Flipping the Classroom to Engage Students in a Graphical Communications Course

The flipped classroom, which requires students to study concepts before the class, apply what they learn in the classroom, work with other students and get immediate feedback from the instructor, is not a new concept. However, the effectiveness of the online study and student’s perception of the flipped classroom were not widely studied in the area of engineering graphics. This paper presents a pilot study of the flipped classroom in a Graphical Communications course. Students are required to study course material online and take online quiz before the face-to-face classroom experience. The online course study includes multimedia materials and online quiz. The results of anonymous student surveys and exam scores verify that flipped classroom is effective when used for teaching graphics and was well accepted by students.