Teaching methods in higher education are adapting to the challenges currently faced by societies, shifting the focus from the instructor to the learners. Among the different active learning methodologies that have emerged to adapt to the new reality of more technologically sophisticated students, the Flipped Classroom format has gained much popularity in practically all fields of education. Most studies have been done in introductory courses, while evidence of the effects of flipping the classroom in advanced courses is practically non-existing.

This paper fills this gap in the literature by examining the impact on academic performance of different designs of the flipped classroom methodology in an advanced undergraduate Macroeconomics course. We use data for different sections of the Advanced Macroeconomics course of the bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Barcelona in most academic years from 2016-17 to 2023-24, and analyze how varying degrees of flipped instruction affect students’ academic achievement. Specifically, we apply regression analysis to estimate the effect of the teaching methodology (using dummy variables for non-flipped, partially-flipped, and completely flipped course) on students’ performance in the final exam and the overall course grade. Other explanatory variables include age, gender, access grade at the university, work status, number of times the course has been taken, time schedule of the course (distinguishing between morning and afternoon).

Our findings indicate that the fully flipped classroom model has a negative impact on student performance in advanced courses. In contrast, the partially flipped classroom approach appears to enhance academic outcomes. Additionally, we find significant performance differences by gender, with female students achieving higher grades. Students retaking the course, however, tend to perform worse.

These results provide valuable insights into the extent to which the flipped classroom enhances student learning and engagement, offering implications for curriculum design and instructional strategies in higher education.

Keywords: Flipped classroom, higher education, teaching, active learning.