Increasing student learning and interest in a flipped first-year electrical & computer engineering course

This paper describes an attempt to improve a first-year level digital circuits course by flipping the course and incorporating several active learning strategies. With the primary objective of increasing student interest and learning in digital circuits concepts, an integrated instructional design framework was proposed and utilized to provide incoming first-year engineering and technology students with practical knowledge of digital circuits. This research compared the effectiveness of the flipped course with the traditional course in areas of content coverage, student learning and performance, and their perceptions of a flipped first-year course. Through a experimental study, significance of flipped course is confirmed with positive outcomes such as higher course content, enhanced student performance on exams, and positive student perceptions of their learning experience. Furthermore, all students reported that they would enroll in a higher-level engineering course and the majority reported an increased interest in pursuing a degree in electrical or computer engineering.