Comparing the Effectiveness of an Inverted Classroom to a Traditional Classroom in an Upper-Division Engineering Course

An inverted, or flipped, classroom, where content delivery includes video lectures watched outside of the classroom, is a method that can free classroom time for learner-centered activities such as active and problem-based learning. This study compared the effectiveness of an inverted classroom to a traditional classroom in three areas: 1) content coverage; 2) student performance on traditional quizzes and exam problems; and 3) student observations and perception of the inverted classroom format. A control-treatment experiment comparing an inverted classroom to a traditional lecture-style format was used. The results show that: 1) the inverted classroom allowed the instructor to cover more material; 2) students participating in the inverted classroom performed as well or better on comparable quiz and exam questions and on open-ended design problems; and 3) while students initially struggled with the new format, they adapted quickly and found the inverted classroom format to be satisfactory and effective.