Effectiveness of flipped vs traditional course structures in upper division oceanography courses

Abstract

In the past decades the introduction of online and remote learning has created the need for new ways to teach content that focus on the active learning component of teaching, one of these methods is the flipped course structure. My study evaluated the effectiveness of flipped and traditional course structures in teaching upper division oceanography online. Using two upper division oceanography courses, Marine Geology and Geochemistry (OCEAN 310, traditional structure) and Fluid Dynamics and Waves (OCEAN 285, flipped structure), I assessed the effectiveness of these courses using three different metrics: student grades, student responses to a survey about the effectiveness of course elements, and IASystem course evaluations. I found that students in OCEAN 285, which was a flipped structure for the first time in Autumn of 2020, had higher grades than previous years while students in OCEAN 310 had similar grades as compared to previous years. The course effectiveness survey showed that problem sets in the flipped course (OCEAN 285) were the most effective course element across both courses. Finally, while overall course evaluation scores were lower in 2020 than in previous years for both courses, OCEAN 285 maintained higher scores than OCEAN 310. There are however, many uncontrolled variables in this study, and more research in needed to understand the relationship between course structure and effectiveness including how changes to assignments influenced grades in both courses.