April 9, 2008
U. of Houston Study: Students in 'Hybrid' Course Got Better Grades
A University of Houston professor found that students in a “hybrid” version of his course, which involved an online component, got better grades than students who took the course in a more traditional, offline format, according to ScienceDaily.
Brian McFarlin offered two versions of the same class, Kinesiology 3306. In the first, traditional class, he lectured twice a week. In the hybrid version, he gave one weekly lecture, and a second weekly class was administered through announcements, review questions, and quizzes on WebCT (now Blackboard).
Students who took the hybrid class earned, on average, a letter grade higher than students in the traditional class. A report of Mr. McFarlin’s findings, collected over the course of six semesters, was published in Advances in Physiology Education.
More information on Mr. McFarlin’s course results can be found at the university’s Web site.—Catherine Rampell
Posted on Wednesday April 9, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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A follow-up study needs to look at the independent variables now to determine what is responsible for the grade differences. More accommodating to learning styles? Easier assessments? Academic dishonesty? Less stress?
— Robert Apr 10, 08:11 AM #
The Pew Foundation has been funding major projects which perform essentially the same “experiment” as this.
RPI’s Center for Academic Transformation (http://www.center.rpi.edu/) is essentially both the spur and the repository of many “brick and click” course redesigns across the country. The premise has been that quality is at the very least preserved and can enable increases in enrollment at little, or at least lesser, increased cost.
— Anti-hypocrisy advocate Apr 10, 09:54 AM #
Could not other independent variables be better teaching and better learning?
— Dennie Hoopingarner Apr 10, 10:02 AM #
Other independent variables:
1) The two classes were not the same class. They were two DIFFERENT classes. Think two sections of Kin.3306 taught by two different teachers; it wouldn’t be unusual for students in one class to make better grades than the students in the other class.
2) This could be due to one teacher being a better teacher than the other or it could be due to one section being LESS DEMANDING than the other section.
3) There’s no way to determine who actually was doing the online work, taking the online quizzes.
4) Grades are unreliable determiners of what was actually learned. And grades can’t tell us whether or not what was “learned” was worth learning or not.
— formerly known as. . . . Apr 10, 10:38 AM #
The article states that it was the same professor teaching both courses. And if the same exams were given to determine grades for both groups, then I think there is some strong evidence that a variety of teaching techniques yields better results than a single technique, like lecturing, used alone.
I like this combination because students in lecture classes frequently don’t have time to reflect on the material. The online class could provide assignments that require the student to process what is going on in the classroom and in their reading.
— Donna Apr 10, 11:18 AM #
If the students were aware that they were signing up for a traditional vs a hybrid class, the weaker students could have chosen the traditional class because there would be more instructor interaction.
— Debbie Apr 10, 11:19 AM #
My graduate thesis eons ago compared 2 different teaching approaches, similar to what this professor did. One variable that made a positive difference was the “novelty effect” where the students in the class using technology plus lecture maintained their interest better. Could be happening here. This effect was not sustainable over time. When it became the norm, the novelty wore off.
— MM, PhD Apr 10, 11:30 AM #
1) as other s point out there needs to be evidence that there was no difference between students in the different sections
2) cheating is a huge problem with online quizes and very hard to catch
3) oneline does have the potential to force students to actually buy and read the book, something you might be able to get away without doing in a face to face format if his other teaching style was straight lecture from the book more or less. Reading the book on your own at least forces you to pay attention, something that doesn’t always happen in class (especially if there are laptops)
4) in reference to #5’s comment – assignments to reflect and process the material can be given in either face to face or online format; if in fact the students in the online format had more reinforcement of the material due to assignments that the face to face class did not THEN it is the issue of assignments probably rather than the format that makes the difference
6) For a closer comparision of the different formats there needed to be exactly the same assignments, tests and quizes between the two groups so that the only difference was format and it sounds like this was not done. As a result there are a variety of competing explanations that can not be ruled out as being the “cause” of the differences.
— annon Apr 10, 11:33 AM #
These kinds of reports in the Chronicle put me in mind of the research into workplace environment conducted by Frederick Winslow Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. They changed various aspects of workers environments (light, temperature, air quality, etc.) measured productivity, and did find significant correlations, but not those they expected to find. They did not find that natural light was better than artificial light, or that fresh air was more beneficial than heated air. The correlations we to the changes. Each time they changed an environmental factor productivity increased, then quickly returned to former levels. Workers were reacting to the change, not the new environment.
Perhaps students in these “hybrid” classes are only reacting to the novelty rather than the learning environment itself. Once hybrid courses go mainstream perhaps the “learning” will return to previous levels.
— Michael Perkins Apr 10, 11:39 AM #
As several comments, above, indicate in different ways, this “study” was so muddled by important but unclarified details that it tells us essentially nothing at all.
— Don Erickson Apr 10, 11:42 AM #
Two words: Clever Hans.
One more word and one number: Statistics 1.
— the first marci Apr 10, 01:13 PM #
Remember that this is a hybrid class-1/2 online, 1/2 face-to-face, so research on both types of classes, plus the newer research on hybrids could be brought to bear. One think that hasn’t been considered is that the teacher may enjoy teaching the hybrid class more for a variety of possible reasons—less commute time, more time at home, etc. However, hybrids often do take more prep and instructional time for teachers and online classes take the most prep and instructional time. Teachers must interact more with students individually, which some students like better and say helps them learn more than in F2F classes. This, however, is also more demanding, as one commenter noted, since the teacher can tell who has and hasn’t done the reading and other assignments.
As for the research available on the online course component, Some research has shown that students taking classes online have to be better students to succeed—more self-motivated, studious, etc. Those who aren’t drop the online classes. This is borne out by the fact that online classes have higher drop rates that face-to-face.
Hopefully, the professor already had dumped the pedagocially archaic method of lecturing prior to teaching hybrids. Lecturing is a method proven many times over to be ineffective. However, some who do stick to this method translate that teaching style into their online classes, posting PowerPoint lectures, etc., to simulate a classroom lecture.
One must also consider that students can often do the work online as it is most convenient to them on a weekly basis, not at a set class time. The article doesn’t mention whether sychronous chats or activities were required.
— Lisa Apr 11, 10:34 AM #
Wow, Lisa. How nice for you to dismiss totally dismiss the lecture method as ineffective after its thousand years of clearly effective results. Not to say that it is the only way. But you comment does beg the question, if lectures are so awful,
1) why do campuses across the world, bring in speakers to lecture for nice fees? And some of them aren’t even celebrities.
2) Why do cruise lines hire lecturers or why do tours hire lecturers?
3) Why are the better lecturers populuar professors even if their classes demand more? That is an merely anecdotal observation based on 37 years of experience as student and professor.
Glad you are so confident.
— Abelard Apr 11, 11:28 AM #
I speak from experience as a former student of both the online and traditional classroom. For me the traditional classroom is like being spoon fed. My online classes required much more motivation and self-discipline.
While I agree the observations merit additional study, the findings correlate to my experience. I would be interested in more data around the profiles of the two audiences, as online learning certainly isn’t for everyone.
Finally, a comment regarding authenticating students taking quizzes / tests: are students authenticated for tests or quizzes in the traditional classroom (specifically lecture hall style courses)?
— Stori Apr 13, 12:18 AM #