Flipping the Introductory American Politics Class: Student Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom

Abstract

Much attention has been centered on the use of emerging technologies in higher education, including flipped classes. However, widespread admiration for and adoption of these innovations seems to be occurring at a much faster pace than the assessment and evaluation of them. Questions about student performance in and perception of flipped classes remain unanswered, so more research is needed. This study examines student perceptions of a partially flipped Introduction to American Politics course. In general, the results indicate that students preferred the partially flipped format, although (1) it is not clear that students would prefer a fully flipped course, and (2) some aspects of the flipped format worked better than others.