Why Not Blend Face To Face And Online Course Environments?

Since before the middle ages, the preferred environment for student learning has been the lecturing professor and the listening student. Recently, theory and technology has caused this traditional educational model to be challenged. As one of the drivers of change, distance learning courses offered over the Internet have shifted the professor’s lecture role to one which has a great emphasis on being a guide, a mentor and a facilitator. This paradigm shift has produced research projects and journal articles which argue both sides of the question concerning which environment (classroom or distance) provides for better student learning. It is the intent of this paper to promote a hybrid learning environment built on the best features of the face-to-face and distance learning environments. Hybrid or "blended courses" typically mix distance learning technology with traditional classroom approaches. For instance, one form of a hybrid course might meet 50% of the time, in class, face-to-face, once a week. The other 50% of class time would be conducted via the Internet. This paper examines both the classroom and Internet environments with respect to student satisfaction and to student learning levels. Based on the comparison results, the paper concludes that blended, hybrid courses can better serve a wide spectrum of selected student learning styles and yield high quality learning outcomes.