Design principles for fully online flipped learning in health professions education: a systematic review of research during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, some instructors transitioned their courses into a fully online environment by adopting flipped learning. In this context, this review examined the challenges to fully online flipped learning and identified useful course-design elements for practicing this instructional approach in health professions education. METHODS: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement for selecting relevant articles. Thirty-three empirical studies (with 32 unique interventions) published between 2020 and 2021 (i.e., the first 2 years of the pandemic) were selected for analysis. RESULTS: When the instructors in the reviewed studies designed and implemented their online flipped courses, numerous challenges emerged, which could be broadly categorized into student-related challenges (e.g., unfamiliarity with online flipped learning; N = 5), faculty challenges (e.g., increased workload; N = 8), and operational challenges (e.g., students’ technical problems; N = 9). Nevertheless, we identified various useful elements for online flipped learning practice and organized them based on the following components of the Revised Community of Inquiry (RCoI) framework: cognitive presence (e.g., application of knowledge/skills; N = 12), social presence (e.g., peer interaction; N = 11), teaching presence (e.g., instructors’ real-time demonstration/facilitation; N = 17), and learner presence (e.g., care and emotional support; N = 4). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the findings from the review and the RCoI framework, we developed nine principles for the effective practice of online flipped learning. These principles appear crucial for sustaining quality health professions education in a fully online flipped learning environment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03782-0.