Flipping a programming course: The good, the bad, and the ugly

In the traditional form of teaching and classroom organization, lectures are given in class, and tests and examinations are given in class. The major drawback of this approach has been the difficulty of getting the students engaged in a traditional lecture. A computer science course in programming seems to be a natural class to implement a flipped classroom approach: individualized pacing for theory with cohort based skill acquisition. A flipped classroom is a form of blended instruction where students learn course content outside of the classroom and either homework or other forms of active learning activities occurs in the classroom. Herein is a summary of our observations based on several semesters of implementing a flipped classroom and report on observations made. There are numerous advantages to flipping a class such as allowing for more interaction during the face-to-face class meetings; it also allows for deeper learning to take place as students get their hands-on practice. We explore these practices and more, and compare and contrast what worked and what didn't work from our experiences. We also identify procedures critical to success and what procedures we view as less important.