The Hybrid Mathematics Class: The best of both worlds, or No Man’s Land? Mary Hudachek-Buswell Catherine Matos Clayton State University 1

Courses chosen for both instruction formats Math 1111, College Algebra Math 1231, Introduction to Statistics Students are not screened during registration Students do receive a strenuous communication from instructors regarding the hybrid course format prior to drop/add ending 2

Observations Focus is on traditional and hybrid instructional formats, and not online instructional format due to lack of data Online math courses are difficult for most students; hence, screening during registration is required in order to ensure student success Hybrid format has similar enrollment to traditional format, whereas online sections have minimal enrollment 3

Hybrid vs. Traditional Instruction Hybrid: In-person contact 75 minutes per week  Balance of work completed online  In-class time spent primarily on working problems Traditional: In-person contact 150 minutes per week Both:  Typically 3-4 tests per semester  Comprehensive Common Departmental Final Exam  Homework done online via course management system, CMS (MyMathLab or MathXL)  1111 quizzes done online via course management system for both formats  Quizzes for 1231 had same content, but hardcopy for traditional and online for hybrid 4

Why offer Hybrid classes? Limited classroom space on campus Meets the needs of non-traditional students  May not have the skills for completely online course  Need for reduced on-campus presence Intermediary step towards online instruction 5

What’s different in the classroom? Hybrid Math 1111:  Homework is required for each section BEFORE covered in class Students expected to learn much of material on their own Classtime targeted to problem areas only  Students asked to write a complete solution to a homework problem and post online for other students Stresses communication between students Forces students to use mathematical software, CAS  Additional resources provided by instructor online Extensive notes for each section in CAS to replace traditional lecture, more examples worked out Instructional videos via CMS Create study groups based similar parameters of students Virtual office hours every morning 6

What’s different in the classroom? Hybrid Math 1231:  Outlines required for each chapter BEFORE covered in class Students expected to learn much of material on their own Classtime targeted to problem areas only  Online discussions for students to solve problems Straightforward problems Questions to probe more in-depth issues such as  When to use which hypotheses test  When mean vs. median is appropriate  In-class activities modified to be done online in group discussion format using Java applets  Additional resources provided by instructor online Extended Powerpoints to replace traditional lecture, more examples worked out Online Chatrooms available for students to help each other Virtual office hours  1-2 tests taken in online format 7

Student Reactions Students tend to not believe instructor when warned about need for self instruction See Hybrid as a class requiring half the work. About half the class thrives in the environment  Those willing to seek help and use resources Instructor resources (chat, , office hours) Tutoring center Online resources Many comment at end of semester that they wish they had listened to warnings and taken traditional format. 8

Pros and Cons Pros:  Reduced need for student travel to campus  Run 2 classes in space for 1  More flexibility for instructor’s time  Flexibility for completion of homework, quizzes and online tests  Less self-instruction/self-learning needed than completely online format  Accessible to more students than online format Cons:  Need for students to begin learning concepts on their own  Much more work for instructor to provide additional resources and activities needed to replace lecture time.  “Borderline” students typically do worse. 9

Student Performance: Withdrawals Withdrawal rates  Intro Stats: Comparable Traditional Average 17.6% Hybrid Average 19.8%  College Algebra: Difference Traditional Average 6.9% Hybrid Average 16.5% 10

Student Performance: DWF DWF rates  Intro Stats: ~7% difference Traditional Average 37.9% Hybrid Average 45.1%  College Algebra: ~10% difference Traditional Average 28.7% Hybrid Average 39.2%  Presenters feel that borderline ‘C’ students account for the differences in the DWF rates 11

Student performance: GPA Math 1111: Aggregate Data  3 Hybrid sections (n= 66)  9 Traditional sections (n=246)  No significant difference in means  Similar results by semester 12

Student Performance: GPA Math 1231: Aggregate data  2 hybrid sections (n=53)  4 traditional sections (n=114)  No significant difference in mean grade points  Less variability in traditional format  Similar results by semester. 13

Student Performance: Histograms Math 1111  Percents given  Near uniform distribution for hybrid StatisticHybridTraditional Mean Median SD

Student Performance: Histograms Math 1231  Percents given  Near uniform distribution for hybrid StatisticHybridTraditional Mean Median2.000 SD

Student Performance: Final Exam Means nearly the same Hybrid Median 7% higher 16

Conclusions No significant differences seen between mean GPAs Final exam score show no significant difference in mean either Histograms show that “borderline” students fare worse in Hybrid format by histograms changing from skewed to uniform 17

Questions? 18

Contact information: 19