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General Information
- Instructor: Prof. Tristance KEE Yee Chun
- Department: Department of Building and Real Estate
- Subject: BRE 5731 Managing People in Projects
- Class Size: 68
- Students: Postgraduate students
Why Use the Flipped Classroom Approach?
As this subject integrates both theoretical knowledge and practical application, Tristance adopted the flipped classroom approach for two main reasons. Firstly, she believes that the flipped classroom approach empowers students to take greater ownership of their learning by allowing them to study foundational concepts at their own pace outside of class, thereby enabling class time to be used for deeper engagement, problem-solving, and peer collaboration. Secondly, she has accumulated several years of experience in implementing the flipped classroom approach, which enables her to design the course that effectively engages students and tailors to students’ needs. This approach not only fosters active learning but also enhances students’ ability to retain and apply knowledge in real-world contexts.
Implementation Steps
Tristance prepared two main categories of resources for students to review before class. The first included concise 5–8 minute industry videos on construction project management, each spotlighting Hong Kong-specific scenarios and sourced from reputable online platforms. The second comprised of carefully selected literature, rather than assigning full-length research papers, Tristance provided students with succinct summaries and key excerpts from relevant case studies. All resources were made available on Blackboard to ensure easy and organised access for every student.
Pre-class activity
Before each class session, students are expected to independently engage with selected videos and reading materials posted on the Blackboard platform. To gauge their understanding, Tristance uses Padlet to administer interactive quizzes directly tied to the pre-class content. Students are free to respond in any format—whether through text, images, or AI-generated content. To motivate active participation, these quiz responses contribute 10% to the overall participation grade for the course.
In-class
At the start of each lecture, Tristance reviewed the key concepts from the pre-class videos and readings, addressing any common questions or misunderstandings revealed by the Padlet quizzes. Building on this foundation, she delivered a focused lecture to clarify and expand on the most important knowledge. If she noticed students losing focus, she introduced interactive activities using tools such as Miroboard, Padlet, or Mentimeter. These activities included live polls, word clouds, and online discussions related to the topic.
Tristance also organised multi-role debate group activities to deepen students’ understanding. This activity is based on the construction of engineering scenarios. Each student played a professional role, such as architect, quantity surveyor, engineer, contractor, solicitor, or accountant, allowing them to represent different stakeholder perspectives. Students formed groups according to their roles and engaged in debates for 15–20 minutes. After the debates, each group presented their outcomes to the class, which was followed by a 20–30 minute open discussion. To further enhance learning, Tristance encouraged students to use GenAI tools to summarise their group discussions. These summaries were then shared on Padlet for peer review and feedback.
Tristance took a hands-off approach during the group activity. She monitored group talk frequency, only stepping in to guide groups that became silent, to maximise student learning autonomy.
After-class
To encourage students to consolidate their learning, students were required to complete a reflective journal after class. In journals, they could reflect on their experiences during the group activity, provide feedback on the class, and summarise the key knowledge they had gained. The reflective journal accounted for 10% of the overall course assessment.
What Impact Did This Have on Student Learning?
At the same time, Tristance gathered further data through post-course student feedback. Students reported feeling more engaged and having a stronger understanding of project management principles and strategies. The flipped classroom activities helped to develop critical thinking, teamwork, and communication skills, which are essential for future project managers. This approach also allowed for more personalised feedback and support during class time.
What Are the Good Practices That Can Be Learnt from This Case?
Preparing specific pre-class materials to address student workload
The flipped classroom approach involves assigning pre-class learning tasks, which can make it challenging to balance academic requirements with student workload. Tristance addressed this by selecting carefully curated case study videos of 5–8 minutes and providing key excerpts instead of full papers for reading materials. This approach reduced the workload for students while still meeting pre-class learning objectives.
Using participation marks as an incentive for pre-class engagement
Tristance encouraged students to participate in pre-class activities by publishing posts on the Learn@PolyU platform and linking quiz completion to 10% of the participation marks. This approach effectively motivated students to complete the pre-class activities. The quizzes were open-ended, allowing students to use AI tools and to respond with text or images. By removing strict text-only requirements, students were able to express their analysis of the reading materials more freely, using independent thought and AI-assisted perspectives to enrich their responses.
Enhancing student motivation, engagement, and understanding through in-class activities
Tristance used several activities to boost student motivation, engagement, and understanding during class. Firstly, she watched how students were participating during class. If she noticed that students were losing focus, she quickly introduced interactive tools to bring them back to their attention. Secondly, she encouraged students to use AI and share their ideas on interactive platforms. This helped all students to join in, even those who were usually quiet. Thirdly, she also organised real case-based group debate activities to help students learn more deeply and become more active in their learning. This group activity focuses on construction industry scenarios where students debated from the perspective of different professional roles. By defending the interests of their assigned roles in structured debates, students were encouraged to think critically and analyse problems from multiple perspectives. As a result, students became more engaged in class and developed a deeper understanding of the subject matter
What Were the Challenges Encountered During the Implementation and What Solutions Were Used?
Tristance encountered technical problems in the classroom. The classroom computers lacked a shared file system, making it difficult for students to access their presentation files. IT support informed her that extra software was needed, but it could not be installed immediately. As a temporary fix, Tristance asked students to email her their files. However, the classroom computer then blocked the downloads, forcing her to first save the files to her personal OneDrive. Ultimately, the problem was resolved.
Limited awareness of flipped learning among students
Tristance discovered that most Year 3 and 4 students knew very little about the flipped classroom approach. A survey she conducted highlighted a clear need for better promotion of this teaching approach to students.
