Running head: PERSONAL REFLECTION 1

Personal Reflection: The Role and Nature of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education with a

Special Emphasis on the Flipped Classroom Approach

Cristina Montagna

Long Island University POST

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Personal Reflection

This paper presents a written personal reflection on the nature and role of

interdisciplinary studies in education with a special emphasis on my primary area of interest, the

flipped classroom approach, a blended learning pedagogical method.  The reflection begins with

an explanation of the nature of interdisciplinary studies in education, as well as a discussion of

its role in student learning.  Following this is a reflection on how Long Island University (LIU)

Post’s doctoral program applies interdisciplinary studies through each course offered, as

explained through my academic experiences within the program.  The discussion then transitions

to explain how my doctoral coursework contributed to the interdisciplinary perspectives of my

proposed dissertation study, and culminates with my proposed methodology and its significance,

as influenced by my doctoral studies.

The Nature of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education

The nature of interdisciplinary studies in education brings together separate academic

disciplines around common themes or issues.  For instance, within LIU Post’s doctoral program

in Interdisciplinary Educational Studies, the curriculum is organized around the following

themes: child-centered education, reform and transformation in education, the cultures of

primary and secondary education, pedagogical innovations, educational leadership in primary,

secondary and higher education, and educational policy studies, that are explored through the

integration of various disciplinary lenses.  This integration is the key factor in interdisciplinary

education (de Greef, Post, Vink, & Wenting, 2017).

This integration is necessary because complex problems cut across academic disciplines. 

For example, when considering the theme of reform and transformation in education, it cannot be

comprehensively understood without considering the influence of: (a) change, organization, and
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human development theories, (b) policies and laws, (c) economies and finances, as well as (d)

changes in technology.  In this example, the theories, methods, and results of seemingly

unrelated disciplines each provide a specific perspective on the theme of reform and

transformation in education.  To reach a more comprehensive explanation of complex, real-life

problems, insights from several disciplines have to be reconciled and combined, therefore, one

needs an interdisciplinary approach (de Greef et al., 2017).

The Role of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education

The role of interdisciplinary studies in education is to help students become integrative

thinkers who can see connections in seemingly disparate fields of study and draw on a wide

range of knowledge to develop new solutions and make decisions (de Greef et al., 2017).  This is

particularly essential as society is constantly transformed by technology, and an interdisciplinary

approach educates students to  come up with innovative integrated solutions to our contemporary

problems.  This integrative thinking is a hallmark of divergent thought, which produces many

different solutions to the same problem from multiple perspectives.  In turn, this divergent

thought characterizes creativity (Santrock, 2017).  Thus, interdisciplinary education promotes the

integrative and creative aspects of thinking, but surveying related research also indicates that it

advances other forms of cognitive development.

Repko’s (2008) findings identified several cognitive abilities fostered by this approach,

including: (a) structural knowledge, (b) interdisciplinary understanding, and (c) the integration of

conflicting insights from alternative disciplines.  The development of structural knowledge

pertains to students gaining both factual and procedural knowledge on a given topic. 

Interdisciplinary understanding, on the other hand, is advanced through exploring issues though

varying disciplinary perspectives, which in turn promotes the integration of conflicting insights
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from alternative disciplines.  This again, pertains to thinking, as it entails careful and creative

thinking (i.e., divergent thought) rather than reverting to a single disciplinary explanation (i.e.,

convergent thought).

The Application of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education: A Personal Example

The previous discussion on the nature and role of interdisciplinary studies in education is

demonstrated through its application in each course offered within LIU Post’s doctoral program. 

In each doctoral course, students are encouraged to examine key education themes/issues

through alternative academic disciplines and demonstrate this interdisciplinary thinking and

learning through the completion of key assessments.  One such key assessment is the completion

of literature reviews as a way for students to demonstrate their structural knowledge on a topic,

as well as their integrative thinking and interdisciplinary understanding of alternative theories,

methods, and results to provide a well rounded discussion of related surveyed literature.  As a

result, the literature reviews completed within each course provide a student’s innovative

insights into, and integrative recommendations for, the specific education theme/issue being

explored.  

As a key assessment, these literature reviews are designed to assist students with their

culminating project within the program, which is the completion of a doctoral dissertation.  My

dissertation topic focuses on my primary area of interest, which is technology-based teaching

methodologies in higher education, specifically, the flipped classroom approach.  This is a topic

that spans interdisciplinary issues such as: (a) reform and transformation in education, (b)

pedagogical innovation, and (c) student-centered learning.  Thus, within my doctoral courses, I

completed multiple literature reviews on the flipped classroom approach, analyzing the literature 

through alternative academic disciplines.  

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For example, within EDD 1205 (Critical Issues and Trends in Pre-K – 16 Education) and

1206 (School Reform: Instructional Leadership in Pre-K-16 Settings), I completed literature

reviews that explored examples of success in reforming higher education to include technology-

based learning, such as the innovative pedagogical approach of the flipped classroom, through

integrating social, political, economic, and academic lenses.  Within EDD 1201 (Educational

Reform: An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Perspective), I completed a literature review (included

in my digital portfolio) that surveyed research pertaining to varying theories from different

academic disciplines (cognitive theories and motivation theories), and discussed how these

theories could each potentially explain the effectiveness of the flipped classroom learning as a

student-centered approach.  The completion of these literature reviews became the foundation

from which I organized the interdisciplinary perspectives for my proposed dissertation study, and

therefore will contribute to the first two chapters of my dissertation.   

How My Doctoral Coursework Contributed to the Interdisciplinary Perspectives for My

Proposed Study

This section discusses how the flipped classroom approach pertains to two major themes

in education today: (a) reform and transformation, as well as (b) student-centered learning.  The

discussion of the former integrated social, academic, historical, and political disciplines.  The

discussion of the latter integrated theories from alternative academic disciplines, including

psychology and cognitive science.  Under each of these themes, examples were provided of the

interdisciplinary nature with which my topic of interest (i.e., the flipped classroom approach)

was explored within my doctoral coursework throughout EDD 1205, EDD 1206 and EDD 1201. 

Reform and Transformation in Education

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Reform and transformation is a common theme in education.  This theme can be

holistically understood through the exploration of alternative disciplines.  This interdisciplinary

perspective was promoted within EDD 1205 and EDD 1206, which allowed me to examine the

flipped classroom approach through a focus on the social, academic, economic, historical, and

political needs for the adoption of innovative instruction by institutions of higher education. 

What follows is a very brief example of how the perspectives of the aforementioned disciplines

were integrated throughout my dissertation research.

Social and academic perspectives. From a social perspective, I had to survey research

exploring how higher education institutions have been meeting the needs of an ever changing

student demographic, with a higher influx of non-traditional students enrolling, as studies

(Gierdowski, 2019) have indicated that demographics influence the kinds of learning

environments students prefer and select when taking their courses.  In reviewing related

literature, I found that the flexible nature of the flipped classroom approach, meets the needs of

diverse and nontraditional student populations (Gierdowski, 2019).  It was also found to increase

student satisfaction with, and engagement in, institutional teaching and learning, as well as

improve student learning outcomes and achievement (Office of Educational Technology [OET],

2017).  Combined, these factors have the potential to improve the image of higher education

institutions, driving student enrollment, and increasing student retention and completion rates,

which in turn has maintained the continued institutional interest in innovative technology-based

pedagogies (Strelan et al., 2019).

Economic perspectives.  Exploring the flipped classroom approach through an economic

perspective, my literature search explored the current higher education revenue pressures

encouraging the adoption of cost effective technology enhanced pedagogies and programming. 
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In doing so, I found that higher education institutions are able to achieve economies of scale by

spreading the high cost of initial investment in educational technologies across a potentially large

group of students to keep programs affordable (Miller et al., 2017).  In turn, flipped learning

online methods not only increase affordability, they also increase and improve student access to

higher education.  Affordability and accessibility, in addition to equity, are major themes

throughout the history of technology-based learning, and have continued to be in 21st century

higher education policy and educational reform, exploration of which provides a richer context

from which to understand the rise and impact of online and blended learning (e.g., the flipped

classroom approach).

History and policy perspectives.  In researching the history of the flipped classroom

approach, literature states that it began in the United States as correspondence education in the

1800s, and transitioned into distance education in the 1900s, before becoming the blended

learning approach it is known as today.  At the turn of the 21st century, several publications

(Hénard & Roseveare, 2012) presented action plans and frameworks outlining educational

reform that combined quality pedagogy with technological advancement, developed in response

to the previously discussed key challenges facing higher education institutions.  The National

Education Technology Plan (NETP) for Higher Education (OET, 2017) addressed these calls for

reform as the first federal post-secondary technology policy document that presented online and

blended learning recommendations for transforming student learning, instructor teaching, and

online assessment, thereby, promoting programming affordability, accessibility to higher

education, and equity-based instruction.

Thus, my research findings and review of education policy support the implementation of

the flipped classroom approach.  More importantly, my exploration of the approach’s social,
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academic, economic, historical, and political needs provide a wide range of knowledge that can

potentially assist higher education institutions in the decision to adopt this innovative approach. 

This is a conclusion I would not have reached without having taken an interdisciplinary

perspective. 

Student-Centered Education 

Analysis of the previously discussed perspectives gives rise to an equally important

question, why do research findings indicate that flipped learning has shown to improve student

achievement, as a student-centered approach?  This was a question I was able to explore in

another literature review completed for EDD 1201, through the examination of multiple theories

from alternative academic disciplines, including psychology and cognitive science.  What

follows is a very brief example of how the perspectives of the aforementioned disciplines were

integrated within my dissertation research.

SDT.  From a psychology perspective, my review of the extant literature found that

improved outcomes in the flipped classroom could be explained by self-determination theory

(SDT; McLaughlin et al., 2014; Zainuddin & Perera, 2019).  This theory identifies autonomy,

relatedness, and competence as the three innate needs which, when satisfied, yield intrinsic

motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000).  According to SDT, autonomy refers to students’ ability to

control and regulate their studies based on their own pace and needs (Ryan & Deci, 2000). 

Within a flipped classroom setting, autonomy is fostered through student engagement with self-

paced pre-lecture learning, involving multimedia videos and assigned readings.  Relatedness

refers to in-class social interaction with peers and the course instructor, and is thus emphasized in

a flipped approach through in-class lecture and cooperative learning activities (McLaughlin et

al., 2014).  Competence relates to students’ ability to improve their competencies in knowledge,
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skills, and attitude, which is enhanced in a flipped model through the use of JiTT, inclusive of:

(a) assessments, which allow students to apply their knowledge and skills; and (b) instructor

feedback, which enables students to identify strengths and weaknesses in mastering course

content (McLaughlin et al., 2014; Zainuddin & Perera, 2019).

Dual Coding Theory.  In addition to psychology perspectives, my research took me in

the direction of cognitive science for alternative explanations as to why flipped learning is an

effective learning method.  I found that the results of flipped classroom studies are supported by

research in cognitive science, with respect to the brain’s vision, auditory, and memory functions. 

According to dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971), people receive and process information through

two distinct but interrelated channels: a verbal channel, which processes verbal material, and a

visual channel, which processes pictorial material and nonverbal sounds.  This theory explains

the effectiveness of video lectures, when compared to textbook readings, because multimedia

videos add images to verbal messages, which enhance the retention of that message in one’s

memory because it is stored in two distinct functional locations (i.e., verbal and visual) rather

than in just one.  

Thus, an examination of alternative theories from separate academic disciplines provides

a more comprehensive understanding as to why the flipped classroom approach is an effective

student-centered teaching and learning modality.  The research provided in this section of my

reflection paper demonstrates the integrative nature of interdisciplinary studies in education, as

well as its role in enhancing my thinking, understanding, and cognitive abilities when addressing

interdisciplinary issues in education.  Though this research is brief, it does provide some 

preliminary interdisciplinary background, context, and research findings that will provide the

foundation for my proposed dissertation study on the flipped classroom approach. 

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My Proposed Study’s Methodology and Significance

In fact, the purpose of my proposed dissertation study is to identify, contrast, and

describe the shared viewpoints and beliefs held by graduate-level counseling students about their

experience of flipped classroom instruction in a counseling techniques course, at an urban New

York City college, within the context of Q-methodology.   As a mixed-methods approach, Q-

methodology utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods to study human subjectivity, and

as such, is an interdisciplinary research methodology in itself.  As covered within our course

experiences in EDD 1005 (Educational Research Methods I), EDD 1006 (Educational Research

Methods II), and EDD 1007 (Applied Research Design in Educational Studies), the qualitative

component explores the diversity of participants’ subjective experience, perspectives, and

beliefs, while the quantitative component utilizes correlation and by-person factor analysis to

identify different views that exist within the group of study participants while also allowing the

researcher to determine areas of consensus.  As a result of employing this methodology, an

understanding of students’ viewpoints and beliefs toward a flipped classroom setting will enable

university educators, administrators, researchers, and policy-makers to determine how to design,

develop, and implement this model to enhance student learning experiences, as well as instructor

pedagogical performance.

In a more general sense, the intended contribution of this study is to also provide findings

to better inform pedagogical reform and technology policies in higher education, aimed at

enhancing student learning and satisfaction in response to the current climate of: (a) changing

student demographics; (b) declining enrollment, retention, and completion rates; (c) declining

revenue and funding; and (d) technological advancement, along with the need to equip students

with appropriate 21st century skills.  In a broader sense, the findings of this study will equally
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add to the national conversation around federal, state, and local institutional policies promoting

access, affordability, and equity for students in postsecondary education.

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References

de Greef, L., Post, G., Vink, C., & Wenting, L. (2017). Designing interdisciplinary education : A

practical handbook for university teachers. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam

University Press.

Gierdowski, D. C. (2019). ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology,

2019. Louisville, CO: ECAR.

Hénard, F., & Roseveare, D. (2012). Fostering quality teaching in higher education: Policies

and practices. Paris, France: OECD.

McLaughlin, J. E., Roth, M. T., Glatt, D. M., Gharkholonarehe, N., Davidson, C. A., Griffin, L.

M., & Mumper, R. J. (2014). The flipped classroom: A course redesign to foster learning

and engagement in health professions school. Academic Medicine, 89(2), 236-243.

doi:10.1097/acm.0000000000000086

Miller, A., Topper, A. M., & Richardson, S. (2017). Suggestions for improving IPEDS distance

education data collection. Washington, DC: NCES.

Office of Educational Technology. (2017). Reimagining the role of technology in higher

education: A supplement to the national education technology plan. Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Education.

Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Repko, A. (2008). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory. NY, New York: Sage

Publications.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic

motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.

doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
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Santrock, J. W. (2015). Life-span development (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Strelan, P., Osborn, A., & Palmer, E. (2019). Student satisfaction with courses and instructors in

a flipped classroom: A meta-analysis. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 36(3),

295-314. doi: 10.1111/jcal.12421

Zainuddin, A., & Perera, C. J. (2019). Exploring students’ competence, autonomy and

relatedness in the flipped classroom pedagogical model. Journal of Further and Higher

Education, 43(1), 115-126. doi:10.1080/0309877X.2017.1356916