Reflections on a First-Time Flip in a Differential Equations Classroom

Reflections are presented on the first time flipping of an introductory Ordinary Differential Equations course. Assessment results, student motivation, and student attitudes are compared between flipped and traditional learning pedagogies in this course over two terms at a small technical university in the northeast United States. Assessments and the instructor were identical between sections with the two pedagogies. The results of most of the assessments were found to be invariant with pedagogy with the exception of the final exam for the first term studied. Results of that assessment showed a nearly 17% lower score in the flipped pedagogy section compared to the traditional section. An increase in student motivation levels, as measured by the Situational Motivation Scale, showed modestly higher motivation levels among the students in the flipped sections, particularly toward the later weeks of the course. Instructor inexperience with the flipped model as well as the heterogeneity of student learning preferences may have contributed to these results.