Mixing Flipped Classroom with Mental Mind Mapping for Deeper Learning: A Case Study within the Tunisian Higher Education Sector

To meet the needs of our knowledge-based society, students must have problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, learning-to-learn, and communication skills. Transferring knowledge is important to using these skills in non-school environments, communicating effectively, and applying content in new situations and future work. Flipped Learning has the potential to promote Deep Learning (DL). This paper describes a case study involving Flipped learning, to engage students in DL in an Economic intelligence course. We use the lens of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to understand how the relationship between the human mind (what people think and feel) and activity (what people do) operates in mixing Flipped classrooms with mind-mapping techniques to promote DL. The evaluation of the results shows that students have a deeper understanding of the subject, but it also confirms a strong need for time and generalisation. The new pedagogy has to be introduced earlier in the school and integrated within the curricula to reinforce the students’ capacity for transfer and application. Isolated experimentation by teachers of Flipped Classrooms and Mind Mapping is insufficient to transfer knowledge in problem-solving situations. This limitation could negatively impact future entrepreneurs’ cognitive skills and task identity. Entrepreneurs as the main drivers of economic development need competencies in information and knowledge searching to reduce environmental uncertainty. They also have to make sense of early warning information to convert it into knowledge supporting the decision-making process.