By Prof. Steven A. Levine
Campus News
More than ever before over the last two years or four academic semesters, students have been faced with the prospect of deciding which teaching style is best suited for their educational goals and lifestyles. While some students have done well in an online or remote setting, many students have missed the hands-on learning experience that in-person classes allow for. This article attempts to discuss each teaching modality, such as face-to-face, hybrid, remote and fully online asynchronous classes to give a better overview of each style including the positive and negatives.
Face-to-Face or fully in-person classes:
This style is the most traditional, and the method that most students have grown accustomed to throughout their primary education years in elementary, middle, and high school. Students have the opportunity to interact with their instructor, during scheduled times on specific days, in a physical classroom. The advantages of this style are the availability of the instructor to explain concepts that the student may be unsure of, the ability of the student to contribute to the class, as well as the chance for the student to experience a thriving campus culture and networking in a physical space. The obvious disadvantage of this method concerns the schedule. If the student has obligations, such as work, outside of school, it can be challenging to schedule a fully in person curriculum around working hours. Another aspect to be taken into consideration is the fact that a commute to attend in-person classes can be difficult for students due to the unavailability of public transportation and/or private transportation, financial reasons, and/or time constraints
Hybrid classes:
This teaching modality has been used in the past as a bridge between face-to-face and fully online instruction. It allowed students to experience campus culture and in-person learning for a portion of their scheduled class time and then move to a (usually) remote asynchronous session for the rest of the time. An obvious advantage is that scheduling is much easier for the student. With only one class per week and an asynchronous assignment that can be completed at any point prior to the due date, students only must schedule their work and/or family life around one class unit instead of the usual two that come with fully in-person classes. Another advantage is that there is still interaction with the other students in class and the instructor. This method has fallen out of favor and most students do not choose to enroll in hybrid classes because it still requires them to come to campus as well as limiting them in the scheduling of their lives outside of campus. While the method is still widely offered, we have advanced to more favorable teaching modalities that give both students and instructors more flexibility.
Remote or online synchronous classes:
Remote modalities such as Zoom, Google classroom, the utilization of blackboard or Canvas, are a rather new concept in higher education and have only been used on a very limited basis prior to the pandemic. With a high risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2, students were not able to attend classes in person and instructors were scrambling to move their curricula to an online platform. Previously scarcely used technology now had to be used daily to keep higher education alive. In theory, Zoom seemed to be the answer to all our new problems, but in reality, the issues were initially plentiful. Many instructors were left without prior knowledge or training of the software and students were faced with the struggles of attending online synchronous classes in their homes with a multitude of distractions and technological issues. Many students did not have quiet places to study in their homes, or the financial means to purchase computers or cameras to attend their remote lectures. Some students did not feel confident to turn their cameras on from their home, because of privacy concerns. The overwhelming situation in the world led to a lot of students losing interest in their lectures and not doing well academically. Really, we can’t blame them entirely, there definitely were scary things going on in the world that made studying for their next exam seem somewhat pointless.
While many students were extremely uncomfortable with this modality, many of them also really enjoyed the still comparably hands on learning experience and connection to their instructor and classmates, while simply cutting out the commute and the need to wear pants while attending class. It appears that remote synchronous classes will continue to be sought after even as the world returns to a certain level of pre-Covid normalcy and it is obvious that emergency remote teaching cannot be compared to properly planned and executed remote synchronous curricula.
Online asynchronous classes:
A method that has been in use with fully online higher educational facilities such as SUNY Empire or while facilitating fully online programs at Columbia University (among many others) is completely asynchronous online learning. Students do not interact with their classmates or instructors on a regular basis, and instead just work on their assignments and exams by themselves. Usually, these courses are backed by Blackboard, Canvas, or another online learning platform that guides the students through their assignments on a weekly basis. Due dates are distributed at the beginning of the semester and students are expected to study the course materials on their own. The most predominant advantage of this modality is that each student has total flexibility in terms of when the work required for the course is completed if they submit everything prior to the corresponding due dates. The most obvious disadvantage is that the student is left entirely up to their own convictions to succeed in the course. There is no weekly push from an instructor to complete the work on time or any chance for the student to ask questions in class. The only way to reach the instructor is via email or to make an appointment to see them during their office hours. This oftentimes leaves less independent students struggling and in risk of failing the course.
In conclusion, there are multiple good options when choosing to create a schedule for higher education. Students tend to mix and match the teaching modalities depending on availability and their strengths and weaknesses. In the end, which type of modality the student chooses, depends mostly on their learning style and personal circumstances. It is however extremely important that the student understands what each method entails so that the expectations for success in higher education are abundantly clear.
Steven A. Levine is an Assistant Professor in the Accounting and Business Department at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York.
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