Theme: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Specialisms: Flipped Classroom
Speaker: Dr Markku Saarelainen, University of Eastern Finland
Facilitator: Prof. Chi Ming Wong, HTI
Facilitator: Dr Laura Zhou, EDC
Facilitator: Ms Xiaoyu Luo, EDC
Date: 03 Nov 2025
Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Online via Zoom
Speaker:
Markku Saarelainen, PhD, is a University Lecturer in Physics at the University of Eastern Finland and the founder of Flipme International Oy. Widely regarded as Finland’s leading trainer of the Flipped Classroom, he has coached hundreds of university teachers and led institution-wide adoptions across multiple HEIs. From 2018–2023, he served as Professor of Practice at Tampere University, focusing on strategic development of teaching through flipped learning. His implementation work was recognised with the EAPRIL Best Practice Award (2018). Markku’s recent projects combine train-the-teacher programmes with responsible use of Generative AI for material creation, formative assessment, and feedback—aimed at improving student engagement while reducing teacher workload.
Flipped Classroom only succeeds when teachers can adopt it quickly and sustain it in real courses. In this session, Dr. Markku Saarelainen presents an evidence-informed, train-the-teacher pathway that has helped hundreds of faculty implement flipped learning at scale. We focus on four essentials: purposeful pre-class design, active in-class patterns, formative assessment that guides teaching, and rapid iteration using simple analytics. Participants will leave with concrete templates and a clear roadmap for a pilot course next term, plus options for local train-the-trainer support that builds durable capacity at PolyU.
EDC Coordinator: Xiaoyu Luo
