Flipped classrooms for programming teaching

Meshaiel M. Alsheail, Amal A. Al-Shargabi

Many researchers acknowledge that programming students who graduate from computer science and information technology are not really prepared for the job market. Accordingly, researchers as well as educators, are continuously looking for new methods, models, and techniques to improve programming teaching and learning. Among the models that have been successfully applied in education, in general, is the flipped classroom. Flipped classrooms are those that make use of online tutorial videos that explain the next lesson in which the students watch them before coming to the physical class. Although the flipped classroom model has been applied widely in education, it has not been used much in programming education. This paper presents a case study on the effectiveness of applying the flipped classroom model in programming classes. Specifically, the study compares the flipped classroom model with the traditional lecture-based model for programming teaching. The case study was conducted on two groups of students for a complete semester in which the first group was taught programming using the flipped model, and the second was taught using the traditional lecture-based model. The results indicated that the flipped classrooms helped programming students to better understand the lessons and motivated them towards learning as compared to the lecturer-based classrooms. The study suggests the integration of flipped classrooms in programming classes. 

Advanced Studies: Euro-Tbilisi Mathematical Journal, Vol. 16,  supplement issue 2 (2023), pp. 9-27