Building a Better Classroom and Learning Experience in Construction Management Courses through Flipped Learning

Concern that increasing student enrollments and larger class sizes are impacting student learning motivated faculty at a 4-year public university in the Southeastern USA to perform a mixed-method study to examine the effect of a Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) on required course within a Construction Management program. The study targeted 120 students enrolled in both on-campus (45 students) and online (75 students) classrooms. While the online students were taught asynchronously using a traditional lecture-based classroom model, the on- campus students were taught using an FCM. Thus, the online students served as a control group, while the on- campus students served as a study group. Both online and on-campus students were taught by the same instructor using the same materials and assessments. Student academic performance was measured using several assignments, with additional qualitative data collected through both pre-implementation and post-implementation surveys. Data show a significant improvement in both the distribution and average assignments scores in the study group. The study also reveals several interesting trends regarding student reactions to flipped learning, the importance of self-directed learning, and the role of technology in strengthening student learning and problem- solving abilities.