Hybrid, Hybrid Flexible and Fully Online Learning through Students' Eyes

Corresponding Author: Dolapo Adeniji-Neill Curriculum and Instruction, Adelphi University, USA Email: dolapo.neill@gmail.com Abstract: Hybrid and fully online studies and classrooms are no longer fringe elements of learning or knowledge acquisition; they have become integral part of learning in the 21st century. Like all modes and styles of learning, they depend on continuous research for best practices in order to remain relevant in terms of effectiveness and growth. This study is a collaboration between three professors. The courses and students we taught were in Special Education, Adolescence (Secondary) Education and Art Education. There were 35 females and 5 males in the study. Half of participants were graduate students and half were undergraduate students, total N = 40. The participants answered 35 survey questions on their experiences in their hybrid classes at the end of the seminars via surveymonkey.com. The asynchronous hybrid classes utilized technology infused teaching, including online discussion forums, video projects, Power Points with narration and podcasts.


Introduction
This qualitative research aims to investigate the perceptions of students participating in asynchronous blended courses or online learning in a school of education. "Online learning is the contemporary version of distance education, also called "distance learning" or "open learning." In this educational modality, the majority of interactions between students and instructor, among the student themselves and with the content of the subject matter, occur in the virtual environment of a course management system; namely, a software application capable of managing classes and sections, providing instructional content to them and facilitating student assessment. The term "Learning Management System" or LMS has become more accepted to designate this type of software, also, "Course Management System is often used" (Online and hybrid course manual, Bowie State University, version 2011University, version -2012. The factors we seek to uncover in our study are students' satisfaction, students' participation, students' perceptions and course design (Swan, 2003), in undergraduate and graduate Education majors' classes.
We hypothesize that blended courses have unique advantages as opposed to traditional brick and mortar classroom and solely online classroom. These advantages include the social context of face-to face interactions as well as the freedom of individual to fully participate without the constraints of narrow time and space that is evident in face-to-face classroom. We also deduced that when students wear the "technology mask" they feel more comfortable discussing the sensitive issues on race and diversity among others. Moore (1989) highlighted three kinds of interactions that may not be at play on online courses; these are interaction with content, interaction with instructor and interaction with classmates. In a blended or hybrid courses, these mitigating "negative" factors should be lessened because of the physical connection of the student at least 33 to 66 percent of the time as in the case in the courses that were the subjects of this research. Garrison et al. (2000, 88), noted, that if we take a deeper look at the "Community of inquiry model of online learning," Literature Review Moore and Kearsley (1996) have defined distance learning as a learning environment where students and teachers are separated by distance and sometimes by time' (p. 1). Rovai et al. (2008) emphasized that if any element in structured learning is separated by 'time and/or geography' (p. 1), then the learning takes place in a distance learning setting. Online education is a process by which students and teachers communicate with one another and interact with course content via Internetbased learning technologies (Curran, 2008). A course is considered an online course if 80% or more of the content is delivered via the Internet. Olson and Wisher (2002) reviewed 47 online course evaluation reports published between 1996 and 2002 and suggested that online instruction 'appears to be an improvement over conventional classroom instruction (p. 11). Furthermore, it is effective and efficient to conduct online courses to support more potential learners to pursue further academic experience under different life conditions (Richardson and Swan, 2003, 69). Garrison et al. (2000), coined the term "Community of Inquiry framework" (Fig. 1) the framework examine what faculty and students need, to build an effective online learning community. These are teaching presence, a cognitive presence and a social presence.

The Role Shifting in Online Learning
Online learning opens an avenue for both teachers and students to take new and often enhanced roles in learning and teaching process as compared to face-toface teacher oriented classroom. However, the changes in the roles during online learning have an impact on the relationship between students and teachers, their peers and also the curriculum (Curtis and Lawson, 2001, 23). In other words, we have observed ways in which our students can be at times more engaged in learning discussions and in other cases, completely absent from these discussions within our online courses. It is essential for students to take a more active position in the learning and teaching interactions in online learning than in a face-to-face classroom setting, which is the most efficient way for them to gain useful knowledge in an online setting (Hung et al., 2010(Hung et al., , 1080. Also, it is beneficial for the teacher to raise their students' awareness of the new roles in the online format and help them enhance their self-learning abilities, which encourages the students to become more self-directed learners (Hung et al., 2010(Hung et al., , 1081.

Students' Competence towards Online Learning
Students develop competencies that are unique and critical to online learning. These areflexible learning and teaching interactions, independent learning proficiency and strategies, peer collaboration through online discussions and internet-based and computer-based abilities. Those competences are the momentum of a successful online learning process. Essentially, online learning provides flexible schedules and less constraint of places for students to acquire knowledge as compared to traditional face-to-face classroom settings (Hung et al., 2010(Hung et al., , 1081. In an online course, students can absorb meaningful knowledge selectively according to their needs, rather than labor on some points that they already know. Online learning could also level the playing field for students with limited resources as in many Universities tuition for online classes are much lower than face to face course tuition.
Students' independent learning proficiency and strategies make them become successful online learners. Obviously, online learning requires students to arrange their own learning schedule and choose materials from the entire course by using various strategies, such as time management, negotiation and critical thinking strategies (Hung et al., 2010(Hung et al., , 1082. Students can enhance their independent learning proficiency with teachers' appropriate instructions and scaffolding during their online learning interactions.
Peer collaboration through online discussions is another necessary competence to be successful in online learning. It is imperative that students support each other with good comments and also suggestions in the discussions occurring in an online course. The interactions between peers within online learning activities explore potential knowledge from diverse resources, which is beneficial for both teachers and students.
Online learning has become an integral component of higher education in present world. Taking advantage of this factor it has resulted in an increase in number of enrollment without the corresponding wear and tear on main campus infrastructure. Many institutions have added online components to their programs in order to attract more nontraditional students (Tetteh-Richter 2015). Universities also include blended learning, which consists of face-to-face courses and the use of LMS in their multi modal ways of dealing with education and knowledge delivery to students.

Students' Participation and Satisfaction of Online Learning
It is crucial for educators to encourage the students to participate in an online setting because students' participation is a fundamental element in creating successful online classes. Interactions among students and between students and teachers are of significance in developing students' academic and social competence (Richardson and Swan, 2003, 81). Online learning gives different types of student's opportunities to express their thoughts, confusion and concerns about the current learning experience, which is different from the traditional classroom setting where students have limited time and chances to raise questions and participate (Kim et al., 2005, 336). The more the students participate in a meaningful way, they will expand their knowledge of the content and enhance their social communicating strategies through writing. Shee and Wang (2008) and Herbert (2006) found that the quality of online instruction depends on student satisfaction and learner interface. It can be seen from previous studies that students show certain satisfactions in online learning; students admire the flexibility (Kim et al., 2005, 336) and convenience of online learning and teaching interventions (Song et al., 2004, 61). Students gain more power and control of their own learning process, which they can learn for diverse goals individually according to the current academic proficiency. It benefits students to decide how much they should learn about particular content and how much they should explore certain aspects.

Authentic Online Course Design
It is critical for educators to realize how important a course design is for successful online learning interactions. An authentic online course includes efficient course structures, targeted tasks and intriguing activities. A well-designed online course contains tasks that can develop students' critical thinking skills through interactions with their teacher, peers and the materials from the instructions. Students will be motivated to learn additional information if the online tasks are compelling for them.
An authentic online course helps students become engaged in an online setting (Herrington et al., 2003, 59) and even avoid the inherent weaknesses of online setting (Song et al., 2004, 61). It is obvious that online learning may generate a delay of response or sluggish attitude towards learning as compared to teacher oriented faceto-face classes. Also, it is inevitable that online learning presents a non-simultaneous response and ambiguity of focus because online discussions and interactions lack teachers' direct instructions or targeted communication through conversations (Curtis and Lawson, 2001, 22). As the students get more control of the time and effort they can put into studying, it is important to design compelling tasks that help students to keep motivated in each lesson consistently.
Although there are many strengths in online learning interactions, it doesn't mean that we should ignore the weaknesses of them. It is essential for course designers to combine traditional class meetings with online learning activities (Hiltz and Turoff, 2005, 60). In that way, the students will be more responsible for their own learning process and will also have opportunities to achieve direct instructions from face-to-face classroom settings that can be seen as a stimulate atmosphere for them. Additionally, the balance between two kinds of classes will help the educators integrate the students into a united group, which will address another weakness of pure online learning (Song et al., 2004, 62).

Methodology
This study is a collaboration between three professors. The courses and students we taught were in Special Education, Adolescence (Secondary) Education and Art Education. There were 35 females and 5 males. Half of participants were graduate students and half were undergraduate students, total N = 40. The participants answered 35 question-survey on their experiences in their hybrid classes at the end of the seminar via surveymonkey.com. The asynchronous hybrid classes utilized technology infused teaching, including online discussion forums, video projects, PowerPoints with narration and podcasts.
Rationale for the study: As formal education becomes more student-centered and less lecture oriented; and education becomes more computer mediated with the advent of more access to the internet and cheap computers, we believe our study will contribute to more understanding of effective teaching and learning.

Demography
Students who complete a pilot of blended learning courses in the Curriculum and Instruction Department were asked to complete a reflection questionnaire based on their experience. Feedback will be used to modify blended learning courses in the future.
There was a total of 40 responses to the survey out of 81 students across 7 sections of blended courses 50% response rate: There were 33 questions in this survey. They are summarized into five sections, which are Self-Assessment, Feedback about Online Experience and Students' Interactions in Groups, Comfort Level and Overall Reactions.

Results
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your own participation in the online portion of this course?

Strength
Students' comments on the strengths of hybrid learning were as follow: • On Flexibility and Time management • It allows me more time and flexibility to complete assignments • I complete each assignment on time and give a well thought out answer to all of my posts

• Allows Reflection in Response
• The online portion of the class allows me to fully take in all that we are learning and reflect on it more than we have time to in class. It also allows me to feel like my voice is being heard What is the quantity of your dialogue online and in class?
In Fig. 2, we asked the question regarding the first requirment of students participation online: "Do you post to initial questions on your assignment?" 34 out of 35 students who responded to this question said "yes," except one.
In Fig. 3, 97% of our paricipants were highly engaged in discussion forum (online discussion or blogging.) This level of participation was unusual when we meet face-to-face because it was not demanded that everyone participate in class discussion due to time constraints; however, while in an online platform, participation is a must; otherwise, the student might not get a favorable grade if he or she did not participate. Not participating in an online forum is equal to being absent in the classroom.   In Fig. 4, 57% of our participants indicated that they contributed more in online class than in face-to face class; while 15% contributed equally in both modes of instructions. However, 28% prefer classroom instruction.
The high level of contribution may be due to what we called "technology mask." In this situation, a person is able to offer more of their opinion without the fear of instant judgment from others. A participant also noted that, she was able to do the work required in her hybrid class without pressure and in her own pace; therefore, she was able to contribute more to discussion and that the quality of her involvement improved.

Students Group Reaction
• Positive • I found it helpful. We shared a lot of ideas and experiences that we have gone through. Being an undergraduate student working with graduate students is good to learn • I enjoy working with groups because it keeps me motivated in doing the work

• Negative
• Based on the content of the course group work was to be expected. I understand the fundamentals of group work but personally enjoy and learn more as an individual • My group was compliant and effective but I completely disagree to group work in graduate level. Many graduate students are fully employed and complete their work on their own schedules.
To manipulate a group to meet at a particular time is very hectic and difficult. I much rather do independent work and complete it at my own rate Did you enjoy the online assignments?

Worked in Group Before
Do you find your workload of the e-tasks (online assignments) easy to manage? Figure 5: Majority of our participants (76%) indicated that they actually enjoyed the E-tasks demanded of them in the online portion of the class; while 24% said they did not. The students who expressed dissapointments noted that they found navigating the Moodle learning management platform (MLMP) difficult. And, because the Island in which the University we studied was located experienced a natural disaster (a hurricane) during this study, some students found it dificult to get internet services which were required for completing their class assignments.
In Fig. 6, 12% of the participants found the workload overwhelning and much more demanding than face-toface class workload. A student indicated that because she registered late due to financial aid delay, she was unable to access the MLMP; therefore, she struggled to catch up with her assignments.
In Fig. 7, the majority of our participants (89%) were satisfied with the ease of navigating the MLMP where they access their course materials and submit assignments. 11% who had problems navigating the sites reported that they at-times they were unable to find websites posted by thier professors.
They also reported that they had problems with the navigation of some websites; and noted the biggest/most frustrating technical problems they encountered below:

Students Noted the following Technical Problems:
Moodle: • Initially understanding of the whole Moodle process (like differentiating between "assignments" and "forums"). But after you get used to it, it gets easier. Definitely takes an organized teacher. -Sometimes my posts would take a while to upload and I would miss the date because I had some problems with my e-Campus. However, IT fixed it and since then my Moodle assignments became easier to manage • Navigation: • Sometimes the assignments were unorganized, but for the most part there were minimal technical problems • Trying to find assignments, because sometimes there was a lot to navigate through online In Fig. 8, we asked students what were the likelyhood that they would take another hybrid course? 68% of our participants indicated that they will very likely take another hybrid class; while 32% said: "not likely." Some of the reasons given by the particpants who are not likely to take another hybrid class centered around the need for more physical contact with others.

Effective Web Use
• Positive • Yes, it also saved time and we were able to cover a lot of the curriculum, as oppose to only attending the class. We completed the reading requirements, discussed them online as well as attending class for other discussions and topics in the curriculum • Yes. Online discussions were effective in hearing different opinions and ideas

Dislike About Class
• In Person Interaction • I felt that things were a little disjointed because we had 2 weeks between every time we met face to face • I prefer more of a classroom discussion, but it was a nice change to have some online discussions • Participation • I feel like some people including myself posted before the assignment was due which left some people out who did the assignment on time • Not everyone participates online so it is hard to discuss And I've really tried to get something out of it, but we just haven't done anything meaningful • I don't feel I learned much of anything In Fig. 9, Students were asked about their level of participation and the efforts they put into the online section of their courses; 94% responded that they were highly involved and they were positively affected by their courses. They felt they gained more knowledge: such as "the knowledge of the different cultures and the way that everyone was open minded and tries to change their ideas." And in one class, a studen said, "I was made aware of Gender inequality that persisted in the world through readings, lecutres and discussion forums." 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Additional Observations from Faculty Perspectives
• Additional time and space for conversation • "Technology mask" can aid in complex and sensitive topics such as race, gender and cultural diversity • Development of skill in communicating orally and then in writing about the same topic (transfer of knowledge in a different context) Criticisms of Hybridity • Students reported some difficulties around lack of focus in course content online • A lack of stimulating atmosphere online • Difficulty with accessing course websites • "do not like taking classes online" Implications and Additional Discussion • Using hybrid learning as a tool within universal design and/or multidisciplinary, multimodal approaches • Considering the senses and hands-on engagement in class and as complement to computer and/or tabletbased activities • Issues of digital and critical literacy perhaps mad more relevant in a hybrid learning environment

Conclusion
Students in our study support previous research validation that learning activities among teachers and students provide a possibility to generate positive communications and interactions with each other. Students noted that they had more time to think about content and ruminate on what they learned and they acquired fresh knowledge, which raise their satisfaction towards online learning. 37 of the 40 participants characterized their hybrid format learning experience as positive; while 3 participants disagree and found no use for online experiences of the courses. There are many research and studies currently underway because of the popularity of online and hybrid courses; we are very confident that researchers would take our study further in order to continue to understand this new phenomenon in the field of knowledge production.

Acknowledgment
May thanks to all our students who participated in this research.

Author's Contributions
Dolapo Adeniji-Neill: Designed the research plan, participated in research procedure, coordinated data analysis, and organized the study, data and, literature reviews, and conclusion. She is the principal writer of this manuscript. She is instrumental in drafting the article, revising and reviewing it critically for significant intellectual content.
Courtney Lee Weida: Participated in research procedure, contributed to analysis and conclusion. She also contributed to reviewing it critically for significant intellectual content.
Anne Mungai: Participated in research procedure, contributed to analysis and conclusion. She also contributed to reviewing it critically for significant intellectual content.

Ethics
No injuries to humans or animals in the conduct of this survey. Publication of this manuscript should help schools serve their students better by understanding how different delivery modes of educational experiences help or hinder students' success.