The flipped classroom approach in undergraduate engineering courses: students’ perceptions

Abstract

The flipped classroom approach is useful in many educational environments, including on-line, blended and face-to-face, and especially during challenging times, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on constructivist learning theory [1], and social cognitive career and motivation theory [2], this study was guided by two research questions: 1) how can the flipped classroom approach activate learners’ previous knowledge with the use of new materials in the form of recorded videos and other materials in a virtual engineering classroom?; and 2) how do engineering students describe their satisfaction and experience after a semester-long course based on a flipped classroom? An experimental classroom environment was created for four second-year engineering courses with the same instructor at a South Korean university. The results indicate that students enjoyed the flipped classroom approach due to student autonomy and student-to-student interactions. The study results may assist to improve and upgrade the current on-line, blended, and face-to-face courses and programmes with technologically-assisted teaching and learning tools