Using flipped classroom, peer discussion, and just-in-time teaching to increase learning in a programming course

In this paper we report on an experiment conducted in an attempt to improve further the learning environment in a basic campus course on Object-Oriented Programming and Design given to first-year engineering students studying Computer Science and Engineering. This course has for years had the same traditional set-up that is common also in other engineering schools around the world including lectures, mandatory programming assignments, and a final written exam. What we did was to substitute the lectures for in-class sessions based on a variant of the teaching method known as “flipping the classroom” combined with certain elements of Peer Discussion and Just-in-time teaching. To make all this work, we introduced a web-based MOOC tool into the course. To be able to investigate the quantitative effects of our experiment, we had an experiment class consisting of 70 students taking the course in this new way and a control class of 57 students taking the course in the traditional way. On the final written exam, which was identical for the two classes and marked the same way, 81% of the students in the experiment class passed compared to 60% in the control class. Moreover, the share of students passing with good grades was 58% in the experiment class compared to 32% in the control class. So, not only did the share of students passing the course increase by a third, but also the share of students passing with good grades almost doubled.