Assessing the Impact of the Flipped Classroom Model on Students' Academic Performance in Zambia during COVID – 19: Students’ Perspective

Abstract

With the advent of COVID-19, the objective of this study is twofold. First, it aims to investigate the impact of the Flipped Classroom (FC) Model on students' academic achievement from their perspectives. Second, it reveals the students' opinions about the model itself. A total of 52 respondents drawn from four carefully selected higher education institutions that offer blended mode of delivery that is both online as well as face to face. Qualitative data was collected using a five-point Likert scale analyzed using cross-tabulation and content analysis. The students studying outside the classroom stated they experienced problems regarding the difficulty of the contents and insufficiency of the resources. Among the other problems were lack of time to study outside the class, difficulty in understanding the topics, and learning difficulty, poor internet connectivity. They also indicated that the cost of data and smartphones were also a deterrent to their smooth learning. Those studying using face-to-face point out that they would shun classes than attend classes to avoid contacting COVID-19