Students\u27 Performance, Satisfaction and Retention in a Hybrid and Traditional Face-To-Face Science Course, Principles of Biology I, in a Community College

Hybrid teaching, comprised of both in-class and online teaching, is rapidly becoming a favorite mode of teaching and learning. Online and hybrid courses on have become more and more appealing to both higher education institutions and the students they serve. In particular, hybrid teaching has an increase appeal to community colleges as they serve a diverse student population with varied academic levels, cultural background, and personal responsibilities. Hybrid courses promotes flexibility in course scheduling options for students and enables institutions to accept more students without worrying about physical classroom space concerns. This study explored and compared students’ learning outcomes, satisfaction, and retentions for students enrolled in a hybrid versus a traditional face-to-face lab science course in an urban community college. The same instructor taught all sections of the course under both delivery modes and the same course syllabi and grading scale were used. The first research question assessed students’ learning outcomes utilizing standard assessment tools such as assignments, laboratory reports, laboratory exams, quizzes, midterm and final exams. No significant differences were observed in scores between the two modes for assignments, laboratory exams, and midterm exams. Traditional face-to-face students scored higher than the hybrid students in laboratory reports and final exams where the students in hybrid mode did better in quizzes than students in face to face. The second research question assessed students’ satisfaction via a questionnaire. Traditional students revealed a positive satisfaction with their course where hybrid students presented more neutral and/or negative satisfaction. The third research question evaluated students’ retention. Data revealed that traditional face-to-face students’ retention was higher than students enrolled in the hybrid sections