from the competency-based pedagogical approach within a flipped-classroom format. This approach moves beyond the traditional giver and receiver format to a more fellow-explorer format.