i

High School Earth Science Hybrid Class Design Encourages Student Attention,

Higher Level Learning, and Concept Retention

A Field Project Presented to the Faculty of the College of Education

TOURO UNIVERSITY - CALIFORNIA

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS

in

EDUCATION

With Emphasis in

Technology

By

Emily Schroeder

May 2010
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High School Earth Science Hybrid Class Design Encourages Student Attention,

Higher Level Learning, and Concept Retention

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the

MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE

In

EDUCATION

BY

Emily Schroeder

TOURO UNIVERSITY – CALIFORNIA

May 2010

Under the guidance and approval of the committee and approval by all the members, this
field project has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree.

Approved:

___________________________ ___________________
Pamela A. Redmond, Ed.D. Date

___________________________ ___________________
Susan Craig, Ed.D. Date

__________________________ ___________________
Jim O’Connor, Ph.D, Dean Date
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TOURO UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA

College of Education
Author Release

Name: Emily Schroeder

The Touro University California College of Education has permission to use my MA

thesis or field project as an example of acceptable work. This permission includes the
right to duplicate the manuscript as well as permits the document to be checked out from
the College Library or School website.

In addition, I give Dr. Pamela Redmond permission to share my handbook with others via
the Internet.

Signature: __________________________________

Date: ______________________________________
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Abstract

The concept of the hybrid classroom format is not new to education and has

connections to early education in the United States where it was commonly referred to as

distance learning. The modern hybrid classroom is being extended beyond the historical

format into everyday education throughout all grade levels. Educators are seeing the

hybrid method as a way to encourage students to make decisions when it comes to

learning, motivate students and families alike to participate in the learning process, and

allow students to relate their learning to real-life situations, gaining more in-depth content

development and learning (Doering & Veletsianos, 2008). Many educators in various

grade levels are adopting the hybrid learning classroom and having great success. They

are able to cover more material to meet the ever-growing state standards and leading

students to learning and retaining information while also increasing student attendance. A

summer school earth science remediation course has been researched and designed in a

hybrid format to aid educators and schools. It includes assignment examples and a

Moodle template in an effort to promote a different learning environment for students

who have failed in a traditional setting.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I .......................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Problem ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Background and Need .................................................................................................................................. 3
Purpose of the Project .................................................................................................................................. 4
Project Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER II ....................................................................................................... 10
Importance of the Topic ..............................................................................................................................10
Definitions of Terms ....................................................................................................................................11
Literature Search.........................................................................................................................................12
Description of Literature Found ................................................................................................................13
Gaps in Research .........................................................................................................................................15
Learning Theories .......................................................................................................................................16
Why Hybrid is the Future for 21st Century Education ............................................................................18
Student Perceptions .....................................................................................................................................26
Teacher Role and Development..................................................................................................................28
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................30
Suggestions for Future Research................................................................................................................31

CHAPTER III ...................................................................................................... 33

Backgound ....................................................................................................................................................33
Researcher Interest .....................................................................................................................................35
Data Collection and Results ........................................................................................................................37
Project ..........................................................................................................................................................39

CHAPTER IV ...................................................................................................... 42
Background and Purpose ............................................................................................................................42
Project Outcomes and Intended Audience ................................................................................................43
Hybrid Program meets Objectives .............................................................................................................45
Specific Elements of the Project .................................................................................................................46
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Hybrid Earth Science Summer School Objectives ...................................................................................47

Connection to literature ..............................................................................................................................48
Timeline, Procedures and Implementation ...............................................................................................48
Limitations ...................................................................................................................................................51
Expansion of Project and Further Research .............................................................................................52
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................53

REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 55

APPENDICES..................................................................................................... 58

APPENDIX A: INFORMED CONSENT FOR SURVEY ...................................... 59

APPENDIX B: STUDENT SURVEY ................................................................... 61

APPENDIX C: TECHNOLOGY UNIT SURVEY ................................................. 63

APPENDIX D: INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD PROPOSAL ...................... 65

APPENDIX E: PROJECT HANDBOOK ............................................................ 90

 Chapter I

Introduction

With the increased use of technology in the classroom and at home, schools are examining

different course formats to increase student attention, information dispersement, higher level

learning, and concept retention. Traditional classroom formats where students sit in a room

face-to-face with a teacher have been most frequently used throughout all academic grade

levels. As research in the field of education increases, it has not been found to be the most

effective learning environment. Students in traditional classroom environments tend to

receive more passive lectures and not so many active learning exercises, group work

activities, or student/teacher queries (Riffell & Duncan, 2004). With the exploration of

various course formats, educators in grades kindergarten through college are attempting more

hybrid units and classes where students not only work in the classroom face to face with a

teacher, but also on their own time at home using various web-based applications. The hybrid

classroom may address issues with diverse learning styles of students by offering multiple

on-line modalities and a variety of in-class learning exercises where students may acquire an

overall higher level of learning (McCray, 2000). As research continues in the field of

education and technology increases in the classroom, the hybrid course appears to offer the

best format for better student attention and concept retention.

Problem

High school students enroll in courses throughout the year or during the summer to fulfill

a requirement for graduation, makeup a class they may have failed to attain credits, or for

enrichment to increase their level of learning and get ahead. Students typically choose to
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enroll in either a face-to-face traditional classroom setting or an online distance learning

class. As research in the field of education continues and grows, these classroom formats are

being thoroughly examined for their effectiveness in distribution of the required materials,

student attention, higher-level learning, and concept retention.

Students taking distance-learning classes online do not retain the information and often

times do not read the material; they just look for the answers to the questions being asked on

the quizzes and exams. This method does not allow room for students to engage in active

learning with a teacher or fellow students, nor does it allow for concept retention or

application to real-life situations. Students in distance learning environments complained of

an inability to pay attention to on-line content delivery and also the lack of getting instant

feedback for questions that occurred to them while working with on-line materials (McCray,

2000). The distance-course format does not provide adequate education for students. It

does not prepare them for critical thinking or application of material to real-life situations or

skills for the 21st century workplace.

The combination of distance and face-to-face learning allows students to benefit from

both teacher and student interaction and also apply their skills to real-life situations. In a

hybrid class, students will work with peers in the traditional classroom setting half the time to

solve problems though group work, discussions, and problem solving activities. The other

half of class will be designed in an online class setting such as Moodle where students will

engage in online learning activities and submit their work electronically to their teacher.

Researchers have found that students are meeting higher than normal levels of attention,

learning, and retention of information in hybrid classrooms where both traditional and on-

line activities are combined (McCray 2000).

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Background and Need

Universities throughout the world have developed various classroom settings to meet the

ever growing demand of diverse course offerings and the increasing student enrollment. The

hybrid format is being used extensively at the university level because it is flexible for

students who have limited time available due to work or family demands or students who

have not been successful in traditional classroom settings. The program also frees up

classroom space and instructor teaching time allowing for more class offerings. With the

success of the hybrid classroom format at the university level, school districts are beginning

to research and adopt the program at the kindergarten through high school level. This

learning format could increase student attention and concept retention while improving test

scores and school attendance for school districts.

With the hybrid classroom being adopted extensively at the university level, much

research exists showing student and instructor support for the program. While the research is

helpful to consider, it does not address kindergarten through twelve (K-12) grade learning in

such an environment. There are a few research studies that have been done at the K-12 level

and many of the results are qualitative and lack statistical analysis to support such a program

at this age level. With this in mind, the researcher looked extensively through online

databases for educational research on various classroom formats and online lessons in the K-

12 level and designed a template for an ninth grade hybrid earth science summer school

remediation course. This template can be used to extend earth science programs to full year

hybrids or as an aid for instructors in other courses who may be interested in such a format.
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Purpose of the Project

The hybrid classroom promotes reflective and complex thinking while students engage in

learning in a face-to-face traditional classroom setting and also in an online community of

learners where they experience a variety of opportunities to learn challenging information. In

a high school earth science course, the hybrid class setting seems very appropriate to engage

students and also to promote retention of information with the further ability to find

application to real-world situations. The hybrid class format has a huge potential for success

because teachers would be able to alleviate the stress put upon them by the state to teach all

the standards for the subject matter by having students do part of the work and learning in an

online educational environment. The teacher could begin a unit in class with an active

learning lesson where peer learning and teacher interaction is involved. That evening,

students could complete a webquest and learn more in-depth material about the subject or

participate in a discussion board topic so the teacher could gauge student interest and

knowledge. This description does not necessarily mean that students will have more work;

they will be engaging in material that is applicable to the real world instead of reading and

copying answers from a textbook for homework. This provides the potential to support

multiple learning styles among students and a variety of opportunities for challenging

learning experiences that suit multiple learning styles and improve student learning outcomes

(McCray, pg. 309).

There are a number of issues that may arise with a hybrid classroom and need to be

considered and analyzed critically by the instructor when designing the course. The amount

of work to effectively plan and teach in both environments will take more time than in the
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traditional class format. An instructor must allow themselves enough time to plan and

develop lessons with activities that have a long “shelf life,” so they do not need to recreate

the wheel from year to year (McCray, 2000). They must build on a program to gain strength

in a lesson taught both in the classroom and in the on-line community. Instructors must find

an appropriate level of work students can effectively complete and master in both

environments, avoiding an overload of information. This is also important to consider so

students recognize connections between in-class material and the on-line community.

Instructors must also avoid the potential for long boring lecture based podcasts to decipher

more information and find programs and lessons that engage students and promote active

learning. In order to prevent a disconnect and loss of student attention, instructors must be

engaged in both the classroom and in the on-line community, actively learning alongside the

students, seeking student input and planning and contributing to the collaborative learning

environment (Maor, 2003). Instructors must recognize that different modalities of learners

exist in their classrooms and design lessons that are both engaging and active to improve

learning, making connections between class and the real world.

The hybrid class format is unique and creative, promoting student learning in a variety of

environments. As technology increases in both the classroom and home, students must

understand how to use it appropriately and effectively when learning and engaging with

others in an online community. While the traditional classroom setting has many direct

benefits for students, it does not always actively address the proper use and integration of

technology as an educational resource. With the over abundant amount of information

available to students to use for research papers and projects and gaining of further

knowledge, there are not many lessons or enough time for an instructor to teach appropriate
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use of the technology and resources available. The hybrid classroom provides this

opportunity for the instructor with the use of web searches, quests, community discussion

boards, blog entries, and many other available online tools. There are also educational

agencies available who have pre-designed such programs where students can participate and

take online quizzes to test their understanding of appropriate internet use and research. The

hybrid format provides an opportunity for engaging lessons and collaboration between

students and teachers. The hybrid approach promotes students to own their learning and feel

a sense of responsibility toward themselves and helping others.

In order to engage students in an earth science hybrid classroom format, instructors must

design an interactive curriculum both in the classroom and in the on-line setting. Students

need to be aware of their responsibilities as learners in the class. They need to understand

they are not doing more work than their classmates in a traditional earth science class, but are

doing more interactive and applicable work they will retain for a longer period. Students can

help develop lessons online and design webquests for projects. They will be more prepared

for in class material if they do the prep work and community discussion prior to coming to

class. Instructors can allow students to be facilitators of on-line discussion boards and

present current news events or have students respond to a video they found on a topic the

class is studying. There are many opportunities for students to become engaged in the hybrid

earth science class format, but it is the responsibility of the instructor to design student

centered collaborative lessons for the units of study.

As there has not been much statistical analysis of hybrid class formats at the K-12 grade

levels, the researcher relied heavily on research comparing the three different class formats:

traditional, distance, and hybrid at the K-12 and university level. The strengths and
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weaknesses of all three formats were examined to help design a curriculum that is strong for

all learning styles. An on-line learning community where students are required to be active

participants and to sometimes be facilitators will be created. Students will be educated about

proper internet use, the variety of education resources that exist for them to use, and avenues

for communication with the instructor and their classmates. The researcher will look for

more active learning activities for students to do that require peer interaction and

collaboration in the classroom and also provide a safe place for questions and discussions.

While it will take time to design a complete year-long hybrid course, the researcher will build

a template for a summer school earth science program that may be expanded to a year-long

or used by other instructors as a template for designing classes in other subject areas. The

goal of the hybrid summer school earth science course is to create a fun, safe, interactive

classroom filled with excited and engaged students who love learning and retain the

information taught.

Project Objectives

From the earth science hybrid class design, students will

Engage appropriately in an on-line community of learners with both their classmates

and instructors

Be more prepared for in class discussion and learning

Own their learning and feel and sense of responsibility toward their own and the

learning of others

Design their own individual online discussion topic for the rest of the class and the

instructor to participate in
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Be able to retain more information because of the relationship of the material to their

own lives

Be able to communicate clearly online and in class discussions

Participate actively in class activities and peer collaboration

Interact more responsibly and intellectually with their classmates and teacher

Definitions

Learning (Perspective of web based distance education teaching): Improved

participation in interactive systems (Maor, 2003).

Constructivism: refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves---

each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning---as he or she learns

(Hein, 1991).

Collaborative Learning: Students learn best when they are actively involved in the

process. Researchers report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in

small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the

same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in

collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes. (Davis, 1993).

Computer mediated communication (CMC): a community of learners engaged in

interactions and peer learning through the computer (Maor, 2003).

Dialogic activities: conversation between teacher and students about student thoughts,

comments, and questions concerning a topic being studied (Maor, 2003).

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Chapter II

Importance of the Topic

As the field of technology increases in education, researchers and educators alike are

searching for alternative forms of instruction throughout K-12 and university level where

students not only learn in a traditional classroom setting but also gain technology skills,

practicing to become autonomous and self-regulating in Web-based learning. While the

research concerning Web-based learning has been conducted primarily in university and

specialty fields of medicine, it has been found that students in online learning situations have,

on average, outperformed students in traditional classroom settings where they sit face-to-

face with their teacher and peers (United States Department of Education, 2009). With this

recent conclusion, schools throughout all grade levels are altering their technology plans and

pushing for further inclusion of technology and online learning scenarios for students in all

fields of education. Not only is technology being incorporated into the class, but the overall

classroom setting is changing.

As previously stated in Chapter One, various forms of education have existed throughout

history. Distance learning and face-to-face learning have been the mainstays of education.

Distance learning has been around for many generations of learners. It was considered a

correspondence class, where students received course information in the mail and returned it

to the school upon completion. With the development of the radio, television, and most

recently the Internet, the scope of learning has changed significantly. Students can use

sources beyond a textbook and worksheets and have a discussion with other classmates and

their teacher(s) in a chat room. The online community offers students what was missing for

generations, interaction and guidance beyond a book. When asked about their learning
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experience in online learning communities, students respond mostly positive stating that they

need the sense of community and the teacher is essential to guiding the learning process

(Valtonen, Kukkonen, Dillon & Vaisanen, 2009). This newer form of distance learning has

evolved into a variety of formats, strictly online classes, Web-based lessons infused into the

classroom, and a newer form of education referred to as the hybrid classroom. This newer

form of education is seen by the United States Department of Education as the future to the

success of education due to the flexibility for students to take a variety of classes their school

may not offer, the evidence for greater levels of learning, increased enrollment, and also the

support students receive from their peers and teachers.

Definitions of Terms

As one researches the topic of online and hybrid courses, many different terms are found

to describe various levels of technology based classrooms. Terms referring to classroom

types that may be used in educational research are face-to-face or conventional, online, Web-

based, virtual, e-learning, hybrid or classroom-based online learning, and distance education.

Face-to-face is a traditional classroom setting where students sit in a classroom with peers

and have a teacher facilitating the learning. This type of classroom can also be enhanced

with internet-based or virtual lessons used as an addition to the textbook in support of

learning and teaching and is referred to as an e-learning classroom (Clark & Berge, 2005). In

contrast, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (2007) noted that

online learning occurs when instruction and content are delivered through the internet and the

teacher and learner are separated by time and space, whereas a Web-based or virtual class

generally refers to an online course where students have a learning community with peers
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and a teacher in the presence of online discussion boards, live chat rooms, interactive online

lessons, wikis, and blogs, generally without ever meeting face-to-face (Clark, 2001). A

hybrid course includes the strongest aspects of face-to-face and Web-based classes where

students interact in a live classroom and also perform tasks online in an interactive online

community. As stated previously, distance education incorporates much more technology

than the originally designed correspondence classes, but still maintains distance and lack of

community or interaction with peers or an instructor. All of these learning arenas have

research studies published, but with the rapid increase of the online, Web-based classrooms,

there is a lack of information in K-12 age level and a variety of terms used depending on the

researcher, which not only makes it difficult to find information, but also shows the

inconsistency and lack of strong standards for education today

Literature Search

Specific information on hybrid classes was difficult to find at all levels of educational

research. Searches using Proquest, Proquest published journals and dissertations, and

Elsevier databases provided access to the following journals where online learning was

discussed, Computers and Education, Journal of Research on Technology in Education,

Educational Technology: Research and Development, Journal of Technology and Teacher

Education, Journal of Distance Learning, Educational Media International, Computers and

Education. Research in these journals was limited to the last five years since 2004. Specific

search of reviews of online learning was done in Review of Educational Research. The

United States Department of Education Meta-analysis in online learning, North American

Council for Online Learning (NACOL) Virtual Schools publication, Sloan Consortium
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Surveys, and recent meta-analysis done by educational researchers proved the most helpful in

finding information about online learning and a small amount on hybrid education. A

dissertation written by Joy Lopez, Ed.D (2006) proved most helpful. Since she is local in

Oakland, Ca, contact via phone and email was done. Conversations led to connections with

Patty Young at Orange Lutheran, in Orange, California, who is the head of the school’s

virtual high school. Both provided websites and conference presentations for further reading.

Online news inquiries were done on edweek.org as well as searches for conference speeches

and publications at recent distance learning conferences. A variety of books have been

published but ISTE’s What Works in K-12 Online learning proved to be the most beneficial

for most up-to-date information on hybrid learning.

Description of Literature Found

Research in the field of technology-based education goes back to the early 1990s when

computers were being introduced to the classroom. At that time, a variety of new terms were

adopted in the field of education and research was rampant at all levels of education. Upon

introduction of the Internet, university and specialty schools adopted online learning rather

quickly and much research is available. The United States Department of Education’s

evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning found more than 1000 studies from

1996 – 2008, but only nine K-12 studies where an experimental or quasi-experimental design

and measured student outcomes were objective. Cathy Cavanaugh, Robert Blomeyer, Robert

E. Clark, and Robert Bernard are leading researchers in the field. While most have

conducted primary research at one time, most of their recent works are meta-analysis of

primary research in online education or conference publications. Cavanaugh was most useful
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because her work and analysis is recent in K-12 learning. She published a meta-analysis and

also edited ISTE’s book, What Works in K-12 Online Learning. The other authors were

considered throughout the research. Interestingly, few primary sources were found in K-12

online learning and even fewer in hybrid education. The exception and most useful was by

Aaron Doering, the creator of Go North!, an educational online based program for 3-12 grade

classrooms. While the focus was mainly on K-12 learning, some college level research was

used to find information for success rates, techniques, student perceptions, and online

communities. Some studies were reviewed for knowledge but not cited in the narrative

summary. K-12 learning research for this paper dates back to 2000 with emphasis on the

data since 2005.

Throughout this chapter, the importance of the presence of technology in and out of a

physical classroom setting will be discussed in reference to K-12 education and support for

hybrid based courses. While the research in K-12 online learning, specifically hybrid

education, is limited, it has been found that technology is a necessity in all grade levels in a

variety of formats. Not only does technology provide more information to students and

teachers alike, but it also provides flexibility in course selection, timing, advanced skills in

critical thinking, research, and analytical skills needed for the future of the 21st century

learner. By incorporating technology, specifically Web-based lessons, into a face-to-face

classroom, students gain a greater perspective of the world, often times interacting through

the Web with research teams out in the field or with a professor in a college research setting

(Doering & Veletsianos, 2008; Nicholas, 2009). In the hybrid classroom, students meet with

their teachers face-to-face at least 51% of the time to perform in class activities where active

learning is the main focus, but lectures and discussions also have a place. The other 49% of
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the time, students work on their own in an online environment where the teacher may create

a Web-based community such as Moodle or a website students refer to for guidance to

assignments, discussion board participation, or a live chat room to share ideas or strategies

(Schuh, 2009). Using research data collected in a variety of educational formats, online

learning will be described in this chapter to provide evidence for further incorporation of

technology and how the hybrid classroom setting may be the future of education.

Perspectives from K-12, graduate, and post-graduate researchers, educators, and students will

be discussed.

Gaps in Research

The specific research in the field of hybrid education is inadequate in all fields. Due to the

lack of data in K-12 online learning, college level data must be considered and discussed in

an attempt to fill in gaps of information to design a hybrid based high school science class.

This information must be considered carefully by the researcher due to funding differences,

student characteristics, policies and other aspects in the different levels of education (Clark &

Berge, 2005; Blomeyer, 2002, 2003). The number of K-12 online courses has grown by 47%

in the last two years, but the amount of research has not kept pace with the increase of the

practice (Picciano & Seaman, 2009; Lopez, 2006). This lack of research, specifically

quantitative analysis, explains why state and federal governments are not quickly accepting

all K-12 online classes or virtual classrooms. Researchers are attempting to gather as much

data in K-12 as possible but due to lack of funding, time, and proper avenues of

communication between researcher and teacher, much data is never gathered. When research

is done, most data is qualitative information from surveys or interviews, which leads to
 16

speculation and many times inconclusive evidence. The United States Department of

education found only nine K-12 studies from 1996-2008 where an experimental or quasi-

experimental design formed data measured from student outcomes that were objective. In

recent searches through various databases, publications on open learning, class design for K-

12 online learning, and student perceptions of online learning have been found, but

quantitative results were not obtained due to small numbers of students in the study or lack of

further pursuit beyond perception. Until more research is done in the field of online learning

and hybrid learning in K-12, the adoption of alternatives to education is going to be a slow

process.

Published research in the field of hybrid and online education in high school is rare.

Implementation, design, and planning of such a program is even more difficult to find. In

schools where hybrid and online courses are offered, data concerning student interest and

overall thoughts are collected and published after the class is complete, but very few times is

the process of planning and implementation discussed. This lack of information may lead to

frustration for educators and school districts attempting to pilot a program. Much of the

work must be started at the foundation each time a class is approved and the overall cost is

unknown.

Learning Theories

In the last two decades, educational learning and teaching theories have changed

significantly. No longer are students expecting to sit in a classroom and do rote learning

where the teacher lectures all day with very little interaction with peers or the teacher

throughout the day. In contrast, students are working in Web-based environments where

face-to-face may not even exist, but the community of learners is still present. Today, mortar
 17

and brick or virtual classrooms are active environments where active learning is taking place.

This mode of instruction focuses on the responsibility of learning on the learners as described

by Bonwell and Eison in 1991. This theory was researched by educational associations and

adopted by educators throughout the world. In the early 1990s, the constructivist learning

theory arose, which applied to how people learn and the nature of knowledge, pointing out

that each learner is an individual and constructs their own meaning as he or she learns (Hein,

1991). As the field of technology increased and the Internet became available to the public,

educators adopted active learning and constructivist strategies in their classrooms. Students

were doing more research-based projects, interacting in group work, and participating in

learning in and out of the classroom. As further analysis was done in learning styles, Web-

based learning became popular throughout education where students use the Internet to learn,

research, and communicate. Central to knowledge construction in online learning is a socially

immersed learning environment where the students create a virtual community involving

cognition, peers, and teacher, enabling them to construct knowledge in an interactive manner

(Ng & Nicholas, 2007). This Web-based classroom has grown exponentially in the last 5

years increasing the cognitive aspect of learning. Students draw on prior knowledge to

present opinions in discussion forums and to actively construct new meanings from learning

new material either from the Internet and paper-based resources or from contributions by

other members of the online community that the student is in. As one studies the field of

education and the changes of learning theories in the past two decades, it can be seen that

active and constructivist thought has been widely accepted.

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Why Hybrid is the Future for 21st Century Education

There are a variety of demands on education throughout K-12 and university level. Not

only do educators have to plan lessons with activities, projects, and discussions, they also

need to teach and prepare students for 21st century learning, where technology and Internet

information is at the student’s fingertips with unprecedented access to information and ideas

(ISTE, 2007). This generation of learners, the “millennial generation” is expecting to obtain

the latest information instantly in an interactive, multimedia, and multitasking environment

(ISTE, 2007, pg 1), which is difficult for some educators who are not as knowledgeable in

the educational field of technology. With this fast growing trend, educators, mostly non-

native to technology must attempt to learn and adopt Web-based learning and provide lessons

to the native technology generation, while also maintaining classroom face-to-face learning

as well.

The incorporation of technology in the classroom is essential for education today and the

future of this generation. Universities and professional workplaces require a strong base of

knowledge in the technology field and are relying on computer-generated work more often.

Students and workers are expected to know the skills essential for success in the increasingly

competitive 21st century workplace. Skills necessary to be successful in almost any

professional field include global awareness, self-directed learning, information and

communications technology (ICT) literacy, problem solving time management, and personal

responsibility (ISTE, 2007). In the 2006 report, Virtual Schools and 21st Century Skills,

online learning is one of the most important advancements transforming United States

Education. The report states, “In an increasingly competitive global economy, it is not
 19

enough for students to acquire subject-level mastery alone. Skills like creativity, problem

solving, communication and analytical thinking are necessary for all levels of success, from

entry-level jobs to engineering and technical fields. However the United States K- 12

education system as a whole does not yet teach and measure these skills” (NACOL, pg. 2).

The report also states that United States students are falling behind their peers internationally,

innovation in the United States is falling behind causing problems for economic

competitiveness, and employers are alarmed by the prospect of filling the jobs of tomorrow

due to the lack of a skilled workforce. When the United States Department of Education

conducted their evaluation of online learning, they reported it is the fastest growing trend in

education with more than a million K-12 students taking online courses in the 2007-2008

school year. This growing trend is necessary for all students to be involved in and it must

begin prior to college. As much of the research concludes, online learning is a necessity in

K-12 classrooms and must be incorporated into lesson planning for subject matter efficacy

and skill formation beyond the classroom in order for 21st century students to have a

successful future in education and the global workplace.

In order to meet the recent standards set forth by the International Society for Technology

in Education (ISTE), schools must look for alternatives to a traditional classroom setting

where innovation, creativity, collaboration, and communication are central (ISTE, 2007).

According to the Sloan Consortium’s most recent survey of online learning, more than a

million K-12 students took online courses in the 2007-2008 school year; This number has

increased by 47% since 2005-2006 with over half the states offering online classes

(Piccianno & Seaman, 2009; United States Department of Education, 2009). While higher

education and specialty training quickly adopted online learning, K-12 has had difficulties
 20

and taken much caution in the pursuit of this form of education due to the many restrictions

by state and federal government on education. A shift in policy is slowly occurring as more

states adopt online classes and virtual classrooms and demands by many educators, parents

and students pursuing alternatives to traditional classrooms become apparent.

As further budget cuts arise and school closures occur, course offering will narrow and

many students and parents will turn to online education as an alternative. The current issue

with online classrooms in K-12 education is the cost to set-up and maintain courses.

Although technologies are decreasing in cost, maintenance of hardware, software, and

professional development in K-12 schools can be a districts’ prohibitive expense. A shift in

funding and budgeting models must take place in order to become more widely available

throughout the country (ISTE, 2007). The movement toward a hybrid classroom appears to

be the best answer for many districts with financial woes, but due to the lack of research for

state and federal approval and funds for teacher/facilitator education, it is a slow movement.

Even if a hybrid charter school is started, often times, the funding is lost or a lack of

understanding of the charter by the district closes down the school (Lopez, 2006). While

budgets are being adjusted, technology is a top priority in most school districts and online

learning is being considered as the answer to cutting costs with proper planning and

professional development.

As school districts are failing throughout the country, parents and students are looking for

alternative choices. Schools in rural areas are closing or offering fewer classes to decrease

the budget, leaving students with the option to travel to the city schools or begin taking

online classes. For secondary students, the choice is not easy. While these students are

highly technical and considered the Net-generation, growing up with technology as a part
 21

their everyday lives, they hesitate with online learning. Many have preconceived ideas of the

environment being lonely and lacking interaction due to the lack of face-to-face interaction.

When 337 students were surveyed as to their experience with online learning, only 37 had

any experience. It was discovered that teachers receive the information to teach and design

the course, but students don’t get that experience and therefore don’t realize that the online

environment may be highly interactive with an online community and offer a variety of

course options (Valtoneen et al., 2009). With this being better understood and more widely

accepted, families are considering online options not only for remediation, enrichment, or

introductory college courses, they are seeing opportunity for more parental control and

involvement, especially in homeschool environments where parents have difficulty teaching

the high school material and also in unsafe schools where violence is becoming prevalent

(Lopez, 2006). Students like the flexible time schedule for participating in the class and also

find they are able to take more classes than in the traditional class setting when they were

trying to balance extracurricular activities into the regular school day hours. This type of

environment also works well for students with long-term illnesses in hospitals or in isolation

from the public. Not only do online classes offer students flexible educational options, but

they also better prepares students with the skills necessary for 21st century learning (NACOL,

2006; Lopez, 2006).

Online learning is helping education in a way that no one predicted. Students are staying

in school to graduate in both secondary and university level. Students are enjoying the

flexibility of time and the increase of course offerings in online environments. Students can

sign up for classes around the world from any place and almost at any time. They don’t need

to worry about not getting into a class or scheduling issues with other classes. Students can
 22

choose to complete their lessons at a time of day they learn best and belong to an online

community where interaction remains in chat rooms, discussion boards, online activities, and

email. Those who are disenchanted with a traditional classroom and prefer online learning

thrive and enjoy their classes more frequently (ISTE, 2007). Online learning provides

flexibility for students who not otherwise complete school and gain knowledge of technology

necessary for the workforce.

Best Practices in all Education Levels for Technology Based Education: Hybrid

As online learning grows, educators are developing best practices for incorporating

technology and Web-based learning into their classrooms. While prior research has explored

the efficacy of on-line learning resources, much has focused on distance learning

environments (McCray, 2000). As stated by McCray, 2000, research done by Borg and

Shapiro found that student performance improved if the Myers-Briggs Type indicator

category of the instructor matched that of the student. It also has demonstrated that learning

styles vary with demographics. This suggests, then, that if instructors are to give explicit

consideration to the variety of learning styles likely to manifest in their students, they should

be creating a collection of varied learning opportunities and/or modalities of content delivery

in their courses. (McCray, 2000). With these ideas in mind, many classrooms are

transforming from the traditional face-to-face instruction or an online course to a mixture of

face-to-face and online activities. While many courses, K-12, university and professional

levels, are strictly online and students never meet their teacher or peers, experience has

shown that a mix of face-to-face and Web-based learning is best; students in these mixed
 23

environments are outperforming their counterparts who are either taking a traditional face-to-

face course or a strictly online course (United States Department of Education, 2009).

Many of these hybrid courses are forming in charter schools throughout the United

States. Students gain educational autonomy and teachers have a vision to provide an

environment for better teaching which includes incorporation of technology and innovation

in the learning process. These charter schools develop relationships with the community and

appear to be held more accountable by the state and the public (Lopez, 2006). Parents are

more involved in their child’s school and homework and tend to volunteer more frequently in

the classroom and in community service projects with their children. This platform for

education may force public schools to reform and consider more options for students to gain

the skills needed in an ever more challenging world.

In an effort to create the best learning environment for students in her area of

Southern California, Joy Lopez (2006) along with a few doctorate colleagues, created a

charter school, Foresight School College Prep Academy, on the grounds of a public high

school. In the planning, a foundation was built using three key features of social learning

theory: dialogue, community, and authenticity for the teachers and students alike (Lopez,

2006). After much research, a hybrid based format was found to best fit the criteria of the

program design. Teachers changed their teaching practices, collaborated more often, learned

alongside the students, and formed a community with students and their families. Students

formed dialogue with each other and their teachers both online and in the classroom,

sometimes about topics not related to the course such as asking for help with a different

course all together. Students success varied based on motivation in the two different

environments of the hybrid setting. Self-motivation was imperative. Though the program
 24

was not successful due to funding issues, the project identified that “learning occurs in

communities, learning is the participation in communities, and participation ensures the

survival and growth of communities” (Lopez, 2006, pg. 191). Through the course of the

project, a basis for future designs of high school hybrid classes and schools was created.

As aforementioned, research for hybrid class settings is rare in K-12. The GoNorth!

program for grades 3-12 designed by Aaron Doering at the University of Minnesota does

offer, however, a model for future development of hybrid units. He designed the program

with two major theoretical approaches to learning, experimental and inquiry based (Doering

& Veletsianos, 2008). Students work collaboratively in class on projects and respond to

online real time podcasts as a group where questions and comments are designed by the class

and teacher, leading to in-class discussions and an active learning approach. Students are also

assigned computer homework and instructed to respond to blogs, watch videos, play games,

and share their learning with their parents or guardians. Teachers accomplish much more

curriculum because the program format and also relate the GoNorth! program to learning

standards, making it come alive. Students respond favorable and feel they are learning much

more because it is fun and interactive. There more motivation to work and learn (Doering &

Veletsianos, 2008). This inclusion of a hybrid unit facilitates introduction of teachers and

schools to a non-traditional classroom setting, allowing teachers and students to practice and

work collaboratively in a smaller scenario, which may lead to the eventual creation of an

entire hybrid class.

Due to the scarcity of research and data in K-12 hybrid education, the university level

hybrid method of instruction must be considered. In an effort to relate university findings

with high school hybrid design, a study showing how class attendance and information
 25

retention was considered to help determine if the overall format of hybrid is an effective

model for education. At the college level, a hybrid introductory environmental science

course was offered to students from the freshman – senior level at Michigan State University.

With a wide variety of college level students in the traditional class setting, professors found

the students were not actively participating because of the higher level of passive learning

lectures even though PowerPoint presentations and movies were used in the class. Students

would zone out and therefore miss much of the instruction. Professors designed courses

where students benefit from a web-based environment while also retaining benefits of

traditional classroom environments as well. In the hybrid course design, students met once a

week face-to-face for cooperative, group activities for learning core skills and concepts with

the teacher and at least two other days of the week on-line working on web-based problem

sets that allowed them multiple attempts to get full credit for mastery of the content and also

collaboration online (Riffell & Duncan, 2004). It was found that those in the hybrid course

had a 93% attendance rate while the traditional class format had a 78% attendance rate. The

goal of the program was to maintain face-to-face interaction while also allowing students the

ability to see the application of the life science to their respective majors and ultimately to

their careers (Riffell & Duncan, 2004). From this study and others in the K-12 and

University levels, it was found that hybrid courses represent an improvement over traditional

lecture format and that more courses should be designed in the hybrid format with emphasis

on design and information complexity.

A thorough evaluation of two sections of an introductory core management information

systems course taught at a prominent liberal arts university by the same instructor, revealed

that the mixing of both online and traditional settings provided an “efficient means for
 26

executing activities previously tethered to the classroom setting and as a means to allow the

pursuit of higher education” (McCray, pg. 307). The classroom was split into two groups,

the technology driven treatment group and a control group. The learning of the technology in

the beginning of the semester by the treatment class allowed for better understanding of

material and challenges to spend more time learning the technology because of the constant

use. Students in the technology driven course reached a much higher level of

accomplishment and research, most likely due to acquired knowledge of various technology

resources throughout the course. While the students were not evaluated extensively on

motivation, the instructor did note that the students in the treatment hybrid course were

highly motivated and possessed much native curiosity (McCray, 2000). After careful analysis

of many types of quantitative statistics calculated from both course formats, no significant

differences were found to exist between the learning in each group. Qualitatively, the result

of the technology enriched course freed up more time for interactive student learning

exercises and higher levels of learning through class discussion concerning complex realistic

scenarios and project analysis (McCray, 2000). This study shows positive evidence a hybrid-

based class can provide students not only obtain face-to-face interaction with their teachers

and peers, but also promote experience with technology plus building skills for their future in

the workplace. Similar studies since 2000 have revealed a significant difference between

learning in two different class settings with students gaining technological skills in a hybrid

type class that students in traditional class settings are not.

Student Perceptions

The majority of research found was based on teacher perspectives and data gained
 27

comparing grades and attendance, but student perception must also be considered to

determine if they feel the environment is comfortable and whether they view it as a valuable

alternative to traditional or online learning. At the university level, Biggs (2006) examined

three classroom settings: traditional, hybrid, and distance learning to explore learning

environment preferences and actual perceptions of the learning environment. The study used

the Distance Education Learning Environment Survey to examine 26 students doing graduate

level social work at Texas State University-San Marcos. The students were enrolled in one

of the three instructional formats taught by the same instructor and surveyed at project start

and project finish. The survey was a 34 statement web-based standardized, validated

instrument that measured the perception of the “actual” environment, perceptions of the

preferred environment, or the “ideal” learning environment. Biggs also compared the pre

and post class survey results for each statement in all three formats looking for a discrepancy,

if any, between the students preferred ideal class setting prior to the class and whether the

class met the actual preferences after completion of the course. In the traditional course,

students reported receiving more instructor support, better student interaction and

collaboration, active learning, autonomy, and satisfaction than they expected, but not as

much personal relevance and authentic learning that they preferred. In the hybrid course,

students found they received more instructor support, student interaction and collaboration,

student autonomy, and satisfaction than they expected, but not as much personal relevance,

authentic learning, and active learning as they preferred. In the distance learning course,

students found they received more personal relevance and student autonomy than they

expected, but not as much instructor support, student interaction and collaboration, authentic

learning, active learning, or satisfaction as they preferred (Biggs, 2006). Considering the
 28

results to this study, the statistical mean seem to match the correct classroom format. It is

more difficult to get teacher instruction in a distance learning environment as well as all the

other qualities of education. Results show traditional and hybrid are the best means of

learning while distance is better designed for an independent, self-motivated individual.

Teacher Role and Development

The hybrid design may prove itself rather difficult for many educators. Not only will the

educator have to plan traditional class lessons, but must also manage and plan the online

environment for student learning. As facilitator, their role is to post assignments, guide

discussions, participate in discussions where appropriate, and watch for inappropriate

behavior. Beginning a hybrid class will require considerable time. Educators will have to

experiment with different formats of presentation on the Web. They will need to constantly

update and edit their online environment for each unit, find sources for video and audio

playing, design podcasts, find sources for properly using and posting images, graphics and

text from borrowed sources, and find ways to properly monitor individual student work

(Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007). While maintaining the face-to-face classroom and the

online environment, educators will also have to differentiate lesson content for various

learning styles and spend time with some students more than others to help them in the online

environment they may not be comfortable with (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).

In a higher education course in science and mathematics, Maor (2003) examined the

instructor’s role in the development of an interactive hybrid class. The goal of the hybrid

design was to encourage a community of learners to participate in peer learning and

reflective thinking in both the Web-based and face-to-face environments (Maor, 2003). The
 29

author examines the time needed for an instructor to effectively design an on-line

environment that is both welcoming to students and also encourages student interaction and

learning. Maor states, “the role of the teacher in the on-line environment becomes a

significant element in creating quality learning, a task that has required a change in

pedagogies for all higher education lecturers ” (Maor, 2003, pg. 128). In this environment,

the instructor cannot offer boring lectures and powerpoints for passive learning, they must

design lessons to inspire reflective thinking and active learning. The instructor must also

become a reflective teacher themselves so they are able to fix or design further units for best

student learning. The instructor must plan, contribute, and seek input constantly from

students throughout the class to evaluate effectiveness of the material and the way in which it

was presented. Issues of privacy, rules for use of the on-line class, and reference to student

reflection on their own participation is provided by the author for instructors who may design

their own on-line learning community. This research provides a possible foundation of

thought in the design and the amount of time needed to create an effective hybrid course.

Time management and self-motivation are skills necessary for instructors designing and

implementing a hybrid program. While the hybrid format will require a large amount of time

by the instructor, it may lead to more flexibility with their own work schedule and coverage

of more curriculum content. Teachers interviewed after their class participated in Aaron

Doering’s GoNorth! Program felt they were able to cover the standards more thoroughly and

accomplish more curriculum with the hybrid unit due to students participating in the Web-

based environment on their own time at home. The instructors were motivated by the

students’ motivation and completion of work compared with the previous face-to-face units

taught (Doering & Veletsianos, 2008). The students performed well in class and at home,
 30

often times incorporating their parents in their learning with the Web-based materials. With

the students working on content on their own time at home with the Web-based materials,

instructors may have to change their normal teaching and grading schedules to participate in

the online environment themselves leading to flexibility beyond the normal face-to-face

classroom time of 7:30am – 3pm. Teachers may not meet with their class each day

depending on the design of the class, but will have to check in daily with the online

environment so time must be managed appropriately.

The hybrid format does appear to meet all the needs of 21st century learners, but may lead

to disconnect with the teacher community. In this environment, it may be difficult for

teacher collaboration, communication, professional development, and overall management of

the course (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007). Teacher schedules may be different depending

on course offerings and class time meetings. If schools are trying to work with other schools

to offer the hybrid format for low attendance courses such as high-level languages, they will

have to teach during afterschool hours (Lopez, 2009). The profession of teaching may

become more independent and individualized with the hybrid format.

Conclusion

With careful design and implementation of proper in class and at home curriculum, the

hybrid method of course design is effective for active learning. Teachers need to design their

courses, whether kindergarten or college level, with the best methods for student retention of

course information in mind. Students should have authentic learning experiences and

collaborative learning where they can relate real-life material to their learning and apply their

knowledge to their future classes and eventual careers. Passive lectures and copying of
 31

answers from a book is not leading to student’s critical thinking or application beyond the

few minutes of the assignment. Educational researchers are hoping teachers become more

comfortable with the technology platform and integrate it more frequently in lessons for

students and begin to design curriculum where students can identify and pose questions,

analyze data, interact and collaborate with colleagues, experts, parents, and guardians, and

eventually take action in their own community to promote learning (Doering & Veletsianos,

2008). It is with these ideas that the future of education lies. With proper hybrid design,

students may retain more information and be excited about attending class. It allows room for

students to gradually become autonomous and self-regulating. Children are novices and do

not have the skills for problem solving until they practice. They do not know how to

organize and interpret information well. The hybrid format would provide time for practice

and instruction and lead students to compete and be successful in the global economy and

learn to use the 21st century skills and apply them to all fields of their lives. Students must be

motivated and realize that technology can be used to learn, communicate academically and

effectively, and apply that learning to their personal development.

Suggestions for Future Research

An outline or pre-designed program with an editable feature would be helpful for

educators of all levels. Presenters at the Annual Conferences on Distance Teaching and

Learning and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) are currently

working on a book project to describe elements of online courses that are successful, unique,

and encouraging for planning of online and hybrid courses for educators (Clark & Berge,

2005 & ISTE, 2007). This book will be helpful to provide a base of knowledge for
 32

beginning an online program. Hopefully, the book will provide an estimated financial need

for planning, a guideline of the teacher/facilitator duties, estimated planning and design

times, and an idea of how to deal with tracking attendance, scheduling, and technology

needs. If these guidelines are published and easy for a district or school to understand and

implement, the field of online and hybrid education may be the future of 21st century

education.

Much more work and research must be done in K-12 classrooms in order to determine if

online and hybrid courses are appropriate for all levels. Drawing from the university level

experience and the few published research articles, online and hybrid classes have a place in

education, but overall planning is not complete. More quantitative data must be collected,

analyzed, and published so the United States Department of Education can see the benefits

and provide funding for such programs. The overall cost and planning/designing time must

be calculated as well for teachers at all grade levels both for those facilitating a single class

and also an entire group of classes. How many classes are appropriate for students to take

and for a teacher to manage are also topics that must be considered.
 33

Chapter III

Backgound

In an effort to increase knowledge retention in an earth science high school course, a

summer school program has been designed in the hybrid format. This format has been

shown to increase student attention and content retention, while also increasing class

participation in the university level and various career fields (McCray, 2000). This format

offers students partial time flexibility with their learning when at home. For example,

students will attend class for an hour and half in the morning at a set time and then finish

work at home, usually spending the same amount of time in an online environment

interacting with other students or completing a webquest type activity. This hybrid format

provides directed learning from a teacher in a classroom setting, but also self-directed

learning while at home on a computer in an online-learning community such as a Moodle

environment designed by the instructor. Students will actively engage with other students

both in the classroom and online and also work independently on projects and coursework.

Overall, the hybrid format shows promise for the future of education, offering flexibility for

the students, while maintaining a teacher driven curriculum that meets state standards.

Summer school courses can be taken for remediation, to gain enrichment knowledge prior

to taking a full year of a subject, or to test a student’s interest in a field of study. With the

current status of California state budget cuts, many school districts are cutting their summer

school programs, forcing students to find online courses or other districts that may offer the

course they need. The online courses offered for high school students are designed by

university instructors and rarely have face-to-face interaction with an instructor nor offer any

form of “real time” interaction in a discussion room or chat area. Once students sign up and
 34

pay for the online course, the curriculum is usually laid out on a website that students

progress through at their own pace until they are ready for the final exam, which they usually

take at their current school or the district office. This format of self-learning is not effective

for most students who are remediating a course nor for students who want to gain

enrichment. The lack of active learning and direction from a face-to-face instructor with a

strict time line leaves many of these students failing and in the same predicament they were

prior to enrolling in an online course. These students need more direct interaction and the

possibility of success.

The hybrid summer school program will provide students the personal interaction with

their teacher and fellow classmates they need to be successful. It may also cut costs

throughout summer school programs without the complete disintegration of the program.

With students onsite half the time, administration overhead could be cut, reducing program

costs. Other benefits of shorter summer school onsite classes would be reduced electrical

costs and freeing up building space that could be rented out for other programs, such as day

camps for younger children. Instructors could design the program to be face-to-face two to

three days a week and online for the other days allowing more flexibility for families and

teachers for vacation planning or other work opportunities. As long as the face-to-face

interaction is 51% of the time with structured learning activities planned, the other 49% of

the time can be in an interactive online environment. The salary of the instructor may remain

the same or be increased. With the hybrid program, instructors may need more planning time

for both face-to-face and online instruction. They must also make themselves available

online to help students or participate in an online environment, constantly monitoring for

appropriate and inappropriate activity as well as updating the material and maintaining the
 35

hardware and software necessary for the program. The total cost of a hybrid class also

depends on meeting days per week, amount of online activity, and whether the class is full

year or summer school. When the pros and cons are considered between online courses

compared with hybrid courses, it becomes apparent that the hybrid comes out ahead

providing the perfect environment for student learning and retention in a summer school

course.

Researcher Interest

Having been involved with students taking online remediation earth science courses, the

researcher became frustrated with the lack of direction students were given and provided

tutoring hours after school to help students understand the material to pass the final exam.

The researcher found herself spending up to an hour after school every day for up to three

months to help students pass the exam after they had previously spent their summer reading

and taking the online quizzes, but had failed the final. The time spent tutoring and

attempting to understand the material in boring written format could have been spent actively

learning and showing online sources available to master the topic, but this was not the way

the class was designed. It was designed in a written format that had to be memorized as

many of the questions on the quizzes and the final exam were phrased directly out of the

written text often with answers being very similar in the multiple choice options. It was not

designed for student learning; It was designed for remediation. It appeared as though a

college level text was put in document format and uploaded online with a set of questions at

the end of a unit that were graded by the computer and sent directly to the teacher’s
 36

gradebook. Much of the material went beyond high school earth science standards and used

vocabulary beyond adolescent age.

This interaction with frustrated students and budget cuts led the researcher to begin

thinking about other options schools could offer for remediation and enrichment. Having

been enrolled in hybrid formatted courses in both the teacher credential program and a

masters program, it appeared to make sense for high school students who are digital natives

and can communicate and research well in the online environment. The high school students

today are often more comfortable with computer assignments than face-to-face interaction

unlike former generations who were introduced to a computer later in their education if at all.

With some thought, the researcher began looking for high school programs that offered

hybrid course offerings and found very little information. Much of the information was at the

university level and directed at a different age group, but could be looked upon for student

thoughts, problems with program design, website and software examples and hardware and

software program needs. After in-depth research explained in the previous chapter, a hybrid

high school earth science summer course was designed.

The hybrid earth science summer school course was designed with both remediation and

enrichment in mind for a private high school. It was based on state standards and met the

guidelines for University of California approved earth science courses. At the present time,

full year hybrid lab science courses are not approved by the University of California but

hybrid remediation courses are accepted once students have completed a full year of a

traditional or online class (Lopez, 2009).

 37

Data Collection and Results

In an effort to gain data and practice with a hybrid setting, the researcher designed a

human impact earth science unit in the traditional year-long class where students participated

in both the classroom and online environment performing activities to acquire knowledge

about their own personal impact they had on the earth. The unit was introduced in the

classroom by brainstorming ways humans impact the earth, followed by a book assignment

for homework. This assignment could have been a blog post instead, but time to teach about

blogging was limited in the traditional class setting. These assignments led into an activity

where students worked in pairs creating a carbon and nitrogen cycle collage with help from

worksheets and their textbook. Students were encouraged to discuss with their families one

thing they could change in their homes to become better stewards of the environment and

create a flyer stating the change to bring to class for presentation. If students were

maintaining a blog for the class, an embedded Powerpoint showing their families efforts

using slideshare.com would be appropriate. Following the family discussion and presentation

to the class, students watched National Geographic’s Human Footprint video completing a

fill-in worksheet for later discussion and possible discussion board reflection. Upon

completion of the video, students began a webquest designed by the researcher. In order to

make observations and help students who were performing this task for the first time,

students were taken to the computer lab, but with future assignments using webquests,

students could do it at their leisure instead of using class time.

After completion of the webquest, students were asked to participate in a survey to

gauge their thoughts about the task and their overall participation. Three classes participated

in the activity with a total of 74 students surveyed. It was found that 44 (57%) students fully
 38

completed the survey to gain complete data. When asked about whether they enjoyed the

webquest, 68% responded positively, stating they enjoyed looking at the websites presented

to them and being on the computer for learning made it fun. The 31% who did not enjoy it

thought it was too hard to find information on the limited websites. Of the 44 students, eight

students (8%) had done a webquest before, but three of them did not enjoy it because it was

too hard to find information. Of the 36 students (82%) who had never done a webquest, 11

(31%) did not enjoy it for the same reasons as previously noted. When asked if they would

have rather learned about the topic in a traditional classroom setting, 12 students (27%)

stated yes because it was complicated and limited with the few websites they could use, and

that it was not fun and they still had to answer questions. The 32 students (72%) who

answered they would not like to learn about the topic in the traditional classroom stated they

enjoyed searching through the websites, the well-organized assignment, working with

partners, fun way of learning, and hands on activity. When asked about their actual

percentage of time they were actively engaged in the assignment, seven students (16%)

responded only 25% of the time, 12 students (27%) responded 50% of the time, 21 students

(48%) responded 75% of the time, and four students (9%) responded 100% of the time. The

other questions asked by the researcher for student response concerned their favorite and

least favorite part of the webquest, what enhancements they would have liked to make it

better, and their overall experience about learning about the topic. These responses can be

found in appendix (#).

Based on the survey and general student response to the webquest, an online learning tool,

it can be determined that it is an effective manner of learning. The overall outcome was a tri-

fold pamphlet, students produced using a document software program about a common
 39

household cleaner, shampoo, or soap which explained the ingredients, the harm on the

environment and themselves, and any other interesting information they found on the

websites provided. The final projects were very well done and showed the students’ abilities

to work online and with document publishing software without much help from the

instructor.

With the increase of technology in most students’ lives, it was observed that 100% of the

students were fully capable of doing and completing the assignment with very few questions.

The researcher was able to take that knowledge and design a hybrid summer school

curriculum for all levels of student achievement and cause for enrollment whether

remediation or enrichment. As long as students are taught the rules for participating in online

learning environments and the repercussions for improper behavior, the students can be

successful with a well designed hybrid course. Instructors must also design their face-to-face

instruction with time for teaching proper online etiquette and the how-tos of the programs

students will be using.

Project

The design of the hybrid summer school curriculum parallels the topics students had the

most trouble with throughout the year using exam and project grades as a foundation for this

decision. The online portion of the course is being developed as this thesis is being written.

The online classroom environment will be designed in Moodle. Moodle is a free online

service that can be used for various platforms, as a basic website for a company or school, as

an interactive format that companies can use to get feedback through discussion boards, or

one for a teacher’s online course website. For educational purposes, assignments can be
 40

posted, links to websites can be provided, and an arena for student interactions and

discussion board topics. Moodle needs space on a server in order to use all the resources the

program offers. It was recommended by the researcher’s school IT director that a school

server be used rather than a personal teacher’s server to protect from viruses and crashes that

could occur with large amounts of data and privacy of personal information. Based upon this

information, a Moodle environment is being created using the school’s server and a Moodle

account set-up by the technology department that can be edited freely by the researcher.

Once the researcher learned the basics of Moodle, a storyboard outlining exactly what the

front page of the site and the subsequent pages was produced using paper and pen as to avoid

frustration having to make several changes to format later on in the online environment with

simple things such as fonts, size of titles, and thorough instructions for students.

With the storyboard complete on paper, the online environment will begin to take shape.

Without having students participate in the environment prior to completion of the project, it

is difficult to assess problems that may arise. Using the books,

Moodle and Moodle Teaching Technology written by William Rice and Using Moodle by

Cole and Foster, many of the troubles that may arise are discussed as well as

recommendations for a successful online environment. Based on student feedback from the

unit on human impact, the researcher learned that students need very clear instructions and

expectations, an easy to get around environment that is welcoming and provides enough

information, immediate feedback as much as possible, and access to a teacher or help area

much of the time. With the help of teachers in the master’s program, the researcher was

introduced to many online activities for student learning, safe environments for chat rooms

and blogs, as well as places to find help if needed. Further explanation and direction for
 41

creating a teacher hybrid environment can be found in the appendix handbook at the end of

this document.
 42

Chapter IV

Background and Purpose

The traditional classroom setting does not meet the needs of all students in today’s

classrooms. With the multitude of learning disabilities and styles, the traditional classroom

does not provide all the tools necessary for student success in the class nor in their future

education or career. Educational researchers are constantly looking for alternatives and best

practices to provide all the tools for both struggling and highly advanced students. With the

increased use of technology in education, homes, and careers, students have alternative

choices to gain knowledge, but need to be taught how to use them appropriately for learning.

The alternative format of a hybrid classroom offers both structure in a face-to-face classroom

setting and also freedom for the student to learn during their own time while still guided by

their instructor in an online classroom environment. This format leads to more active learning

activities in the classroom with peer learning and a variety of online learning tools. At the

university level, this format has shown success in increasing student attendance, retention,

and learning and has been found to encourage family support and motivation, and high level

learning and skill development in application to real-life situations in K-12 classrooms

(McCray 2000, Doering & Veletsianos, 2008). The hybrid format educates students not only

in the subject matter, but also provides an environment where active learning, group work,

communication, and self-motivation are encouraged. These skills are necessary for success

in the 21st century classroom and future workplace.

When considering the issues with today’s education, the researcher looked for alternatives

to the traditional classroom and found homeschool, distance, online, and hybrid learning.

Both distance and online learning provide freedom for student learning, but do not provide
 43

structure from an instructor, which is needed by many students, especially those who are

struggling. Students enrolled in these programs often become frustrated when the mode of

conversation is strictly through email or mail. They are unable to solve problems quickly and

do not learn the material as well due to the lack of communication and instant feedback from

an instructor (Biggs, 2006). In homeschool learning, students often do very well through

middle school, but parents find it difficult to teach the higher-level subject matter and skills

necessary in high school to prepare for college. These parents want to continue playing an

important role as an educator, but need help from their school district to provide the skills

necessary for their child’s success. In this situation the parent must depend on the school for

being the primary educator and step back from that important role. This has led to frustration

from many parents who have begun to look for alternatives to education as well (Lopez,

2006). With these frustrations in mind, the researcher considered her own courses taken in a

hybrid format for the teacher credential and masters programs and found many of the

frustrations addressed and dealt with appropriately in the hybrid classroom at the college

level and few times in the K-12 level. While research and further curriculum design and

practice is needed in the K-12 hybrid model, it has been found to be effective and provide

skills students need for their future, motivation to learn, an alternative to the traditional

setting, and a community building aspect between parents and the school community.

Project Outcomes and Intended Audience

Hybrid courses can address many of the issues students, parents, teachers, and schools are

concerned with. Many students lack motivation and want more activity in the classroom,

some parents want to be actively involved in their child’s education or at least know their
 44

child is receiving an education to prepare them for the future, teachers want the tools to

properly teach a diverse class of learning abilities and more time to teach their subject matter,

and schools want high test scores, more parent involvement, successful students, and alumni

who attend top colleges and achieve a career path. These goals can be attained with proper

implementation of hybrid classes. Teachers would have both online and face-to-face

instruction time with a variety of tools and models to help students gain knowledge and

skills, and students would be motivated to learn with new teaching techniques both online

and face-to-face with more peer-to-peer interaction as well as more direct teacher feedback.

Parents could and would have to be involved helping students with assignments at home and

would be aware of what students were learning. Schools may be able to offer more classes

and would have an alternative for strictly online courses for remediation or enrichment while

also producing better test scores and successful students.

In an effort to achieve student success in summer school beyond a traditional or online

class, a summer school earth science hybrid program is being designed by the researcher to

help student remediation and enrichment. Most students enrolled in the class will have failed

traditional earth science and need to make up credits for the course. It is hoped that students

in the hybrid format will find success and be able to learn the material in a different format

than they previously were able to equate their knowledge to real-life situations. In this

environment, students will be introduced to the material in a face-to-face setting where peer

learning and teacher direction will take place. Students will be directed to the online

environment (Moodle) where they will see the assignments they must complete or participate

in online discussions. In the online environment, students can find help from the teacher

prepared lessons, their peers, or possibly the teacher themselves. The hybrid format allows
 45

flexibility and tools that students can use to become successful. It also provides teachers with

the ability to cover more information or topics more in-depth than in a traditional setting

because of the wide variety of tools available online.

Hybrid Program meets Objectives

The summer school earth science hybrid class is being designed with best learning and

teaching practices and student achievement of grades higher than 70%. The course is being

designed to engage students in learning, encourage student participation in both the face-to-

face classroom and online in discussion boards or blogs, prepare students for future science

courses, obtain knowledge useful beyond the classroom, increase communication between

students and the teacher as well as parents when needed, and achieve success with a sense of

responsibility toward learning and skill development. The program being designed by the

researcher appears to meet all the objectives set forth in the beginning of the research.

Students will be encouraged to work with each other, perform a variety of tasks using a

multitude of online resources and in class activities to learn and understand the material

being tested, and communicate effectively with their instructor. This course should lead

students to high achievement with the ability to appropriately use the tools learned for future

course work whether in science or another subject matter. It is being designed for other

instructors in all subjects who are interested in the hybrid format for unit-based, summer

school terms, or year-long programs.

 46

Specific Elements of the Project

The earth science hybrid summer school format is being designed with active learning in

mind when planning introduction lectures, discussions, lab activities, projects, classwork, and

homework. Lecture is being formatted in an interactive style where questions from the

teacher will lead students to look in their books or to their peers for discussion leading to

answers or to an online discussion board where students can respond immediately to each

other or with their teacher at home. The teacher will guide students toward the information

to be learned with hands-on activities and labs where learning is interactive and students take

responsibility for their own learning, making sure they understand the information being

presented to answer lab report questions, participate in class discussions and possibly blog

online where students could compare data with each other and also find online resources to

post that help with understanding the material. Due to the manner in which students are able

to relate with the information both online and actively in class with their classmates and

teachers, students should retain more of the information than in traditional settings due to

constantly learning along the path of the activity and performing tasks in an interactive

manner they enjoy participating in. Students should be engaged throughout the entire unit

and participate both in class and at home. From the experimental earth science hybrid human

impact unit the researcher designed for the students to participate in during the traditional

school year, it was acknowledged by both the researcher and the students that the activities

were fun and engaging to most students, causing them to use the information and websites

presented during the unit beyond the assignment in their everyday life. The webquest activity

along with the active learning discussions and activities in class and at home with their

families led to conversations beyond the classroom with the students’ parents/guardians and
 47

other students not enrolled in the class. The earth science students were engaged throughout

the unit retaining information beyond a typical lecture, sharing the information with others,

and completing the tasks in the time frame given. The overall results of this experimental

unit were presented in the previous chapter. The design of the experimental unit helped the

researcher design a six week summer school hybrid course with all of the project’s objectives

set forth previously by the researcher.

Hybrid Earth Science Summer School Objectives

With proper implementation and planning of the summer school earth science course, it is

anticipated that students will meet all the objectives of the hybrid project. Students will

learn about proper online community learning etiquette, engaging appropriately with their

peers and teacher leading to better preparation for in class discussions and learning, own their

learning and feel a sense of responsibility toward their own efforts and the learning of others

by actively participating in the assignments. Students should retain more information due to

the nature of the material presented to them both online and face-to-face and be actively

engaged in both environments, sharing and designing aspects when asked for the rest of their

classmates and teacher to participate in as well. By participating in the hybrid environment,

it is anticipated that students will learn to interact more responsibly and intellectually with

their classmates and teacher, clearly communicating and engaging in the online and face-to-

face environments.
 48

Connection to literature

If the hybrid classroom environment is designed with all the objectives previously

explained in mind, teachers should see improved student motivation and increased retention

of information (Doering & Veletsianos, 2008). Based on the research performed at the K-12

level, students in these hybrid environments are outperforming their counterparts who are

either taking a traditional face-to-face course or a strictly online course (United States

Department of Education, 2009). Instructors find they cover material more in-depth and at a

faster rate in the hybrid environment. This summer school hybrid project design should help

educators meet this objective that is often difficult in a traditional six to eight week summer

program.

The hybrid summer school project is being created using the findings in the minimally

published research for K-12 hybrid classrooms. The researcher may be able to accomplish

more curriculum in the summer school class than previous years using the available tools of

both face-to-face and online activities to effectively engage students. This project should set

forth a foundation for other educators in K-12 who are interested in a different teaching

environment where student responsibility and concept retention is priority.

Timeline, Procedures and Implementation

The idea for a hybrid earth science summer school course project began two years prior to

the actual design when the researcher was confronted with frustrated students enrolled in a

remediation online earth science course. These students were taking the online course

because the traditional school and the district they were enrolled in did not offer a summer

school earth science course. Due to the lack of communication and interaction with peers

and a teacher, the students were unable to pass unit exams and the final exam. The
 49

researcher observed the student’s study habits and realized they were doing the work

required, but the format of the information presented was boring and much of the information

was advanced beyond high school level remediation of the subject. Having taught earth

science, the researcher began to help the students by presenting helpful websites and tools

that would help with learning the material in a different format than memorization.

Upon enrollment in the masters of education program, the researcher was asked to

research a topic of interest in the field of education where technology can aid teaching and

learning in the classroom. The summer school course came to mind when considering a

possible project. Being enrolled in a hybrid masters program where technology was the

central focus, it became apparent that the hybrid format would work well for high school

students remediating a course in the summer. It would allow some guidance from an

instructor as well as independence and time flexibility for teachers, students and families.

The masters program required research in the topic of interest. When a search was

performed for hybrid school programs, only college courses were found leading the

researcher to specifically look for high school hybrid programs. Very little research was

found in K-12 education, therefore the need for further research and program design was

needed in the field. The masters program approved the researcher’s project to design a hybrid

summer school earth science course. Further research and personal contact with Joy Lopez,

the Director of Technology at a local high school led to a foundation for the hybrid project

design.

When the project was discussed with the researcher’s webmaster at a private school in

Northern California, it was suggested that Moodle be used for the online classroom

environment due to the free cost, easy design, and the school’s server support already in
 50

place. The researcher learned the Moodle program and began practicing options available in

the program. After practicing with the program and designing a practice online classroom

environment, the six-week earth science curriculum is being designed in a traditional lesson

plan book. Student grades on unit exams from the traditional year long course is being used

as a guide to help decide which topics need the most attention in the design of the six week

summer remediation program. Once the units are decided, lists of possible assignments,

lectures, projects, and labs will be compiled for each unit keeping peer-to-peer interaction,

active learning, and diverse learning assignments a priority in the hybrid class design.

Assignments concerning proper Internet etiquette and an introduction to Moodle and various

online tools such as Google Docs, wikis, blogger, and discussion boards will be included in

the hybrid classroom lessons as well. The completed list will be broken into two categories,

assignments that should be done in the face-to-face classroom needing direct teacher

interaction and explanation and those that could be done in the online classroom environment

using learning tools available on the Internet such as webquests, videos, virtual labs, and

discussion boards to interact with peers. The assignments will be placed into the lesson plan

book and the Moodle environment will be designed on paper, outlining how many pages are

needed and the links necessary for each assignment within a unit. It is also important to

design the format of the environment the students would see upon signing onto Moodle in

terms of font size for titles, amount of visible information for each unit, amount of directions

for each assignment, and links to websites useful for students. After completion of the paper

storyboard, the actual online environment will be created on Moodle ready for the summer

school program to begin.

 51

Limitations

It takes time to plan and develop a curriculum for a hybrid classroom that includes both

the face-to-face classroom and the online environment. If a school is looking at adopting a

hybrid class format, teachers who will be teaching will need training about Internet safety,

ISTE standards, online teaching and learning tools, and the design of an online classroom

environment. They will also need extra time to plan and collaborate with other teachers who

are designing a hybrid course to discuss program expectations and goals. It is recommended

that instructors take at least a year to fully research and plan proper hybrid classroom

programs. They need time to try out online tools and perform trial units with a traditional

class to work out any problems that may arise in the actual hybrid classroom. In the planning

year, instructors should be practicing with available online tools and sign up for educational

technology websites and emails where new research, findings, and reviewed educational

tools are published and emailed weekly.

The amount of time needed to plan the curriculum and the Moodle online classroom

environment depends on the instructor and their planning techniques. Learning the various

tools online, practicing and researching proper tools for students to use for best learning

outcomes requires time. Teachers should never send students to a tool or a site without

previously trying all aspects of the tool themselves and trying to find any possible problems

students could run into. It is recommended that teachers who are interested in the hybrid

classroom start with a unit in their traditional classroom, as the researcher has done, and find

what works and doesn’t work in the actual classroom.

Hybrid classes could be introduced in schools who may want to offer students more

course options of enrichment, afterschool opportunities, remediation or diverse teaching and

 52

learning techniques, to decrease actual face-to-face school operating time, to provide a

community based program where parents would have an active role in their children’s

education, or to provide students with technology skills needed for future college instruction

and career training. Schools need to look at alternative methods for education and determine

whether the goals they have currently are meeting the needs of preparing students for the

future. The hybrid classroom can help schools provide more options for students, families,

and teachers, but they must decide upon an action plan for implementing such a program and

provide proper teacher training to obtain the goals set forth with such a program.

Prior to beginning a hybrid program, student access to computers and Internet must be

addressed by schools and teachers. An Internet and computer use policy must also be

considered, created, and adopted by the school district prior to implementing the hybrid

program. Most schools and public libraries provide free computer and Internet access to

students during specific hours. Students who do not have personal access to a computer may

find a hybrid program difficult if the school computer lab or library is not available to them

all hours of the day or weekends. Schools may consider computer loan programs available

through certain computer companies or require families to have a home computer with

Internet access prior to enrollment in a hybrid course. The options available for successful

implementation of a hybrid program depend on the goals of the school, the socio-economic

status of their students, and the budget available for the program.

Expansion of Project and Further Research

While this project provides a foundation and outline for a hybrid earth science summer

school course, further development of year-long courses would benefit the educational
 53

community interested in this alternative form of education. More data collection from K-12

classrooms that can be quantitatively analyzed would be helpful to gain support or make

changes to programs in action. Educational researchers should look to teachers who may be

interested in the hybrid classroom setting and gather evidence and data for further

publication.

If this program is implemented in schools, time must be set-aside for teacher planning and

collaboration as well as time for refining and discussion of what works and does not work at

various grade levels. Presentations by educational professionals in the hybrid field would be

recommended as well.

Conclusion

With the current budget crisis and education failure in much of the United States, school

districts, charter schools, and private schools must look at alternative education opportunities.

The hybrid class format has many options available to school districts, teachers, students and

families and could improve test scores and motivate students while building stronger

communities and alumni bases for future financial foundations and aid. The hybrid classroom

has the potential of better preparing students for their future. Students would begin

practicing communication and technical skills both in the classroom and online preparing for

life skills necessary in the 21st century to be competitive in the world marketplace.

Much more research and data collection is needed in the K-12 level, but university level

data is helpful to review and gain knowledge concerning best practices, strengths and

weaknesses within hybrid programs, student technology skills, teacher needs, and resources

available to enhance curriculum. As more educators become aware of the hybrid program,
 54

they may begin adopting aspects helpful for student retention and motivation, leading to

more data collection and further knowledge about this little known educational opportunity.

If successful, the hybrid program could alleviate the strict time frame teachers have to teach

units prior to state and national testing, allowing teachers to plan online lessons to cover

more material at a greater depth. This aspect alone should motivate teachers to begin hybrid

units. Most educators already use technology in the classroom and require some online

homework or research. If they were introduced to available educational websites and online

sources and trained about proper implementation and creating a safe online environment,

teachers would begin to see the vast amount of information and helpful sources to make their

curriculum come alive and become relevant to the everyday life of their students.
 55

References

Biggs, M. J. G. (2006). Comparison of student perceptions of classroom instruction:

Traditional, hybrid, and distance education. Turkish Online Journal of Distance

Education. 7, 46-51.

Bonwell, C., & Eison, J. (1991). Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom

AEHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No.1. Washington, D.C.: Jossey-Bass.

Cavanaugh, C., & Blomeyer, R. (2007). What works in K-12 online learning. International

Society for Technology in Education. Washington D.C., United States.

Cavanaugh, C., Gillan, K. J., Kromrey, J., Hess, M., & Blomeyer, R. ( 2004). The effects of

distance education on K-12 student outcomes: A meta-analysis. Illinois, Learning

Point Associates.

Clark, T., & Berge, Z. (2005). Virtual school and elearning: Planning for success. The

Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System: 19th Annual Conference of

Distance Teaching and Learning. http://www.uwex.edu/distred/conference. Accessed

20 October 2009.

Clark, Tom. Virtual schools: status and trends. A study of virtual schools in the United

States. Distance Learning Resource Network. Phoenix, AZ. 2001.

http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/virtualschools.pdf. Accessed November 16,

2009.

Cole, J. & Foster, H. (2008). Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course

Management System. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Francisco, CA.

1993. http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html accessed 26 may 2009

Accessed 25 May 2009.

Doering, A., & Veletsianos, G. (2008). Hybrid online education: Identifying integration

models using adventure learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education,

23, 23–41.

Hein, G. E. (1991). Constructivist Learning Theory. The Museum and the Needs of People.

International Committee of Museum Educators Conference. Jerusalem, Israel. 15-22.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.html. Accessed 26

May 2009.

Lopez, J. (2006). Teaching in a hybrid online high school environment: A case study of five

school teachers (Doctoral dissertation). Available from Proquest Dissertations and

Theses Database. (UMI No. 3213346)

Maor, D. (2003). The teacher’s role in developing interaction and reflection in an online

learning community. Computer Mediated Communication. Education Media

International. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals. Accessed 26 May 2009.

McCray, G. E. (2000). The hybrid course: Merging on-line instruction and the traditional

classroom. Information Technology and Management. 1, 307-327.

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-

based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning

studies. United States: U.S. Department of Education, Office of planning, evaluation,

and policy development policy and program studies service.

Nicholas, H., & Ng, W. (2009). Engaging secondary students in extended and open learning
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supported by online technologies. Journal of Research on Technology in Education,

41, 305-328.

Ng, W. & Nicholas, H. (2007). Conceptualizing the use of online technologies for gifted

secondary students. Roeper Review, 29, 190-196.

North American Council for Online Learning and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

(2006). Virtual schools and 21st century skills. NACOL.

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f. Accessed 20 October 2009.

Picciano, A. G, & Seaman, J. ( 2009). K-12 online learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey

of United States School District Administrators. United States: Sloan Consortium.

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constructing Online Learning Solutions. Packt Publishing: Birmingham, UK.

Riffell, S. K., & Sibley, D. F. (2004). Can hybrid course formats increase attendance in

undergraduate environmental science courses? J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ., Vol

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Schur, L. (2009). Classroom vs. distance vs. hybrid instruction: A comparison. Texas

Distance Learning Association Conference. Corpus Christi, Texas.

http://www.txdla.org/. Accessed 20 October 2009.

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readiness to adopt online learning: Questioning the assumptions. Computers and

Education. 53, 742-748.

 58

Appendices
 59

Appendix A: Informed Consent for Survey

 60

January 1, 2010

Dear Parent or Guardian,

I am currently a student in the Master of Arts in Education Program with an emphasis on Educational
Technology at Touro University-California. Your child will be asked to participate in a survey on their
technology usage and learning style. The survey will provide valuable information for a research project
building a hybrid class where face to face interaction and web-based independent learning takes place, which I
am conducting for my Master of Arts thesis. Once the study is completed, I will be glad to share the results with
you. Your written permission on this form is required for your child to take the survey for the study.

The survey will gather information on students’ experiences in technology and their best learning format. The
survey will be administered (date) by myself, their teacher. All surveys will be anonymous. All students that
are enrolled in the 2009-2010 Earth Science class will be invited to participate in the study.

Your child does not have to participate in the survey. There will be no actions or penalties against your child for
not participating. Students who participate in the survey only have to answer the questions they want to answer
and they may stop participating in the survey at any time. Before the survey is administered, the survey’s
purpose, content, and procedures will be explained again. Your child will be able to ask questions and decline to
participate. You may examine the survey questions upon request. If you have questions about the survey,
please email me at e.schroeder@spsv.org

I have received an explanation of the study and agree to let my child participate in a survey. I understand
that my child’s participation is strictly voluntary. I agree that the results of this study will be used for a
masters’ thesis and possible future publications.

Signature: Date:

____________________________________________ ________________________

My child’s name is (please print): ____________________________________________

 61

Appendix B: Student Survey

 62

Summer 2010 Earth Science Technology Survey

1. What do feel is your best learning style?

Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic

2. Have you heard of a hybrid classroom?

Yes
No

2a. If yes, what do you know about a hybrid classroom?

3. Please rank the following activities that interest you for learning about a topic in class.
Please use the following scale: 1 =very interested 2=maybe 3=not interested 0=Don’t know what this is
Independent project
Online Research
Online Discussion board
Blogging
Email
Online quiz/test review/practice
Group project
Webquest
Social Networking
Live online chat
Book work
Worksheets

4. Did you have an email when school began?

Yes
No

5. Would you be interested in a classroom where an online learning community was incorporated into
your classroom?
Yes
No
Don’t know

6. Do you have a computer at home?

Yes
No

6a. If yes, do you have internet?

Yes
No
 63

Appendix C: Technology Unit Survey

 64

Earth Science Household Chemical

Webquest Survey 2009

A. Did you enjoy the webquest?

Yes No

B. Have you done a webquest prior to this one?

Yes No

C. Will you use the websites presented in the webquest in your future?
Yes No

D. Would you have rather learned about household chemicals in the traditional
classroom?
Yes No

E. Would you do a webquest again?

Yes No

F. What was your favorite aspect of the webquest? Why?

G. What was your least favorite aspect of the webquest? Why?

H. What else would have you liked to study in the webquest? What enhancements could
be made to the webquest to make it better?

I. What percentage of time were you actively engaged in the webquest (prior to creating
the flyer?)
25% 50% 75% 100%
J. What did you experience while learning about household chemicals?
 65

Appendix D: Institutional Review Board Proposal

 66

High School Earth Science Hybrid Class Design Encourages Student Attention, Higher
Level Learning, and Concept Retention

By Emily Schroeder

Touro University

A Field Project Presented to the Faculty of the School of Education

Touro University
In Partial fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS
In
Educational Technology

Advisor Dr. Susan Craig, Adjunct Faculty, Touro University – California

716B

January 1, 2010
 67

Importance of the Topic

As the field of technology increases in education, researchers and educators alike are

searching for alternative forms of instruction throughout K-12 and university level where

students not only learn in a traditional classroom setting but also gain technology skills,

practicing to become autonomous and self-regulating in Web-based learning. While the

research concerning Web-based learning has been conducted primarily in university and

specialty fields of medicine, it has been found that students in online learning situations have,

on average, outperformed students in traditional classroom settings where they sit face-to-

face with their teacher and peers (United States Department of Education, 2009). With this

recent conclusion, schools throughout all grade levels are altering their technology plans and

pushing for further inclusion of technology and online learning scenarios for students in all

fields of education. Not only is technology being incorporated into the class, but the overall

classroom setting is changing.

As previously stated in Chapter One, various forms of education have existed throughout

history. Distance learning and face-to-face learning have been the mainstays of education.

Distance learning has been around for many generations of learners. It was considered a

correspondence class, where students received course information in the mail and returned it

to the school upon completion. With the development of the radio, television, and most

recently the Internet, the scope of learning has changed significantly. Students can use

sources beyond a textbook and worksheets and have a discussion with other classmates and

their teacher(s) in a chat room. The online community offers students what was missing for
 68

generations, interaction and guidance beyond a book. When asked about their learning

experience in online learning communities, students respond mostly positive stating that they

need the sense of community and the teacher is essential to guiding the learning process

(Valtonen, Kukkonen, Dillon & Vaisanen, 2009). This newer form of distance learning has

evolved into a variety of formats, strictly online classes, Web-based lessons infused into the

classroom, and a newer form of education referred to as the hybrid classroom. This newer

form of education is seen by the United States Department of Education as the future to the

success of education due to the flexibility for students to take a variety of classes their school

may not offer, the evidence for greater levels of learning, increased enrollment, and also the

support students receive from their peers and teachers.

Definitions of Terms

As one researches the topic of online and hybrid courses, many different terms are found

to describe various levels of technology based classrooms. Terms referring to classroom

types that may be used in educational research are face-to-face or conventional, online, Web-

based, virtual, e-learning, hybrid or classroom-based online learning, and distance education.

Face-to-face is a traditional classroom setting where students sit in a classroom with peers

and have a teacher facilitating the learning. This type of classroom can also be enhanced

with internet-based or virtual lessons used as an addition to the textbook in support of

learning and teaching and is referred to as an e-learning classroom (Clark & Berge, 2005). In

contrast, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (2007) noted that

online learning occurs when instruction and content are delivered through the internet and the

teacher and learner are separated by time and space, whereas a Web-based or virtual class

generally refers to an online course where students have a learning community with peers
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and a teacher in the presence of online discussion boards, live chat rooms, interactive online

lessons, wikis, and blogs, generally without ever meeting face-to-face (Clark, 2001). A

hybrid course includes the strongest aspects of face-to-face and Web-based classes where

students interact in a live classroom and also perform tasks online in an interactive online

community. As stated previously, distance education incorporates much more technology

than the originally designed correspondence classes, but still maintains distance and lack of

community or interaction with peers or an instructor. All of these learning arenas have

research studies published, but with the rapid increase of the online, Web-based classrooms,

there is a lack of information in K-12 age level and a variety of terms used depending on the

researcher, which not only makes it difficult to find information, but also shows the

inconsistency and lack of strong standards for education today

Literature Search

Specific information on hybrid classes was difficult to find at all levels of educational

research. Searches using Proquest, Proquest published journals and dissertations, and

Elsevier databases provided access to the following journals where online learning was

discussed, Computers and Education, Journal of Research on Technology in Education,

Educational Technology: Research and Development, Journal of Technology and Teacher

Education, Journal of Distance Learning, Educational Media International, Computers and

Education. Research in these journals was limited to the last five years since 2004. Specific

search of reviews of online learning was done in Review of Educational Research. The

United States Department of Education Meta-analysis in online learning, North American

Council for Online Learning (NACOL) Virtual Schools publication, Sloan Consortium

Surveys, and recent meta-analysis done by educational researchers proved the most helpful in
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finding information about online learning and a small amount on hybrid education. A

dissertation written by Joy Lopez, Ed.D (2006) proved most helpful. Since she is local in

Oakland, Ca, contact via phone and email was done. Conversations led to connections with

Patty Young at Orange Lutheran, in Orange, California, who is the head of the school’s

virtual high school. Both provided websites and conference presentations for further reading.

Online news inquiries were done on edweek.org as well as searches for conference speeches

and publications at recent distance learning conferences. A variety of books have been

published but ISTE’s What Works in K-12 Online learning proved to be the most beneficial

for most up-to-date information on hybrid learning.

Description of Literature Found

Research in the field of technology-based education goes back to the early 1990s when

computers were being introduced to the classroom. At that time, a variety of new terms were

adopted in the field of education and research was rampant at all levels of education. Upon

introduction of the Internet, university and specialty schools adopted online learning rather

quickly and much research is available. The United States Department of Education’s

evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning found more than 1000 studies from

1996 – 2008, but only nine K-12 studies where an experimental or quasi-experimental design

and measured student outcomes were objective. Cathy Cavanaugh, Robert Blomeyer, Robert

E. Clark, and Robert Bernard are leading researchers in the field. While most have

conducted primary research at one time, most of their recent works are meta-analysis of

primary research in online education or conference publications. Cavanaugh was most useful

because her work and analysis is recent in K-12 learning. She published a meta-analysis and

also edited ISTE’s book, What Works in K-12 Online Learning. The other authors were
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considered throughout the research. Interestingly, few primary sources were found in K-12

online learning and even fewer in hybrid education. The exception and most useful was by

Aaron Doering, the creator of Go North!, an educational online based program for 3-12 grade

classrooms. While the focus was mainly on K-12 learning, some college level research was

used to find information for success rates, techniques, student perceptions, and online

communities. Some studies were reviewed for knowledge but not cited in the narrative

summary. K-12 learning research for this paper dates back to 2000 with emphasis on the

data since 2005.

Throughout this chapter, the importance of the presence of technology in and out of a

physical classroom setting will be discussed in reference to K-12 education and support for

hybrid based courses. While the research in K-12 online learning, specifically hybrid

education, is limited, it has been found that technology is a necessity in all grade levels in a

variety of formats. Not only does technology provide more information to students and

teachers alike, but it also provides flexibility in course selection, timing, advanced skills in

critical thinking, research, and analytical skills needed for the future of the 21st century

learner. By incorporating technology, specifically Web-based lessons, into a face-to-face

classroom, students gain a greater perspective of the world, often times interacting through

the Web with research teams out in the field or with a professor in a college research setting

(Doering & Veletsianos, 2008; Nicholas, 2009). In the hybrid classroom, students meet with

their teachers face-to-face at least 51% of the time to perform in class activities where active

learning is the main focus, but lectures and discussions also have a place. The other 49% of

the time, students work on their own in an online environment where the teacher may create

a Web-based community such as Moodle or a website students refer to for guidance to

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assignments, discussion board participation, or a live chat room to share ideas or strategies

(Schuh, 2009). Using research data collected in a variety of educational formats, online

learning will be described in this chapter to provide evidence for further incorporation of

technology and how the hybrid classroom setting may be the future of education.

Perspectives from K-12, graduate, and post-graduate researchers, educators, and students will

be discussed.

Gaps in Research

The specific research in the field of hybrid education is inadequate in all fields. Due to the

lack of data in K-12 online learning, college level data must be considered and discussed in

an attempt to fill in gaps of information to design a hybrid based high school science class.

This information must be considered carefully by the researcher due to funding differences,

student characteristics, policies and other aspects in the different levels of education (Clark &

Berge, 2005; Blomeyer, 2002, 2003). The number of K-12 online courses has grown by 47%

in the last two years, but the amount of research has not kept pace with the increase of the

practice (Picciano & Seaman, 2009; Lopez, 2006). This lack of research, specifically

quantitative analysis, explains why state and federal governments are not quickly accepting

all K-12 online classes or virtual classrooms. Researchers are attempting to gather as much

data in K-12 as possible but due to lack of funding, time, and proper avenues of

communication between researcher and teacher, much data is never gathered. When research

is done, most data is qualitative information from surveys or interviews, which leads to

speculation and many times inconclusive evidence. The United States Department of

education found only nine K-12 studies from 1996-2008 where an experimental or quasi-

experimental design formed data measured from student outcomes that were objective. In
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recent searches through various databases, publications on open learning, class design for K-

12 online learning, and student perceptions of online learning have been found, but

quantitative results were not obtained due to small numbers of students in the study or lack of

further pursuit beyond perception. Until more research is done in the field of online learning

and hybrid learning in K-12, the adoption of alternatives to education is going to be a slow

process.

Published research in the field of hybrid and online education in high school is rare.

Implementation, design, and planning of such a program is even more difficult to find. In

schools where hybrid and online courses are offered, data concerning student interest and

overall thoughts are collected and published after the class is complete, but very few times is

the process of planning and implementation discussed. This lack of information may lead to

frustration for educators and school districts attempting to pilot a program. Much of the

work must be started at the foundation each time a class is approved and the overall cost is

unknown.

Learning Theories

In the last two decades, educational learning and teaching theories have changed

significantly. No longer are students expecting to sit in a classroom and do rote learning

where the teacher lectures all day with very little interaction with peers or the teacher

throughout the day. In contrast, students are working in Web-based environments where

face-to-face may not even exist, but the community of learners is still present. Today, mortar

and brick or virtual classrooms are active environments where active learning is taking place.

This mode of instruction focuses on the responsibility of learning on the learners as described

by Bonwell and Eison in 1991. This theory was researched by educational associations and
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adopted by educators throughout the world. In the early 1990s, the constructivist learning

theory arose, which applied to how people learn and the nature of knowledge, pointing out

that each learner is an individual and constructs their own meaning as he or she learns (Hein,

1991). As the field of technology increased and the Internet became available to the public,

educators adopted active learning and constructivist strategies in their classrooms. Students

were doing more research-based projects, interacting in group work, and participating in

learning in and out of the classroom. As further analysis was done in learning styles, Web-

based learning became popular throughout education where students use the Internet to learn,

research, and communicate. Central to knowledge construction in online learning is a socially

immersed learning environment where the students create a virtual community involving

cognition, peers, and teacher, enabling them to construct knowledge in an interactive manner

(Ng & Nicholas, 2007). This Web-based classroom has grown exponentially in the last 5

years increasing the cognitive aspect of learning. Students draw on prior knowledge to

present opinions in discussion forums and to actively construct new meanings from learning

new material either from the Internet and paper-based resources or from contributions by

other members of the online community that the student is in. As one studies the field of

education and the changes of learning theories in the past two decades, it can be seen that

active and constructivist thought has been widely accepted.

Why Hybrid is the Future for 21st Century Education

There are a variety of demands on education throughout K-12 and university level. Not

only do educators have to plan lessons with activities, projects, and discussions, they also

need to teach and prepare students for 21st century learning, where technology and Internet

information is at the student’s fingertips with unprecedented access to information and ideas
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(ISTE, 2007). This generation of learners, the “millennial generation” is expecting to obtain

the latest information instantly in an interactive, multimedia, and multitasking environment

(ISTE, 2007, pg 1), which is difficult for some educators who are not as knowledgeable in

the educational field of technology. With this fast growing trend, educators, mostly non-

native to technology must attempt to learn and adopt Web-based learning and provide lessons

to the native technology generation, while also maintaining classroom face-to-face learning

as well.

The incorporation of technology in the classroom is essential for education today and the

future of this generation. Universities and professional workplaces require a strong base of

knowledge in the technology field and are relying on computer-generated work more often.

Students and workers are expected to know the skills essential for success in the increasingly

competitive 21st century workplace. Skills necessary to be successful in almost any

professional field include global awareness, self-directed learning, information and

communications technology (ICT) literacy, problem solving time management, and personal

responsibility (ISTE, 2007). In the 2006 report, Virtual Schools and 21st Century Skills,

online learning is one of the most important advancements transforming United States

Education. The report states, “In an increasingly competitive global economy, it is not

enough for students to acquire subject-level mastery alone. Skills like creativity, problem

solving, communication and analytical thinking are necessary for all levels of success, from

entry-level jobs to engineering and technical fields. However the United States K- 12

education system as a whole does not yet teach and measure these skills” (NACOL, pg. 2).

The report also states that United States students are falling behind their peers internationally,

innovation in the United States is falling behind causing problems for economic
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competitiveness, and employers are alarmed by the prospect of filling the jobs of tomorrow

due to the lack of a skilled workforce. When the United States Department of Education

conducted their evaluation of online learning, they reported it is the fastest growing trend in

education with more than a million K-12 students taking online courses in the 2007-2008

school year. This growing trend is necessary for all students to be involved in and it must

begin prior to college. As much of the research concludes, online learning is a necessity in

K-12 classrooms and must be incorporated into lesson planning for subject matter efficacy

and skill formation beyond the classroom in order for 21st century students to have a

successful future in education and the global workplace.

In order to meet the recent standards set forth by the International Society for Technology

in Education (ISTE), schools must look for alternatives to a traditional classroom setting

where innovation, creativity, collaboration, and communication are central (ISTE, 2007).

According to the Sloan Consortium’s most recent survey of online learning, more than a

million K-12 students took online courses in the 2007-2008 school year; This number has

increased by 47% since 2005-2006 with over half the states offering online classes

(Piccianno & Seaman, 2009; United States Department of Education, 2009). While higher

education and specialty training quickly adopted online learning, K-12 has had difficulties

and taken much caution in the pursuit of this form of education due to the many restrictions

by state and federal government on education. A shift in policy is slowly occurring as more

states adopt online classes and virtual classrooms and demands by many educators, parents

and students pursuing alternatives to traditional classrooms become apparent.

As further budget cuts arise and school closures occur, course offering will narrow and

many students and parents will turn to online education as an alternative. The current issue
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with online classrooms in K-12 education is the cost to set-up and maintain courses.

Although technologies are decreasing in cost, maintenance of hardware, software, and

professional development in K-12 schools can be a districts’ prohibitive expense. A shift in

funding and budgeting models must take place in order to become more widely available

throughout the country (ISTE, 2007). The movement toward a hybrid classroom appears to

be the best answer for many districts with financial woes, but due to the lack of research for

state and federal approval and funds for teacher/facilitator education, it is a slow movement.

Even if a hybrid charter school is started, often times, the funding is lost or a lack of

understanding of the charter by the district closes down the school (Lopez, 2006). While

budgets are being adjusted, technology is a top priority in most school districts and online

learning is being considered as the answer to cutting costs with proper planning and

professional development.

As school districts are failing throughout the country, parents and students are looking for

alternative choices. Schools in rural areas are closing or offering fewer classes to decrease

the budget, leaving students with the option to travel to the city schools or begin taking

online classes. For secondary students, the choice is not easy. While these students are

highly technical and considered the Net-generation, growing up with technology as a part

their everyday lives, they hesitate with online learning. Many have preconceived ideas of the

environment being lonely and lacking interaction due to the lack of face-to-face interaction.

When 337 students were surveyed as to their experience with online learning, only 37 had

any experience. It was discovered that teachers receive the information to teach and design

the course, but students don’t get that experience and therefore don’t realize that the online

environment may be highly interactive with an online community and offer a variety of
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course options (Valtoneen et al., 2009). With this being better understood and more widely

accepted, families are considering online options not only for remediation, enrichment, or

introductory college courses, they are seeing opportunity for more parental control and

involvement, especially in homeschool environments where parents have difficulty teaching

the high school material and also in unsafe schools where violence is becoming prevalent

(Lopez, 2006). Students like the flexible time schedule for participating in the class and also

find they are able to take more classes than in the traditional class setting when they were

trying to balance extracurricular activities into the regular school day hours. This type of

environment also works well for students with long-term illnesses in hospitals or in isolation

from the public. Not only do online classes offer students flexible educational options, but

they also better prepares students with the skills necessary for 21st century learning (NACOL,

2006; Lopez, 2006).

Online learning is helping education in a way that no one predicted. Students are staying

in school to graduate in both secondary and university level. Students are enjoying the

flexibility of time and the increase of course offerings in online environments. Students can

sign up for classes around the world from any place and almost at any time. They don’t need

to worry about not getting into a class or scheduling issues with other classes. Students can

choose to complete their lessons at a time of day they learn best and belong to an online

community where interaction remains in chat rooms, discussion boards, online activities, and

email. Those who are disenchanted with a traditional classroom and prefer online learning

thrive and enjoy their classes more frequently (ISTE, 2007). Online learning provides

flexibility for students who not otherwise complete school and gain knowledge of technology

necessary for the workforce.

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Best Practices in all Education Levels for Technology Based Education: Hybrid

As online learning grows, educators are developing best practices for incorporating

technology and Web-based learning into their classrooms. While prior research has explored

the efficacy of on-line learning resources, much has focused on distance learning

environments (McCray, 2000). As stated by McCray, 2000, research done by Borg and

Shapiro found that student performance improved if the Myers-Briggs Type indicator

category of the instructor matched that of the student. It also has demonstrated that learning

styles vary with demographics. This suggests, then, that if instructors are to give explicit

consideration to the variety of learning styles likely to manifest in their students, they should

be creating a collection of varied learning opportunities and/or modalities of content delivery

in their courses. (McCray, 2000). With these ideas in mind, many classrooms are

transforming from the traditional face-to-face instruction or an online course to a mixture of

face-to-face and online activities. While many courses, K-12, university and professional

levels, are strictly online and students never meet their teacher or peers, experience has

shown that a mix of face-to-face and Web-based learning is best; students in these mixed

environments are outperforming their counterparts who are either taking a traditional face-to-

face course or a strictly online course (United States Department of Education, 2009).

Many of these hybrid courses are forming in charter schools throughout the United

States. Students gain educational autonomy and teachers have a vision to provide an

environment for better teaching which includes incorporation of technology and innovation

in the learning process. These charter schools develop relationships with the community and

appear to be held more accountable by the state and the public (Lopez, 2006). Parents are

more involved in their child’s school and homework and tend to volunteer more frequently in
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the classroom and in community service projects with their children. This platform for

education may force public schools to reform and consider more options for students to gain

the skills needed in an ever more challenging world.

In an effort to create the best learning environment for students in her area of

Southern California, Joy Lopez (2006) along with a few doctorate colleagues, created a

charter school, Foresight School College Prep Academy, on the grounds of a public high

school. In the planning, a foundation was built using three key features of social learning

theory: dialogue, community, and authenticity for the teachers and students alike (Lopez,

2006). After much research, a hybrid based format was found to best fit the criteria of the

program design. Teachers changed their teaching practices, collaborated more often, learned

alongside the students, and formed a community with students and their families. Students

formed dialogue with each other and their teachers both online and in the classroom,

sometimes about topics not related to the course such as asking for help with a different

course all together. Students success varied based on motivation in the two different

environments of the hybrid setting. Self-motivation was imperative. Though the program

was not successful due to funding issues, the project identified that “learning occurs in

communities, learning is the participation in communities, and participation ensures the

survival and growth of communities” (Lopez, 2006, pg. 191). Through the course of the

project, a basis for future designs of high school hybrid classes and schools was created.

As aforementioned, research for hybrid class settings is rare in K-12. The GoNorth!

program for grades 3-12 designed by Aaron Doering at the University of Minnesota does

offer, however, a model for future development of hybrid units. He designed the program

with two major theoretical approaches to learning, experimental and inquiry based (Doering
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& Veletsianos, 2008). Students work collaboratively in class on projects and respond to

online real time podcasts as a group where questions and comments are designed by the class

and teacher, leading to in-class discussions and an active learning approach. Students are also

assigned computer homework and instructed to respond to blogs, watch videos, play games,

and share their learning with their parents or guardians. Teachers accomplish much more

curriculum because the program format and also relate the GoNorth! program to learning

standards, making it come alive. Students respond favorable and feel they are learning much

more because it is fun and interactive. There more motivation to work and learn (Doering &

Veletsianos, 2008). This inclusion of a hybrid unit facilitates introduction of teachers and

schools to a non-traditional classroom setting, allowing teachers and students to practice and

work collaboratively in a smaller scenario, which may lead to the eventual creation of an

entire hybrid class.

Due to the scarcity of research and data in K-12 hybrid education, the university level

hybrid method of instruction must be considered. In an effort to relate university findings

with high school hybrid design, a study showing how class attendance and information

retention was considered to help determine if the overall format of hybrid is an effective

model for education. At the college level, a hybrid introductory environmental science

course was offered to students from the freshman – senior level at Michigan State University.

With a wide variety of college level students in the traditional class setting, professors found

the students were not actively participating because of the higher level of passive learning

lectures even though PowerPoint presentations and movies were used in the class. Students

would zone out and therefore miss much of the instruction. Professors designed courses

where students benefit from a web-based environment while also retaining benefits of
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traditional classroom environments as well. In the hybrid course design, students met once a

week face-to-face for cooperative, group activities for learning core skills and concepts with

the teacher and at least two other days of the week on-line working on web-based problem

sets that allowed them multiple attempts to get full credit for mastery of the content and also

collaboration online (Riffell & Duncan, 2004). It was found that those in the hybrid course

had a 93% attendance rate while the traditional class format had a 78% attendance rate. The

goal of the program was to maintain face-to-face interaction while also allowing students the

ability to see the application of the life science to their respective majors and ultimately to

their careers (Riffell & Duncan, 2004). From this study and others in the K-12 and

University levels, it was found that hybrid courses represent an improvement over traditional

lecture format and that more courses should be designed in the hybrid format with emphasis

on design and information complexity.

A thorough evaluation of two sections of an introductory core management information

systems course taught at a prominent liberal arts university by the same instructor, revealed

that the mixing of both online and traditional settings provided an “efficient means for

executing activities previously tethered to the classroom setting and as a means to allow the

pursuit of higher education” (McCray, pg. 307). The classroom was split into two groups,

the technology driven treatment group and a control group. The learning of the technology in

the beginning of the semester by the treatment class allowed for better understanding of

material and challenges to spend more time learning the technology because of the constant

use. Students in the technology driven course reached a much higher level of

accomplishment and research, most likely due to acquired knowledge of various technology

resources throughout the course. While the students were not evaluated extensively on
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motivation, the instructor did note that the students in the treatment hybrid course were

highly motivated and possessed much native curiosity (McCray, 2000). After careful analysis

of many types of quantitative statistics calculated from both course formats, no significant

differences were found to exist between the learning in each group. Qualitatively, the result

of the technology enriched course freed up more time for interactive student learning

exercises and higher levels of learning through class discussion concerning complex realistic

scenarios and project analysis (McCray, 2000). This study shows positive evidence a hybrid-

based class can provide students not only obtain face-to-face interaction with their teachers

and peers, but also promote experience with technology plus building skills for their future in

the workplace. Similar studies since 2000 have revealed a significant difference between

learning in two different class settings with students gaining technological skills in a hybrid

type class that students in traditional class settings are not.

Student Perceptions

The majority of research found was based on teacher perspectives and data gained

comparing grades and attendance, but student perception must also be considered to

determine if they feel the environment is comfortable and whether they view it as a valuable

alternative to traditional or online learning. At the university level, Biggs (2006) examined

three classroom settings: traditional, hybrid, and distance learning to explore learning

environment preferences and actual perceptions of the learning environment. The study used

the Distance Education Learning Environment Survey to examine 26 students doing graduate

level social work at Texas State University-San Marcos. The students were enrolled in one

of the three instructional formats taught by the same instructor and surveyed at project start

and project finish. The survey was a 34 statement web-based standardized, validated
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instrument that measured the perception of the “actual” environment, perceptions of the

preferred environment, or the “ideal” learning environment. Biggs also compared the pre

and post class survey results for each statement in all three formats looking for a discrepancy,

if any, between the students preferred ideal class setting prior to the class and whether the

class met the actual preferences after completion of the course. In the traditional course,

students reported receiving more instructor support, better student interaction and

collaboration, active learning, autonomy, and satisfaction than they expected, but not as

much personal relevance and authentic learning that they preferred. In the hybrid course,

students found they received more instructor support, student interaction and collaboration,

student autonomy, and satisfaction than they expected, but not as much personal relevance,

authentic learning, and active learning as they preferred. In the distance learning course,

students found they received more personal relevance and student autonomy than they

expected, but not as much instructor support, student interaction and collaboration, authentic

learning, active learning, or satisfaction as they preferred (Biggs, 2006). Considering the

results to this study, the statistical mean seem to match the correct classroom format. It is

more difficult to get teacher instruction in a distance learning environment as well as all the

other qualities of education. Results show traditional and hybrid are the best means of

learning while distance is better designed for an independent, self-motivated individual.

Teacher Role and Development

The hybrid design may prove itself rather difficult for many educators. Not only will the

educator have to plan traditional class lessons, but must also manage and plan the online

environment for student learning. As facilitator, their role is to post assignments, guide

discussions, participate in discussions where appropriate, and watch for inappropriate

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behavior. Beginning a hybrid class will require considerable time. Educators will have to

experiment with different formats of presentation on the Web. They will need to constantly

update and edit their online environment for each unit, find sources for video and audio

playing, design podcasts, find sources for properly using and posting images, graphics and

text from borrowed sources, and find ways to properly monitor individual student work

(Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007). While maintaining the face-to-face classroom and the

online environment, educators will also have to differentiate lesson content for various

learning styles and spend time with some students more than others to help them in the online

environment they may not be comfortable with (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007).

In a higher education course in science and mathematics, Maor (2003) examined the

instructor’s role in the development of an interactive hybrid class. The goal of the hybrid

design was to encourage a community of learners to participate in peer learning and

reflective thinking in both the Web-based and face-to-face environments (Maor, 2003). The

author examines the time needed for an instructor to effectively design an on-line

environment that is both welcoming to students and also encourages student interaction and

learning. Maor states, “the role of the teacher in the on-line environment becomes a

significant element in creating quality learning, a task that has required a change in

pedagogies for all higher education lecturers ” (Maor, 2003, pg. 128). In this environment,

the instructor cannot offer boring lectures and powerpoints for passive learning, they must

design lessons to inspire reflective thinking and active learning. The instructor must also

become a reflective teacher themselves so they are able to fix or design further units for best

student learning. The instructor must plan, contribute, and seek input constantly from

students throughout the class to evaluate effectiveness of the material and the way in which it
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was presented. Issues of privacy, rules for use of the on-line class, and reference to student

reflection on their own participation is provided by the author for instructors who may design

their own on-line learning community. This research provides a possible foundation of

thought in the design and the amount of time needed to create an effective hybrid course.

Time management and self-motivation are skills necessary for instructors designing and

implementing a hybrid program. While the hybrid format will require a large amount of time

by the instructor, it may lead to more flexibility with their own work schedule and coverage

of more curriculum content. Teachers interviewed after their class participated in Aaron

Doering’s GoNorth! Program felt they were able to cover the standards more thoroughly and

accomplish more curriculum with the hybrid unit due to students participating in the Web-

based environment on their own time at home. The instructors were motivated by the

students’ motivation and completion of work compared with the previous face-to-face units

taught (Doering & Veletsianos, 2008). The students performed well in class and at home,

often times incorporating their parents in their learning with the Web-based materials. With

the students working on content on their own time at home with the Web-based materials,

instructors may have to change their normal teaching and grading schedules to participate in

the online environment themselves leading to flexibility beyond the normal face-to-face

classroom time of 7:30am – 3pm. Teachers may not meet with their class each day

depending on the design of the class, but will have to check in daily with the online

environment so time must be managed appropriately.

The hybrid format does appear to meet all the needs of 21st century learners, but may lead

to disconnect with the teacher community. In this environment, it may be difficult for

teacher collaboration, communication, professional development, and overall management of

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the course (Cavanaugh & Blomeyer, 2007). Teacher schedules may be different depending

on course offerings and class time meetings. If schools are trying to work with other schools

to offer the hybrid format for low attendance courses such as high-level languages, they will

have to teach during afterschool hours (Lopez, 2009). The profession of teaching may

become more independent and individualized with the hybrid format.

Conclusion

With careful design and implementation of proper in class and at home curriculum, the

hybrid method of course design is effective for active learning. Teachers need to design their

courses, whether kindergarten or college level, with the best methods for student retention of

course information in mind. Students should have authentic learning experiences and

collaborative learning where they can relate real-life material to their learning and apply their

knowledge to their future classes and eventual careers. Passive lectures and copying of

answers from a book is not leading to student’s critical thinking or application beyond the

few minutes of the assignment. Educational researchers are hoping teachers become more

comfortable with the technology platform and integrate it more frequently in lessons for

students and begin to design curriculum where students can identify and pose questions,

analyze data, interact and collaborate with colleagues, experts, parents, and guardians, and

eventually take action in their own community to promote learning (Doering & Veletsianos,

2008). It is with these ideas that the future of education lies. With proper hybrid design,

students may retain more information and be excited about attending class. It allows room for

students to gradually become autonomous and self-regulating. Children are novices and do

not have the skills for problem solving until they practice. They do not know how to

organize and interpret information well. The hybrid format would provide time for practice
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and instruction and lead students to compete and be successful in the global economy and

learn to use the 21st century skills and apply them to all fields of their lives. Students must be

motivated and realize that technology can be used to learn, communicate academically and

effectively, and apply that learning to their personal development.

Suggestions for Future Research

An outline or pre-designed program with an editable feature would be helpful for

educators of all levels. Presenters at the Annual Conferences on Distance Teaching and

Learning and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) are currently

working on a book project to describe elements of online courses that are successful, unique,

and encouraging for planning of online and hybrid courses for educators (Clark & Berge,

2005 & ISTE, 2007). This book will be helpful to provide a base of knowledge for

beginning an online program. Hopefully, the book will provide an estimated financial need

for planning, a guideline of the teacher/facilitator duties, estimated planning and design

times, and an idea of how to deal with tracking attendance, scheduling, and technology

needs. If these guidelines are published and easy for a district or school to understand and

implement, the field of online and hybrid education may be the future of 21st century

education.

Much more work and research must be done in K-12 classrooms in order to determine if

online and hybrid courses are appropriate for all levels. Drawing from the university level

experience and the few published research articles, online and hybrid classes have a place in

education, but overall planning is not complete. More quantitative data must be collected,

analyzed, and published so the United States Department of Education can see the benefits

and provide funding for such programs. The overall cost and planning/designing time must
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be calculated as well for teachers at all grade levels both for those facilitating a single class

and also an entire group of classes. How many classes are appropriate for students to take

and for a teacher to manage are also topics that must be considered.
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Appendix E: Project Handbook