A Quantitative Comparison of the Effectiveness of Traditional and Flipped Pedagogical Models in an Intro to Cybersecurity Course

Contribution: This article compares student performance and student course perception scores of a traditional pedagogical model with those of a flipped pedagogical model. The comparison is done across eight semesters, four for each model, in an introductory cybersecurity course at Washington State University.Background: Previous work has been limited in the field of empirical studies comparing the effectiveness of traditional and flipped classroom pedagogical models in introductory cybersecurity. This article aims to address that knowledge gap.Research Question: In terms of student performance and student course perception metrics, how does the effectiveness of a flipped classroom approach measure when compared to the effectiveness of a traditional model?Methodology: Numerical observations which are tested by a series of two-sample t-tests for the difference in means. The results of these two-sample t-tests are verified further by two factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests. Findings: Students tend to both perform better and appreciate the course higher if the course is offered using the flipped method compared to the traditional pedagogical method. Correlation Coefficients between the evaluation and performance scores vary very close to zero, suggesting a low degree of correlation.