Ithaka’s ambitious researchers sought to answer one more important question: Is the hybrid classroom just as effective for full-time workers, low-income families, and other people with limited access to college? The answer turned out to be a resounding “yes.”
In addition to recording performances and preferences, Ithaka surveyed participants on their races, incomes, ages, and time constraints. When they controlled for each of these variables, they found virtually no significant differences in performance between the traditional and online students. Here are a few groups who can benefit the most from the easy access of online education.
Low-income Families
In a time when tuition is rising – and wages are falling – a family’s income may affect people’s college prospects more than anything else. Fortunately, financial troubles have apparently little impact on the efficacy of the cheaper, hybrid class. Roughly half of the students in both control and treatment groups came from families that earned less than 50,000 dollars per year. The ones in the hybrid class fared no differently from their traditional peers on their final exams, and they scored just one percent lower on the standardized post-test.
Full-time Workers
Income aside, the time constraints of a regular job can easily keep students from earning good grades. However, Ithaka found that their online participants were able to perform just as well with 1.7 fewer hours devoted to the class. They spent more time studying on their own, but their in-person sessions required only an hour per week.
These results held true when researchers controlled for the busiest students. Out of the 605 participants, 165 worked 20 or more hours per week. Those in the online class scored the same as their in-person peers on the standardized test, and they actually averaged five percent higher on their final exams. Just as importantly, their grade distributions were nearly identical to those of the overall study population.
Overall, online education seems more feasible for full-time workers not just because of its lower time requirements – but because students and teachers can meet at unconventional times. It might be difficult for a professor to give three early-morning or late-night lectures per week, but just one discussion outside the 9-5 window isn’t too much to ask.
First-Generation College Students
According to a 2010 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, there’s a nearly 30-percent gap in college graduation between first-gen college students, and those whose parents attended at least some postsecondary education. While hybrid learning alone may not change that figure, it certainly doesn’t make it any worse. 316 participants had parents who’d never gone to college, and they fared equally well in hybrid and in-person environments. Since first-generation students tend to come from poorer families, the low cost of online learning may ultimately give them a leg up.
Commuters and Distance Learners
The hybrid classroom is clearly more accessible for long-distance learners. In commenting on the format’s cost-cutting potential, the authors noted that it was perfect for educating “place-bound” students: commuters, people with physical disabilities, and even students living in other cities and states.
Now that we know how effective machine-based learning can be, it could become a money-saver for students and schools alike. Learners – who may have previously balked at the idea of online education – might come to appreciate its usefulness for basic courses. At the same time, universities can enlarge their student:staff ratios and applicant pools without compromising educational quality.
Further Concerns and Future Studies
Ithaka’s experiment is the first of its kind, but it hopefully won’t be the last. Online learning holds immense potential for large, public universities, but each school has unique concerns. What resources are needed? Are students willing to take classes online? What are the needs and interests of already-tenured faculty? These are questions each institution will have to address in its own pilot program.
Finally, the greatest obstacle to the widespread adoption of hybrid learning is the lack of a sustainable, customizable platform available to schools nationwide. Understandably, the study’s authors believe it unrealistic for any one university to make the upfront investment necessary to develop of such a system. Inter-institutional collaboration and even government involvement may be necessary, both of which will only be spurred by further experimentation.
Source : http://edcetera.rafter.com/the-hybrid-classroom-cheap-effective-and-widely-accessible/
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