Assessing the Benefits of Flipped Classroom in Enhancing Construction Students’ Technical Communication Skills

Abstract

Because of the availability of internet resources including audio and video on virtually any subject, the flipped classroom is being increasingly used in many areas. However, the benefits of using a flipped classroom on the technical communication skills of construction students have not yet been rigorously studied. Hence, a study was carried out with the objective of assessing the benefits of the flipped classroom in enhancing construction students’ technical communication skills. The University of Texas at Arlington’s graduate-level building information modeling course was selected to be taught using the traditional lecture-based format and the flipped format in two consecutive semesters. Students’ project report grades and presentation grades were used to evaluate their technical communication skills. Nine control variables representing students’ preexisting communication skills, technical knowledge, and background were considered. Hypothesis tests were conducted to compare the grades of students in two consecutive semesters. The results indicate that the flipped classroom format can significantly improve the technical communication skills of students measured in terms of project report grade and presentation grades. It is expected that these results contribute to the construction engineering and management pedagogy by increasing the knowledge of educators about the effectiveness of flipped classrooms in enhancing the students’ communication skills.