CASE 2: Blending Face-to-Face and Distance Learners in a Synchronous Class: Instructor and Learner Experiences

The push by administrators and faculty for this blended class emerged out of the unique needs of a specific group of learners within the university. BYU is the only university that offers a Master's degree in Religious Education for instructors in the Church Education System (CES) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. CES instructors are located all over the world, with only a small proportion of them within driving distance of BYU.

For the last several years faculty and administrators for the program have been seeking a model that would give simultaneous access to distance and face-to-face students without compromising core values held by the CES faculty, such as the importance of synchronous engagement between learners and faculty. Initially this course used streaming technology to reach distance learners, but did not allow for the distant learners to interact with the instructor or other class members. The graduate school committee for the University did not feel that approach met the rigor that should be part of a graduate level degree. In describing the class, one faculty member pointed out that by nature, seminar courses such as this need more interaction than one-way streaming alone “provides: A seminar is by nature a give and take kind of a question and answer argument type of a setting, and I think the jury is still out on whether or not it can work for long distance students to participate.”

Recently the University has experimented with blending distance and face-to-face learners in a synchronous classroom, using a tool that allows distance learners to actively participate in the class using their home computers. This tool, called Centra, supports more open and spontaneous communication between the campus-based class members and the distance learners. At their home computers the distance learners can view a live video display of the classroom and communicate via two-way audio with the class. Additionally, Centra allows the distance students to communicate silently with each other via synchronous text chat.

This case study will provide a rich description of the classroom environment as well as insights into what the experience was like for

1. the course instructor,

2. the face-to-face learners, and

3. the distance learners.

The purpose of this study is to understand how blending distance learners into a face-to-face classroom impacted the experience of all involved. Because Internet-influenced environments are relatively new, the principles for their design are still being explored (Duffy, Dueber, & Hawley, 1998). It is particularly important to understand what the positive impacts are, and if there are any significant negative impacts on the instructor and learners.

The class consisted of twelve face-to-face learners, seven distance learners participating from three states, a technical teaching assistant, two regular faculty members, and ten guest speakers. Most of the students knew each other because they had participated in the same program on campus during the summer term. The class met once a week for three hours. The major class work involved participation in classes, weekly article reviews, and a final research project report that required collaboration with the instructor and one other student.

All twelve of the face-to-face learners, both of the instructors, and six of the distance learners cooperated in sharing their experiences. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and observation. Researchers participated in both the online and face-to-face classroom experiences in order to observe and better understand the learners' experiences with this blended model. Online surveys containing questions on the quality of their experience were distributed to the participants. Finally, semi-structured interviews were scheduled with participants to follow up on the survey responses and probe more deeply into nuances of their experience with the class.

Surveys and transcribed interviews were coded by the researchers looking for “reoccurring regularities” (Merriam, 1988, p. 133) or themes in the data that would help in understanding what were the positive and negative aspects of the blended learning experience for each of the participants. A few of the most prominent themes discovered in the analysis process are presented in this paper.

This section provides a vignette of the blended class experience to give a flavor for what class participants experienced. Following the vignette is a more detailed analysis of what the findings showed about the instructor and learner experiences through the interviews and surveys.

As twelve students are settling into their seats, Dr. Barber clips the miniature microphone onto his tie. The technical TA is adjusting sound levels, cuing the power-point presentation that he downloaded earlier, focusing the camera on the teacher, and troubleshooting any other problems that have surfaced. Meanwhile, seven distance students in three states are logging in on their home or office computers, hoping there will be no technical problems, looking forward to the text chat with other distance students, and completely aware that Dr. Barber could call on them to participate during the class. Dr. Barber clicks the switch to turn on his lapel microphone, looks around the class and motions to one of the students at the back of the classroom: “Rich, will you read your review of the ‘Winter Quarters’ article?” Rich nods his head affirmatively.

Dr. Barber says, “Seth if you are there, today will you read your review of the Nauvoo article?” A ‘yes’ checkmark appears on the computer screen next to Seth's name and the technical TA says, “He says that's fine.”

After taking care of some class business, Dr. Barber says, “Ok, Seth. If you are ready with your article—go ahead.” Seth is sitting in his living room with large earphones on and his back turned towards his two kids playing games on the floor. He presses the CTRL key on the keyboard, which allows the class to hear him to speak, and begins to read his review of the article into the small microphone that is connected to his computer. All of the students listen as he reads, laughing at certain parts and comparing his thoughts to their own. When he has finished, he hears the face-to-face students applaud and he sees little clapping hands on the computer screen next to the names of several of the other distance students. A few messages pop up on his text chat screen saying, “Good job, Seth” and “Great point about the trials. I had wondered about that too.”

Dr. Barber again speaks into his microphone, “Thanks for the creative analysis Seth. Make sure you have emailed your assignments to me. Ok, Rich, are you ready?” Rich grabs the cordless microphone in the classroom, switches it on so the distance students can hear him, and then reads his article review.

For the next few hours of class, most of the time is spent in lecture/discussion format. The guest lecturer and the regular instructors speak about a designated topic. The face-to-face students make most of the questions and comments, although occasional attempts are made by the instructors to ask questions to specific distance learners. Amongst the distance students there is a constant flow of text chat. They tend to ask questions to each other, clarify what the speaker has said, add their own additional insights, and just entertain one another. All of the visual and audio parts of the class, except for the text chat, have been recorded and will be archived for anyone who missed the class, or who simply wants to review what was done that day.

This section will identify some of the most frequent issues affecting the distance and face-to-face learner experiences, and the next section will explore issues affecting the instructors' experiences. Due to space limitations, the issues presented will only focus on a few of the most critical goals of blended learning systems outlined by Osguthorpe and Graham (2003).

All of the seven distance learners who began the class participated in a majority of the lectures live from their home computers, and all of them completed the course. Data concerning the quality of their experience was collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews. Surveys and transcribed interviews were then coded by the researchers, revealing these students' interest in two prominent reoccurring themes: access to knowledge and social interaction.

The most important benefit that the distance students felt this blended class provided was the ability to participate in the class and receive the graduate degree they wanted, even if they could not physically travel to campus. In each interview with a distance learner, some element of gratitude for the availability of the class was mentioned. Examples of this can be seen in the comments of two different distance learners:

The second most highly mentioned issue related to the social interactions experienced in this blended class. The Centra tool allowed the distance learners to interact with each other as well as with the instructor and learners in the classroom. Most of the negative comments that distance learners mentioned were things that interfered with this interaction (e.g., lag time in being allowed to make comments and lack of awareness of the distance learners by the face-to-face learners and faculty). One student commented, “Sometimes we missed out … We would hear laughter, but we didn't hear the comment or question of the student.” Another said, “If I was going to make a comment, I had to make sure that [it was] worth making … I understand that it's kind of trouble for the teacher and for those that are in the class, to get a comment from the outside because it takes a while and it's a little bit of work for everyone involved.”

Most of the distance learners' positive comments (e.g., about video, text chat, and the ability to know they could make comments in class) augmented both the fidelity and spontaneity with which they could interact. For example one student commented that he liked the video because, “sometimes when you can see the teacher's expressions on their face and that kind of stuff, it can make a greater impact …” A highlight for many of the distance learners was their ability to silently communicate with each other during the lecture via text chat. The chat feature of the Centra tool allowed the distance learners to clarify and expand upon what was happening in class. One distance learner commented on the added value that the chat brought to the learning experience: “We almost had a second discussion going on, but some of the insights were fascinating!”

The chat also allowed distance learners to make comments to each other when they did not want to interrupt the whole class. It was akin to the face-to-face students whispering to each other for clarification (without distracting the instructor or disrupting the flow of the class). One learner commented on this:

Simply being able to participate in a social environment was valuable to these students, but they did have suggestions for improving it. In addition to making teachers and face-to-face students more aware of the distance students, there was interest in having more accessible asynchronous options of communication. One student compared this experience to a completely asynchronous class he participated in at another university. Although he didn't have synchronous communication at that university, they did have a lot of teacher-student and student-student interactions. “What we did is we just utilized Blackboard … I would type in stuff and people would respond to me, and there'd be ongoing conversations.” He suggested that in addition to the synchronous elements of the BYU seminar course, something like Blackboard would help to increase the involvement of both face-to-face and distance students in a community of learners under the mentorship of the faculty.

The face-to-face learners did not have a lot to say about the blended learning experience because, aside from being a little more formal, it was very similar to any other class they had attended. The main issue that they did talk about was the ways in which including the distance learners both positively and negatively affected the spontaneity and richness of the social interactions.

In-class students were required to speak into a microphone in order for the distance students to hear what they were saying. In addition, there was a small but noticeable lag time (about two-seconds) between the instructor asking a question and when the distance student would answer it. Two comments from face-to-face students illustrate how these factors affected the class:

Although, there were some inconveniences, most of the face-to-face students appreciated the opportunity that the distance learners had to participate in the class, and even recognized some ways in which it directly benefited them. Three students commented:

Although in some instances technology limitations created annoyances, the face-to-face learners did feel mostly positive benefits offered to them and the program from having this blended class.

Taking into consideration the needs of the distance learners brought a new dimension to the instructors' thinking and experiences. These instructors found some inconveniences in the way in which teaching a class like this forced them to do things differently. They did, however, feel that their experience with the distance learners was as good or better than with the face-to-face learners, and that the ability for distance learners to participate in the program outweighed the negatives.

Concerning pedagogical limitations, one of the instructors commented on how occasionally he felt less free to make last minute changes in hand-outs and presentation materials because he did not have enough time to give the distance learners access to those changes. He also said that “knowing that the distance students couldn't participate in a discussion as freely and spontaneously as those in the classroom” influenced him to slip more into lecture format instead of the discussion format he preferred. The other instructor commented on when the technology concerned him:

Both instructors commented on the extra effort they put into making the lessons friendly for distance learners, and the extra effort they put into communicating with distance learners outside of class time. The main instructor even said, “In some ways I got closer to the long distance learners than to the guys in the class because you're right there on the phone with them for a half an hour during the week.” For a larger class, this would be very difficult, but for this kind of a seminar course, he felt this extra effort was necessary.

Although at times the instructors wished that there would be even more instantaneous audio communication with the distance learners (like conference calling), they appreciated the opportunity Centra provided for video and recording the lectures for playback. One instructor summed up his feeling in this way:

The findings of this case study could provide valuable insights for others who want to create classes which attempt to blend distance and face-to-face learners in a synchronous environment. In this case, concerns for increased access to knowledge and the value placed on synchronous learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions motivated the creation of the blended class. The need was great enough that it outweighed the inconveniences that the new technology imposed on the instructor and learners.

The authors have found that distance learners in this situation liked video and audio to support social interactions, enjoyed meeting the teacher and other students face-to-face, and liked communicating with other distance learners during class (e.g. text chat). In addition the findings revealed the following:

1. Instructors and learners value two-way communication—being able to ask and answer questions synchronously.

2. It is beneficial to find ways to increase the spontaneity of social interactions in class (e.g. eliminate the lag time in being allowed to make comments).

3. Instructors often need to spend extra time with and encourage the interaction of distance students

4. A technical TA would be helpful to monitor and fix problems that might come up so that the instructor can focus on teaching the class.

5. Utilizing various forms of asynchronous communication (e.g. Blackboard) to supplement when the students are not communicating during class time would be beneficial.

6. Face-to-face learners seemed to experience some inconveniences associated with having distance learners participate in the class, but overall felt that distance learners were beneficial.

One other main area of consideration that is not discussed in this paper, but a is major consideration, is the cost issues and available resources that affect the longevity or sustainability of the program. Centra is a tool that demands high continuing payments. Finding or developing other less expensive alternatives that still allow the institution to meet the overall objectives of the course would be ideal.