Qing Liu,1,2,* Xiao-Jiao Tang,1,2,* Xin-Ke Chen,1,2 Lin Chen1,2 

1Department of Ophthalmology, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Lin Chen, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 136, Zhongshan 2nd Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400014, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8618623041022, Fax +86-23-63651759, Email chenlin1220@126.com

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of flipped classrooms (FC) based on outcomes-based education (OBE) on clinical ophthalmology clerkships.
Methods: Ninety-nine undergraduates were non-randomly assigned to the FC based on the OBE (FC-OBE) group or traditional lecture (TL) group in the ophthalmology clerkship. Pre- and post-tests were performed to assess student learning outcomes. Anonymous questionnaires were collected to compare students’ attitudes and classroom engagements between the two groups.
Results: More participants agreed FC-OBE was helpful in developing teamwork ability and knowing the work standard. Teaching staff in the FC-OBE classroom received higher evaluations. More participants in the FC-OBE group had higher classroom engagement in skills and emotions than in the TL group. The post-class test scores, mainly case analysis scores were higher in the FC-OBE group than in the TL group.
Conclusion: FC-OBE classroom improves student engagement and clinical analysis competence in undergraduate ophthalmology clerkship.

Keywords: ophthalmology education, OBE, flipped classroom, clinical clerkship, undergraduate