Which is better online or face to face? Comparisons of the same instructor and class taught in two modalities

Abstract The sudden switch to online learning in 2020 necessitated adjustments by both students and teachers. Many unfamiliar techniques were implemented on an emergency basis by teachers with limited training and experience with the methods, while students found themselves in unfamiliar learning environments. Retrospective assessment of instructional modalities can now be made in an effort to better understand how best to deliver content using online, in person, and hybrid modalities. An opportunity for direct comparison of modalities presented itself in fall 2020 at a large mid-Atlantic university. The engineering college teaches a general education course on the History of Engineering that is open to all majors. The course was developed about eight years ago and has been taught each semester and in several summer sessions ever since. There are no technical aspects to the course. Instead, it covers the history of engineering from the ancients to today, with an assignment at the end of the course looking to the future of engineering. In fall 2020 two sections of the course were taught by the same professor using two different modalities. One section was taught asynchronously entirely online. There were no required lectures or attendance. The other section was taught using a hyflex model, which was new to the instructor. The hyflex course had all of the same online components as the fully online section, and also had an on-campus lecture offered three days per week for 50 minutes where the instructor lectured using the same lecture slides as posted in the online class LMS. Students could choose whether to attend any or all in person classes. The same set of regular assessments were used for both courses. The fully online section had about 50 students, while the hyflex section had about 35. Two models of course delivery taught by the same instructor provides a direct comparison of two different modalities. Student overall learning and success are compared. Student and teacher perceptions and attitudes about effectiveness of online, face to face, and hyflex modalities are also explored.