Dr. Lynn A. Fish, who is Professor of Management at Canisius College, provides today’s Guest Post
Since 2012, Dr. Coral Snodgrass and I have been researching student perceptions of online versus face-to-face (FTF) education at Canisius College. Our most recent research focused on whether changes in business student perceptions had occurred. Our survey includes questions on individual factors (motivation, discipline, self-directed, independence, schedule flexibility, time investment, cost investment, happiness and appropriateness of online education), and program factors (difficulty, student-to-student interaction, student-to-instructor interaction, cheating and program preference). If administrators, who perceive FTF and online education as equivalent, are correct, then students should be indifferent to all education factors.
Our 2012 research indicated that business students preferred FTF over online education on most factors. And as of 2018, business students still generally preferred FTF. (See our article in The BRC Academy Journal of Education, 8, no. 1, 2020). However, changes occurred for the online student population from the original study with respect to their views on self-directed, time investment, and appropriateness of online. With respect to the FTF student population, changes in perspectives from the original study occurred for self-directed, preference and student-to-instructor interaction.
As noted in our prior studies, the context of the study (private versus public, large versus small, and program of study) may be a critical factor to consider in understanding student activity preferences. This study occurred at an institution usually taught through FTF courses to small classes (average 18-20 students). Online education at the institution occurs through decisions entirely made by the individual instructor, as no instructional designers are available.
Other institutions may deliver online and FTF education through other methods, such as using instructional designers or digitally-enhanced courses, and therefore students may perceive online and FTF education differently than here. Other studies demonstrate that research into student perceptions are ‘mixed’ as the results vary on each factor studied. There is no clear answer as to what students’ perceive and appears to vary between institutions.