Why King’s Should Indefinitely Keep the Hybrid Learning Option

| Photo by Tianyi Ma on Unsplash

The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.

COVID-19 has been a world changer. It is no shock to any of us that the way we function in public and private life has shifted to accommodate a deadly pandemic. College students across the world in March 2020 suddenly were told they needed to pack up their belongings and return home with no indication when school would be back in session. A week-long spring break turned into two weeks, turned into a month, turned until the end of the semester. For many colleges, an online learning experience is still in effect with many also adapting a hybrid model similar to The King’s College. 

There have been growing concerns among students who are not ready to go back to a completely in-person learning environment. They worry that King’s will no longer provide the hybrid-learning model and students will have no choice but to return to completely in-person learning. While this has neither been confirmed nor denied by the administration, the hybrid model should be kept as an option at The King’s College indefinitely.

The King’s College hybrid model has been successful in maintaining the high quality of education students expect without sacrificing aspects that are considered central to the college experience. The reopening plan, sent by President Tim Gibson to students, faculty and parents, details the hybrid model as follows:

“Students will attend one 80 minute in-person class session once per week, for each class, while also engaging in other course content virtually for the remainder of the week’s class time... The details of each class plan will be communicated by the professor to the students in the class as they are finalized.”

Other measures were implemented to help stop the spread of COVID, including temperature monitoring, frequent sanitation, etc. 

This hybrid model has been able to successfully function due to King’s already small class sizes, which many other universities have had to adapt to throughout the pandemic. According to the registrar's office, The King’s College has an undergraduate population of 492 students, the average class size is 19 students with the highest number of students allowed in a lecture is a recorded 49 students. King’s small student population has made classroom management easier and more effective, even with a transition to hybrid learning. 

Even with larger class sizes at public universities, the general feedback and consensus with an online learning community has been positive. In the study “Student Perceptions of Online Learning in Higher Education During COVID-19,” 99% of respondents felt that their professors were addressing their personal needs. Another study conducted by the Michigan Institute of Technology (MIT) found that the learning outcomes were equal, or even better than, outcomes produced in a traditional classroom. 

The two most prevalent advantages of hybrid learning are flexibility of schedule and the address of learning disabilities. Students who have reported they struggle in other classes, typically because of a diagnosed learning disability such as Attention Hyper Deficit Disorder (ADHD), report that they are learning more and more readily with a hybrid format. This is because the comfort and stability of their home environment provides fewer stimuli than a typical classroom. UC Davis found that “students learn the lecture material better in the hybrid course than in a traditional lecture course that covers the same material, and they also learn additional, deeper skills in the discussion sections that could not be realistically included in a large lecture course.”

With hybrid learning, students are able to curate their schedule in order to compensate for things like part-time jobs, research projects, internships or other personal responsibilities. Personally, the hybrid model allowed me to work a demanding internship in the fall semester and two jobs in the spring semester, which I would not have been able to do if I were completely in person. 

With one class being online, students are able to take their work to other locations, such as coffee shops, homes, libraries or many other places. This flexibility also extends to sudden issues like illness, family emergencies or injuries.

The King’s College attendance policy states that students are only allowed to miss a certain amount of classes before being academically withdrawn from the class. As all classes have an option to join from Zoom, if a student is injured or ill and unable to attend in person they do not have to take this absence or miss material and can instead join remotely.

Professor Matthew Parks collected data in concern to how students were using the hybrid model and issues related to grading. While he declined to comment on the grading aspect, as it is sensitive material, he did notice that attendance was better this year compared to previous. 

“Some of that may be that students put more of a priority on attending class when there was only one meeting/week to attend in many cases. Some of that was likely the result of the fact that they could attend remotely if they couldn't attend in person, although, as you know, I didn't encourage that,” Professor Parks said.

Kristin Moroney, a freshman business major, experienced the full benefits of hybrid learning last semester when she broke her foot. Not being able to walk to class, or really anywhere, she would have accumulated the absences very quickly. But, because of the option to join remotely, Kristin only took absences she needed to for medical appointments.  

As a miniature study for this article, I created a Google Form survey for King’s students to fill out. I asked 10 questions regarding their experience with the hybrid model and an additional 11th question to provide a short response. 

The general consensus was that while not every single student would choose hybrid-learning, they believe that it should be kept available for students for who it does benefit. Out of 41 responses, 85.7% of students said they were fairly satisfied with the hybrid-learning option and 63.4% said they would choose to take it until they graduated. While 22% of students agreed with the statement “With proper technological training, the college could provide a better learning experience,” 58.5% agreed with the statement “I am still forming close relationships with my professors and members of my House.”

An anonymous individual responded to the 11th question, “Overall, it's been a blessing for my mental health. A lot of professors have done very well with this format and the recorded lectures/videos make learning and studying easier for students. It's even more inclusive for students with disabilities or who learn differently. However, there are some professors who aren't cut out to be online professors. Some are still a little old school and their classes did not translate well to asynchronous learning.”

The main concern with any online format is that students are not receiving the same quality of education as they would with in-person learning. There is plenty of evidence to support the fact that in-person learning has a plethora of immediate and implied benefits. This is why it is important to remember that the hybrid format does not cut out in-person learning. Students are still required and encouraged to go to campus when they are supposed to. This means that the benefits of in-person learning are still being reaped in the classroom.

Even on the days online, it is up to the teacher’s discretion whether they would like an asynchronous or live class lecture. The live class lecture still encourages students to participate and fosters a productive discussion environment. From my survey, 52.5%of students said that “the hybrid format had a positive impact on my education and I would choose to take it if offered.”

By offering the hybrid model, King’s will also be able to increase their prospective student pool. As of right now, the majority of The King’s College student population is white Americans. The National Center for Education Statistics conducted a study on the number of people who take “distance learning courses” at the postsecondary level in 2018. The postsecondary level refers to any education past high school, which includes trade schools, colleges and universities. In undergraduate schools there were 16.6 million students enrolled, with 4.1 million of those students being enrolled in a private nonprofit institution, which is what The King’s College is. Considering this study was done three years ago, the number of students has likely grown as there is a trend for students to pursue higher education.

The King’s College has acknowledged the implications of this. One of the struggles many incoming students reflect is the inability to transfer credits from previous college courses or dual-enrollment courses in high school. King’s has addressed this issue by announcing their partnership with GDiGlobal Partner for Christian Education. President Gibson says the partnership aims to combine “intellectual and Christian formation [with the] GDiGlobal vision to ‘invest in spiritual and social transformation and human flourishing.’”

While this partnership is the first announcement of behind-the-scenes work to provide a better online learning experience for students, it does not mean that the hybrid model will still be offered as an option indefinitely. I would like to clarify that I am not saying that King’s should enforce hybrid learning, as it has been in the pandemic, just that if students feel that it is more conducive to their education, they should be allowed to take it. 

The British Broadcasting Center (BBC) published an article on just a few of the many ways our world has changed. The economy, education and the environment have responded and continue to respond to the pandemic. As society returns to a sense of normalcy, The King’s College should take this opportunity to adapt and still be prepared to offer prospective and current students an option of hybrid learning.