Student Perceptions of a Hybrid Course

Abstract This study explores students' (n=156) perceptions towards a hybrid introductory textile science course offered at the university level. Results suggest students are satisfied with the hybrid learning model, preferring the hybrid learning model to both the online-only and offline-only course presentation format. Introduction The goal of hybrid courses is to join the best features of offline teaching with the best features of online learning to promote active independent learning and to reduce class seat time (Young, 2002). Hybrid courses are not traditional distance education courses, as they are not entirely online. They are also not simply traditional classes with a website, as online time replaces some classroom time. Further, these classes often require extensive course redesign as information posted online should augment the offline assignments and discussions. Hybrid courses offer advantages over face-to-face teaching by making the best use of physical resources and maximizing student learning by providing a variety of teaching and learning formats. They also offer advantages over totally online courses, due to the reduced but not eliminated professor-student and student-student contact (Garnham & Kaleta, 2002; Reiboldt, 2001; Robertson & Stanforth, 1999; Volery & Lord, 2000). Institutions of higher education have become increasingly engaged in utilizing the Internet and computers as pedagogical tools. This is because of the relative affordability of computers and the ever-increasing simplicity and processing speeds of computer and Internet applications (Jurison, 2000). As such, online learning has grown significantly over the past decade due to its real and perceived benefits (McGinn, 2000). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2000-2001, 90 percent of public 2-year and 89 percent of public 4-year post-secondary institutions offered some type of distance education courses with an estimated 1,472,000 enrollments in college-level, credit-granting distance education courses (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Among institutions offering distance education courses, 90 percent offered asynchronous Internet instruction and 43 percent offered synchronous, or real-time, Internet instruction (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). With the increased availability of the Internet, many colleges and universities focused on developing fully online courses that required no face-to-face meetings, hoping to attract students who could otherwise not get to campus. In recent years, however, many colleges and universities have encouraged students who live on or near their campuses to take hybrid courses. John R. Bourne, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Fairleigh Dickinson, surmised that in the near future, "somewhere in the 80-90 percent range of classes could sometime become hybrid" (Young, 2002). Purpose As a result of the phenomenal adoption and growth of hybrid learning environments it is imperative that educators and administrators understand the experiences of students who have participated in hybrid learning and assess student satisfaction with elements of these courses. Thus, our main objective in this empirical study is to examine student perceptions and overall satisfaction with a hybrid course. It is not our intention to describe or analyze student retention of material or learning of the information, but rather student perceptions regarding the course format. This is especially important since student perceptions have been correlated to adoption and willingness to register for online courses (Singh & Pan, 2004). An introductory textile science course taught during the spring 2005 semester was selected for this study. The basis for the selection was that this hybrid course incorporates traditional in-class, face-to-face weekly laboratory meetings as well as online Internet components. …