The Soil Nutrient Relationships (AGRO/SOIL 366) course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been increasing in size over the past 10 years. Course enrollments of 50 students or more can be challenging to manage and less effective using the traditional lecture classroom even when active learning activities are integrated. In Spring 2017, the course was flipped from a traditional lecture modality into a blended approach where students watched concept lectures online and came to class prepared to work on collaborative, real-world case studies. The objective of this study was to evaluate students’ interest and cognitive engagement during both independent activities and in-class meetings, and to determine the students’ reception to this teaching approach. Following completion of the semester, students (N=55) were surveyed on engagement levels. Approximately 50% of the class strongly agreed or agreed that the course approach increased their engagement while 25% of the class was unsure. When asked to compare this teaching approach with other traditional classes, 75% reported that the flipped class had a greater workload. However, only 20% reported that the flipped class was a worse learning experience than a traditional classroom. Overall, students reported that the flipped class required more work compared to the student’s experience of traditional lecture courses from their academic career; however, the understanding of the topic and cognitive engagement increased. The approach also gave instructors flexibility to augment classroom student engagement and to interact with students individually or as a group.