The University of Houston Embraces Hybrid Instruction
Hybrid Courses as a Possible Solution
A growing number of institutions are adopting hybrid instruction as a means to reduce costs and meet student demand for greater schedule flexibility while maintaining or improving the quality of the instruction.
The University Of Central Florida (UCF), for example, has used hybrids to relieve a critical shortage of classroom space (Young, 2002). Rather than embark on expensive classroom construction, UCF has converted over 100 courses to a hybrid format. The UCF hybrid courses meet half of the time in classrooms and half of the time online. While the major factor motivating this conversion was shortage of classroom space, instructional outcomes have improved as well. Data from UCF's Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness indicates that "on the average, web-enhanced courses have higher success rates (percentage of students obtaining an A, B, or C) and lower withdrawal rates than their comparable face-to-face courses" (RITE, 2001).
More evidence that hybrids can reduce costs while maintaining or improving the quality of instruction is provided by the results of an ambitious project in hybrid conversion funded by an $8.8 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts in April, 1999. Known as "A Program in Course Redesign," the initiative aimed to use technology-mediated instruction to increase retention and improve student performance for lower division courses in Research 1 universities. All 30 redesign projects supported through this grant focused on large-enrollment introductory courses that have the potential to affect a significant number of students and generate substantial cost savings for the universities. Rigorous evaluation was performed comparing the outcomes of redesigned courses with those of courses with the same content delivered in a traditional (pre-redesign) format. The evaluation found statistically significant improvements in student learning in 22 of the 30 projects. Learning outcomes equivalent to those of traditional courses were registered in the remaining 8 hybrid courses. Of the 24 projects that measured retention, 22 reported a noticeable decrease in drop-failure-withdrawal rates, ranging from 10 to 20 percent. All 30 institutions reduced costs by about 40 percent on average, actual savings ranging from 20 to 77 percent. Other positive outcomes reported include better student attitudes toward the subject matter and increased student satisfaction with the new mode of instruction. The success of the "Program in Course Redesign" initiative demonstrates that information technology can be used to address the academic problems experienced by first-year students at most institutions. Additionally, it demonstrates that colleges and universities can use hybrid courses to efficiently handle more students, and at a reduced cost, without jeopardizing the quality of the education (Twigg, 2004).
While initial conversion to hybrids requires time and money, savings over time can more than recoup the initial investment. This is the conclusion reached by Michael Maher, a professor in the graduate school and a member of the Mellon Advisory Board at the University of California, Davis. Maher is conducting an economic analysis of the school's hybrid conversion project. "One way to look at costs is the way economists do it - start up costs amortized over time. If you look at it that way, you find lower costs for hybrid courses than traditional courses," Maher says (as quoted in Murphy, 2002).