Developing Students’ “Soft Skills” through the Flipped Classroom: Evidence from an International Studies Class

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Abstract The goal of this study is to evaluate the application of the flipped classroom (FC) format in the international studies curriculum. Previous research has examined the impact of the FC on students’ performance, operationalized by test scores, and demonstrated the utility of this technique in the learning process. Our research goes beyond student performance to evaluate the impact of the FC on student class attendance and the development of a set of soft skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking, self-efficacy, academic self-concept, and perception of learning. In our experiment, we compare an FC with a non-flipped class that combines traditional lecturing with other active learning techniques, such as presentations, teamwork activities, and problem-based debates. The study finds that the FC did not have a substantial impact on either students’ performance, attendance, or soft skills. The differences between the two groups were too small to corroborate any tendency in favor of one or the other format. For the most part, students performed in a similar way. This can suggest that the benefits of an FC format might be less when compared with other active learning techniques.