EFFECTIVENESS OF FLIPPED CLASSROOM APPROACH: A CASE STUDY WITH FRESHMEN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN OMAN

Higher education sector is witnessing significant challenges in dealing with first semester undergraduate students. Generally, freshmen in the Sultanate of Oman are from different academic and social backgrounds and they face challenges in progressing themselves from high school to college. Engaging students with teaching and learning process in their first semester is quite difficult as they are very new to basic concepts and scientific principles of respective specialization. Therefore, the current study focuses on enhancing students learning experience and engagement with the course content. The students considered for this study were enrolled in civil engineering programme at a higher education institution in Oman. Teaching and learning pedagogy for one of the first semester modules, Introduction to Civil Engineering has been shifted from traditional classroom to flipped classroom approach. This student centered learning approach supports students to apply the knowledge acquired and reinforce their professional and personal growth. Mixed-methods approach was used to collect data through questionnaires and focus interviews with students. Student’s performance was monitored through classroom activities and end semester results. Findings of this study revealed a high degree of satisfaction among students irrespective of the challenges they faced. The study concludes a positive and promising correlation between flipped teaching approach and the enhancement of students’ lifelong learning skills.