Chapter 4: Which Flexible Course Design is Best for Students?

Which Elements of Online Learning Do Students Value Most?

McKinsey & Company surveyed more than 7,000 students in 17 countries to find out which elements of online higher education they value most. “All students we surveyed had moved to online classes during the pandemic, and almost 65 percent of them said they want aspects of their learning experience to remain virtual. Even in France, which had the lowest share, more than half of students said they wanted some learning elements to remain virtual.”^[1]

Survey results indicate that overall students appreciated the flexibility and convenience of online learning. “Our survey found that what students value most in online learning did not vary significantly across age groups, field of study, or level of education (undergraduate versus graduate). Online attributes that are expensive to implement, such as virtual reality (VR), simulations, and sophisticated visual content, are not ranked highly by most students. Students in 16 of the 17 countries said that having a very well-organized online course with a clear path and a step-by-step guide to achieving their goals was among their five most important elements. Students identified the top three learning features that should remain or become virtual: recording classes and making them available to watch later, easy access to online study materials, and flexibility that enables students to work and study. Some students still hesitate to enroll in fully remote programs and the top three reasons identified include fear of becoming more distracted by studying online, getting bored if the learning experience is not motivating, and lacking the discipline to complete the online program.”^[2]

Which Factors Affect Students’ Attendance Choices?

At a public, 4-year, open-access university, 876 students were given a choice of how they would like to attend class, in person, online, or live stream, and all 876 chose in person, yet were provided attendance flexibility due to the pandemic. “This unique situation provided a research opportunity to explore the self-regulatory, motivational, and contextual factors that affected students’ attendance choices as well as their academic outcomes (pass/withdrawal) and perceptions of satisfaction. Results showed that 70% of students took advantage of the opportunity to flex and strongly valued the convenience, choice, and time savings. They were satisfied with connections to instructors. They were less satisfied with connections to peers, fluency between attendance modes, and technology performance. Generally, students performed well in the HyFlex courses with pass rates and withdrawal rates of 88% and 2%, respectively, for both Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 terms.”^[3]

What are Students’ Perceptions of HyFlex Courses?

An article published by Taylor & Francis with the results of an undergraduate student survey which included 305 students, assessed technological strategies, instructional strategies, and student perceptions about the HyFlex courses students attended during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Students indicated that most of their classes during the Spring 2021 semester were a mix of in-person and online, and professors used Google Meet for classes, and the learning management system (LMS) for assignments, syllabi, and rubrics. Student perceptions about their HyFlex classes indicated that they felt challenged in their classes and that course materials were available to them “during” and “after” class. Students also felt a lack of “connection” with other students in the class and were unsure if HyFlex improved their learning. Two open-ended questions generated comment themes with students indicating the need for classroom flexibility, classroom engagement, instructor communication, leveraging technology, and minimizing distractions.”^[4]

How Do Students Perform in HyFlex Courses?

“Another study of MBA students published in The Interactive Learning Environment examined student outcomes in a Hyflex course. This study found that Hyflex classrooms effectively closed the achievement gap between online and in-person students. Traditionally, students who attend in-person classes outperform online students by 9%. The researchers concluded that students in Hyflex classes who chose in-person learning performed just as well as they did in traditional classrooms, and students who chose the online option performed significantly better than they did in fully online classes.”^[5]

Which Course Delivery Mode Do Students Prefer?

“A study published in The Journal of Teaching Social Work found that students stated that they preferred the face-to-face model for learning; however, they actually participated in the asynchronous model more than they predicted they would. Despite their stated preferences, only 17% of students participated only in face-to-face classes. Surprisingly, no students chose to participate in the synchronous model.”^[6]

What Do Students Say about HyFlex Courses?

Many higher education institutions have studied the pros and cons of the HyFlex course model and have gathered and compiled insights gained from student feedback. Below is a brief summary of some of these findings.

What did students like about their HyFlex course experience?

1. Freedom to choose whether or not to attend class in person. Some students with longer-term health issues such as injury and disability, mentioned that they would not have been able to attend courses without flexible options.^[7][8]
2. Flexibility to view lectures, read materials, and learn at their own pace helped students understand the concepts better. Gaining access to the recorded class lesson was an incentive to attend online, especially for international students, who made extensive use of the auto-transcription.^[9][10][11]
3. Not having classes cancelled completely if staff or students were suddenly unable to attend in-room due to illness or transport strike action.^[12][13]
4. Reduced stress when running late and being worried about running late because students know they won’t make it on time.^[14]
5. Reduced pressure during busy weeks because students know they have the option to stay home and do their school work, and regain the time it would have taken to commute to campus.^[15]
6. Not having to commute, especially in the winter time, might be better for the environment due to less pollution.^[16]

What did students find challenging about their HyFlex course experience?

1. Some students felt more distracted studying online.^[17]
2. There was not enough interaction with their classmates. Some online students felt in-room students ignored them to a greater extent compared to when all were attending entirely in-room or online. Hand-raising and reaction emoji use by students was not always noticed.^[18][19][20]
3. Access to appropriate devices and technology issues/failures such as poor audio/visual, both with student devices as well as with the educators’ inability to manage the technology effectively.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

What Were the Results of the ByFlex Pilot Study?

Kerri Shields (author) has been a professor at Centennial College for more than 20 years and has gained much experience in designing, developing, and delivering courses for various modalities (online, hybrid, and in-classroom). Professor Shields ran a pilot study offering bimodal (ByFlex) courses to students enrolled in two different courses during the winter 2023 semester. There were no comparisons done regarding course withdrawal rates in this pilot study.  There were comparisons done on course failure rates between the ByFlex courses delivered in winter 2023 and the same courses delivered over the previous five years in other modalities, and the failure rates were about the same.

Course 1: There were 38 students enrolled in a Microsoft Excel course (2nd semester, undergraduate), and the class sessions were scheduled to meet two hours per week in a computer lab on campus plus two hours per week online synchronously.  This was already a hybrid course format with fully synchronous sessions, but to make it even more flexible, the option for asynchronous attendance and participation was provided.

Course 2: There were 18 students enrolled in a Management Information Systems course (5th semester, undergraduate), and the class sessions were scheduled to meet online for two, two-hour sessions each week (fully synchronous online). To make this course more flexible, the option for asynchronous attendance and participation was provided.

A survey for student feedback was sent out to all students to capture student satisfaction, delivery mode preferences, and student likes and challenges.  There were 10 students who responded from course 1 (38 enrolled), and 8 students who responded from course 2 (18 enrolled).  Surprisingly, both groups, 2nd-semester students and 5th-semester students responded similarly.

What did students think about their flexible course experience?^[26]

2nd-semester 10 respondents

• 50% said they prefer taking an online course to an on-campus course.
• 70% said they attended both synchronous sessions each week.
• 50% said they did watch the recording from the online session each week only on the days they did not attend the online synchronous session.
• 10% said they did review the recordings of the online session even if they did attend the synchronous online session.
• 20% said they did not usually review the recording from the online session, but sometimes they did.
• 70% said they did review the written class summary posted in the news feed within the LMS even if they did attend the synchronous session.
• 10% said they reviewed the written class summary posted in the news feed within the learning management system (LMS) only on the days they did not attend the class synchronously.
• 90% said the course design in the LMS was informative and easy to follow.
• 40% said the ByFlex course design was helpful to them because it allowed them to do other tasks during the scheduled class time, then get the classwork done in the evenings.
• 30% said they liked having a choice for each session with the ByFlex course design, and they liked that the professor recorded the sessions in case they could not attend.
• 30% said they think all courses should offer the option to attend in person (online or in the classroom) or work asynchronously if the student wishes to do so, as long as the student is able to find all the learning tasks and assignments within the LMS.
• 30% said they did well because they kept up with the workload and attended most of the synchronous class sessions.
• 70% said they did well because they could follow the course design and plan their time well which helped them succeed. (No one said they did not do well!)

5th-semester 8 respondents

• 

  70% of the 5th-semester respondents said they prefer taking an online course to an on-campus course.

• 80% said they attended the online synchronous session often when they needed or wanted to get a better understanding of the course content, needed to ask a question or get support from the professor.
• 30% said they did watch the recording from the online sessions each week only on the days they did not attend the online synchronous session.
• 10% said they did not usually review the recording from the online sessions, but sometimes they did.
• 30% said they did review the recordings of the online session even if they attend the synchronous online session.
• 10% said they reviewed the written class summary posted in the news feed within the learning management system (LMS) only on the days they did not attend the class synchronously.
• 50% said they did review the written class summary posted in the news feed within the LMS even if they did attend the synchronous session.
• 70% said the course design in the LMS was informative and easy to follow.
• 40% said the ByFlex course design was helpful to them because it allowed them to do other tasks during the scheduled class time, then get the classwork done in the evenings.
• 40% said they liked having a choice for each session with the ByFlex course design, and they liked that the professor recorded the sessions in case they could not attend.
• 10% said they think all courses should offer the option to attend in person (online or in the classroom) or work asynchronously if the student wishes to do so, as long as the student is able to find all the learning tasks and assignments within the LMS.
• 30% said they did well because they kept up with the workload and attended most of the synchronous class sessions.
• 30% said they did well because they could follow the course design and plan their time well which helped them succeed.
• 10% said they don’t know what went wrong, and guess they did not plan their time well.
• 10% said they worked too much and didn’t put enough time into their studies, and will do better next semester.

Summary of Findings

Although students were asked at the end of the course to complete a feedback survey on course delivery not all students completed the survey. Some students provided comments rather than, or in combination with, answering survey questions.

• Overall feedback from the ByFlex pilot indicated that students appreciated not being penalized with a grade reduction for not attending the in-person sessions.
• Students felt they had control over their schedules and workload and were able to manage a school-work-life balance.
• The professor was using a well-designed asynchronous course within the LMS and did not require additional time or effort to prepare course materials.
• When there were proctored assessments almost all students attended, with few exceptions, as students were provided these proctored dates well in advance.
• A couple of students missed the on-campus proctored assessment date(s) due to illness.  These students were asked to take the assessment in a different delivery mode due to the effort involved in trying to schedule an empty classroom for a make-up test date.  These students were proctored in Zoom, during the evening instead, and expressed their appreciation for the flexibility on the professor’s behalf.
• The professor had some concerns about the sessions where attendance was low, self-doubt, and lowered self-esteem, “Is it me? Am I that boring?” but then soon realized that students appeared to be doing well, submitting what was needed, getting good grades, using email as needed, and asking for help when needed.
• The professor’s self-esteem improved when it became obvious that students were progressing well and utilizing the LMS materials, following directions, reading the news posts, and attending the proctored sessions whenever they could or preferred to. There appeared to be nothing to worry about because after the final grades were submitted, there were NO students who failed the Microsoft Excel course.  After examining the same course final grades over the past five years, with the same size enrollment of 40 in a course (approximately), the number of students who failed on average each semester ranged from zero to four. It appeared that the ByFlex course was doing pretty well.
• Within the Management Information Systems course, two students failed the course.  After comparing failure rates over the previous five years, the failure rate for the pilot was consistent with zero to two students failing each semester. Interestingly in the feedback survey results when students were asked if they understood why they passed or failed, there was one response stating they failed due to working too much and not keeping up with their studies, and another response stating that the student didn’t know what went wrong and will do better next time. While the surveys were anonymous, one might deduce that these two responses came from the two students who failed the course.
• There was one class whereby the professor was ill, so they asked students to join synchronously online instead of in the classroom and that worked well.
• The number of emails received from students asking for the professor’s support during the ByFlex course was fewer when compared to other fully online asynchronous courses taught in the past.
• The number of emails received from students asking for the professor’s support during the ByFlex course was more when compared to other in-person courses taught, but there were fewer in-person student-support meetings needed.
• Microsoft Excel course attendance for the online weekly session was about the same as the on-campus weekly session. There were a group of students who attended both classes each week, but then there were also different students attending on different weeks. On campus, in-person, attendance in the Microsoft Excel course fluctuated from week to week as follows:
  • Week 1 – 30 of 38 students attended (getting used to ByFlex, the LMS, Due Dates)
  • Week 2 – 20 students attended (students still finalizing timetables)
  • Week 3 – 28 students attended
  • Week 4 – 20 students attended
  • Week 5 – 37 attended (a proctored assessment), nearly all attended
  • Week 6 – 20 students attended
  • Week 7 – 9 students attended
  • Week 8 – 7 students attended
  • Week 9 – 18 students attended (a proctored industry exam, half the class was scheduled)
  • Week 10 – 20 students attended (a proctored industry exam, the other half was scheduled)
  • Week 11 – 28 students attended (started a new topic)
  • Week 12 – 7 students attended
  • Week 13 – 10 students attended
  • Week 14 – 37 students attended (a proctored assessment), nearly all attended
• To maintain academic integrity and uphold the quality of the institution’s academic credentials, the Microsoft Excel course with 38 students had 45% of the assessment grades proctored. Proctoring was done in Zoom and it worked well.  Students were informed of proctoring dates and format during week 1 of the course.
• The Management Information Systems course attendance for the fully online synchronous, two meetings per week, fluctuated. In a class size of 18 students, most classes saw 7-12 attend synchronously online.  Although, in one week there were only 4 students in attendance.  The remaining students were working asynchronously. All synchronous sessions were recorded and posted in the LMS for all learners.
• To maintain academic integrity and uphold the quality of the institution’s academic credentials, there were two proctored tests within the Management Information Systems course (18 students). These were weighted at 25% for each of the two tests. Students were informed of the proctoring dates and methods early in the course.  Respondus LockDown Browser with a camera was used and each exam was open/available for students to access for the duration of one week.  Students selected the best time to complete the exam over the one-week timeframe.
• The professor recommends that all ByFlex courses include some proctored assessments (as deemed necessary) which, depending on the ByFlex mode, will be done on campus or online. Online assessments may be proctored either by using an online conferencing tool such as Zoom or Teams or by using a proctoring software/service such as ProctorU, Examity, or Respondus LockDown Browser (with or without a camera).

How Can Students Make Asynchronous Learning Work?

Watch the “Asynchronous Learning: How to Make It Work” YouTube video below to hear from one student, Brooke Wolfe, from Grand View University who provides tips for students taking online asynchronous courses (or courses with flexible options for asynchronous participation).  The message this student shares is not only good advice for students but also provides educators with some insight into what works for students. Brooke shares the strategies to stay organized and to meet course learning objectives.  The benefit of hearing student feedback is that it allows educators to consider ways in which they might make it easier, clearer, or more engaging for students in asynchronous courses.^[27] Transcript for “Asynchronous Learning: How to Make It Work” Video [PDF–New Tab]. Closed captioning is available on YouTube.

What are the Student Benefits of Flexible Course Design?

Students may receive the following benefits from enrollment in a flexible course.

1. Flexibility: Students can work on their studies at a time that is convenient for them.  They can take care of other obligations as needed and still be successful in the course.
2. Self-Pace: Sometimes the educator may be teaching too quickly or too slowly, but with an asynchronous course option, students can self-pace, review, and really absorb the concepts, although, usually within set deadlines (due dates).
3. More Resources: Students have access to many learning materials and resources within the LMS.  Often, more than they would have in a course offered solely synchronously.
4. Review: Students are able to review materials in the LMS at any time throughout the course. They can access materials from past weeks and review something they may have only skimmed the first time.
5. Skills Development: When students learn on their own schedule and at their own pace, they develop certain workplace skills including time management, attention to detail, problem-solving, and determination.
6. Reduced Stress: The flexibility and control over when and where to study may reduce stress for students who are rushed to get to synchronous classes.  Students are able to customize a school-work-life balance. Students who are shy do not need to participate in front of others, they can participate asynchronously if they prefer.
7. Improved Success: Students are better able to complete courses due to the flexible design. They may not need to withdraw from courses due to not being able to attend in person, instead, they will be able to learn asynchronously using the resources posted in the LMS.
8. Improved Satisfaction: Students may feel a higher degree of satisfaction with the course as well as with themselves because they have the ability to control their progress and performance better with a flexible course than with other types of delivery modes.
9. Empowerment: Students who have control over their learning choices and are accountable for their choices may feel empowered.
10. Money and Time Savings: Reduces costs of commuting, and recaptures the time saved by not commuting.
11. Increases Access: Offering an asynchronous option in courses, allows some students increased access to learning and learning materials who might otherwise not be able to access learning at all.
12. Enhances Learning: With the many resources posted in the LMS students gain additional learning opportunities and are able to review as they need to for a richer experience and gain a better grasp of the curriculum being taught.

References

(Note: This list of sources used is NOT in APA citation style instead the auto-footnote and media citation features of Pressbooks were  utilized to cite references throughout the chapter and generate a list at the end of the chapter.)