Instructional Technology Students’ Experiences with Online and Hybrid EducationBy Timothy Dedeaux

Introduction

Despite Budget Crises, schools at all levels continue to invest in online and distance education, including course management software like WebCT and Blackboard

But students have varying experiences with, and perspectives on, the experience of online and hybrid education

Research Participants

Despite their technological skills and their frequent contact with online courses, Instructional Technology students’ attitudes towards online and hybrid courses had not been studied.

It is not enough to simply assume that IT graduate students would be comfortable with online learning environments.

Research Questions

What are the IT Grad Students’ Experiences with, and opinions of,

Online courses? Experiences with, and opinions of,

Hybrid courses? Suggestions for improving Online

and Hybrid courses? Preferences for future coursework?

Methods

Qualitative study, using semi-structured face to face interviews with five Instructional Technology graduate students.

Interviews were transcribed by the researcher

Participants’ responses were coded for themes

Observed Themes

Asynchronous Education, a two-edged sword

Two of the strong points of online education, convenience and independence, are directly tied to its asynchronous nature

But, the main suggestions for improving online education were to add weekly synchronous chats.

Observed Themes

Among the participants, Overall Student Satisfaction did not appreciably differ between Online, Hybrid, and Face to Face courses, and there was not a consistent preference for any one type of course.

This echoes results found by other researchers with other student groups, such as York (2008).

Observed Themes

Transactional Distance (so named by Steinman, in 2007), or the difficulty in communicating with the instructor and other students, was a major concern, especially in text-only asynchronous environments.

Participants suggested synchronous text chats, voice chats, and video conferences.

Observed Themes

Communication with the instructor was seen as vital by all participants.

Participants expressed a desire to have both synchronous and asynchronous communication with instructors available in all three formats, Online, Hybrid, and Face to Face

References

Steinman, D. (2007). Educational Experiences and the Online Student. TechTrends, 51(5), 46-52.

  York, R. O. (2008). Comparing Three

Modes of Instruction in a Graduate Social Work Program Journal of Social Work Education, 44(2), 157-172.