The survey results show that students' comfort levels with technology and behaviors in the classroom influence their attitudes toward online courses. Those more comfortable with technology and actively participating in class were more likely to take online courses. While most respondents preferred in-person classes, many saw benefits to hybrid courses, especially for general education classes. The study was limited by biases in responses toward on-campus students, part-time workers, business majors, and sophomores. Recommendations include using assessments to match students to appropriate course formats and increasing online offerings for less comfortable subjects through hybrid models.

1. Michelle Hallowell Rachelle Frechette
David Guffey Christopher Rizo
Online & Hybrid Classes

2. Secondary Research

3. Online Class Registration Trend
10.98%
9.68%
6.23%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
National UNCC UNCC (Hybrid)
2012 Sample Results
National UNCC UNCC (Hybrid)
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
2012 2016
2012-2016 Growth
UNCC UNCC (Hybrid)

4. 15
25
35
22
94.57%
1.89% 3.54%2012
In-Class Hybrid Online
92.67%
2.72%
4.61%2016
In-Class Hybrid Online
Online Class Registration Trend

5. Primary Research

6. Focus Group Findings
Freshman/Sophomores
Juniors / Seniors

7. When asked “Have you ever taken any online
classes,” respondents answered:
 92.3% of all respondents stated that they’ve
taken at least one or more online classes.
 85.7% of Junior/Senior respondents claimed to
have taken at least one online class, and 14.3%
said they’ve never taken an online class in their
life. Whereas, 100% of Freshman/Sophomore
respondents said they’ve taken one or more
online course.
 38.5% of all respondents stated they’ve taken 3
or more online courses.
How Many Have Taken Online Classes
6 6
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Junior/Senior Freshman/Sophomore
Yes No

8. The Importance of Meeting the Teacher
Yes No
 60% of respondents said that meeting the
professor was not of importance to them.
“… as long as their expectations come across
clearly in the syllabus.”
“If a teacher a teacher sends and responds to
emails consistently, I don’t think it’s very
important.”
“No… If you take the initiative to learn the
material and truly understand the course
content…”
 40% of respondents said that it was
important that they meet their professor.
“… as a business student you can build
connections…”
“… I think the student to teacher interface is
very important to the development of the
student…”
“… in online courses professors are just a
face on a screen…”

9. Face-to-Face Benefits
“… open dialogue… allows me to hear
different perspectives…”
“…professors have a lot of personality and it
is easier to show that in-person…”
“… you can raise your hand, ask a question,
and get [a response] instantly…”
“… I feel like I can find someone I can work
with and study with which helps me learn.”

10. Online Class Benefits
“… it would make my schedule a lot more
manageable… between work and school…”
“They offer flexibility…I can work at my own
pace and better accommodate my work
schedule.”
“… Discussion forums supplement the
[classroom] discussion portion for online
classes…”

11. Complaints About Online Classes
Lack of Social Interaction
Lack of Tutoring
Lack of Clarity
Technology Dependent
Impersonal
“Hard to hear different perspectives and ask questions.”
“No off-campus tutoring available to commuters.”
“Potential for professors to not be clear on instructions…”
“I don’t like being too reliant on technology…”
“Won’t have the same connection with people, even with
face-time.”

12. Online Course Hesitation
69.23%
30.77%
Math Courses Other Courses
“Math because of the nature of the class –
formulas, mathematical theory that you apply
to an assignment/test.”
“math… I feel like I need that sort of teacher
and student help to get me through the
course… I think I would be lost if it was all
online.”
“From my personal experience, I need a
professor for math in order to ask a question
and get an answer immediately.”
“…I need more visual aids on how to solve
equations/problems.”

13. Concepts/Ideas Alleviating Hesitations
“…offering up videos provided by the
instructor as a teaching aid…”
“…capability for a virtual classroom, will be
helpful.”
“… allow students to meet up with other
students, kind of like group assignments.”
“Designated tutors affiliated with the
material.”
“Better usability with Moodle!”
42% of all respondents stated that videos
would help alleviate the hesitations toward
online courses.

14. Online Classes - Heavier Workload?
58.33%25.00%
16.67%
Yes No Equal
“…They require students to be more
organized/proactive…to learn/understand the
material on their own…”
“Online classes do have a heavier workload if
you do things last minute.”
“… if you add the fact that I’m cutting into my
commuter travel, getting ready for class… it
doesn’t seem so bad.”
“…teaching yourself can seem like a heavier
workload…”

15. Students In Favor Of Hybrid Courses
3
5
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Yes Probably No
Freshman/Sophomore Junior/Senior
80% of all respondents stated that they
would be in favor of a hybrid course.

16. Does UNCC Offer Enough Online Courses
7.69%
53.85%
38.46%
Yes No Unaware
“Despite some of my gripes with it , no, they
do not offer enough. I would maybe feel
different about online classes if there were
more offered for my major.”

17. Works Cited
"Fast Facts." Fast Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
"Banner Self Service @ UNC Charlotte." Banner Self Service. UNC Charlotte, n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.

18. Quantitative Research

19. Research Objectives

20. Hypothesis Expansion
Original Hypothesis:
 Students are more comfortable with hybrid classes compared to strictly online.
 Students would rather take General Education courses over classes pertaining to their major.
Revised Hypothesis:
 Students attitudes toward technology effect behaviors toward likeliness to register for online
courses.
 Students behaviors in the classroom effect attitudes toward online courses.

21. Research Design

22. Survey Components
Behavioral/Attitudinal Ordinal/Nominal/Interval
ORDINAL:
 Rank these in order from most likely to least
likely to register for (i.e. most is 1, least is 3)
NOMINAL:
 Have you taken any hybrid courses (online
and in class combined)?
INTERVAL:
 How likely are you to actively participate in
class discussions?
BEHAVIORAL:
 How often do you access courses from your
Laptop/Computer?
ATTITUDINAL:
 How comfortable are you with
computers/tablets?

23. Sample Demographics
48.9%
51.1%
Females Males
60.2%
29.5%
2.8% 3.4% 4.0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
18-20 21-23 24-26 27-29 30+
Age of Respondents

24. Sample Demographics
83.5%
17.5% 5.2% 6.2% 8.2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20+
Residence: Miles
From Campus
26%
22%
17%
17%
9%
4%
4%
2%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Other
Marketing
Accounting
Management
Finance
MIS
Economics
Operations
Declared Majors

25. Hypothesis Testing
Results

26. Comfort with Technology
TECH COMFORT
TotalComfortable Neither Uncomfortable
FREQUENCY Heavy Users 147 4 6 157
Light Users 13 4 1 18
Never 1 0 0 1
Total 161 8 7 176
Chi-Square Tests
Value df
Asymptotic
Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 14.777a 4 .005
Likelihood Ratio 9.127 4 .058
Linear-by-Linear
Association
3.268 1 .071
N of Valid Cases 176
a. 5 cells (55.6%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum
expected count is .04.
 There is a strong
association with the
respondents comfort
level with technology
and how often they
access course work
through their mobile
devices.
 The more comfortable
the student is with
technology, the more
often they use their
phone to check
Moodle.

27. Comfort with Technology
 There is an association
with the respondents
comfort level with
technology and how
likely they are to
register for online
courses.
 Those who are more
comfortable with
technology are more
likely to take online
courses.
Likeliness
TotalLikely Neither Unlikely
How comfortable
are you accessing
course
material/information
from your phone?
Always 29 7 2 38
Most of the time 25 1 5 31
About half the time 20 3 1 24
Sometimes 16 1 7 24
Never 4 0 0 4
Total 94 12 15 121
Chi-Square Tests
Value df
Asymptotic
Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 15.463a 8 .051
Likelihood Ratio 15.849 8 .045
Linear-by-Linear Association .764 1 .382
N of Valid Cases 121
a. 11 cells (73.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum
expected count is .40.

28. Behaviors in Classroom
How likely are you to actively participate in class discussions?
Total
Extremely
likely
Somewhat
likely
Neither likely
nor unlikely
Somewhat
unlikely
Extremely
unlikely
Peer
Contribution
Yes 22 55 12 8 1 98
Somewhat 11 34 17 10 1 73
Not at all 1 1 0 1 2 5
Total 34 90 29 19 4 176
 Students who are more likely to actively participate in the class
discussions feel that peer contribution contributes to their success in the
course.

29. Behaviors Towards Courses
62%
18% 21%20%
31%
49%
18%
51%
31%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
In-class Online Hybrid
Most Likely Somwhat Likely Least Likely
 When we asked
students what type
of class they were
more likely to
register for in the
future, the bulk of
respondents stated
they would be more
likely to register for
a in-class course
versus online or
hybrid.

30. Attitudes Towards Courses
55.0%
53.0%
52.3%
51%
51%
52%
52%
53%
53%
54%
54%
55%
55%
56%
Finance Accounting Math
 When we asked
students their
comfort level
between various
courses, those
dealing heavily with
math seemed to be
rated as the courses
with which they
were the least
comfortable with.
Lowest Comfort Levels

31. Limitations

32. Location Biasing
58.7%
14.5%
8.1% 7.0%
11.6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20+
 We wanted to see if there was
any association with the
likelihood to register for online
courses with the distance the
student lives from campus
 Our sample size shows a bias, in
that over 58% of the respondents
live within 5 miles of campus
 Therefore, we cannot make any
associations with residence
locations

33. Employment Biasing
86.36%
13.64%
Part-time Full-time
 We wanted to see if there was any
association with the likelihood to register
for online courses with the amount of
hours the respondent worked
 Our sample size shows a bias, in that over
86% of the respondents work enough
hours a week to qualify as Part-time
 Therefore, we cannot make any
associations with residence locations

34. Major Biasing
73.53%
26.47%
Business Other
 Over 73% of our respondents
had declared majors in
business.
 We feel that the particular
courses offered in business
could effect the attitudinal and
behavioral responses towards
online and hybrid courses

35. Classification Biasing
12.50%
52.27%
28.98%
6.25%
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
 Over 50% of the respondents were
classified as Sophomores
 We feel that this may limit their
class experience to Gen Ed courses.
 This limitation can have an effect
on their attitudinal and behavioral
responses about online courses

36. Conclusion

37.  Based on the results of our survey, we believe that there is a market for
online and hybrid courses at UNC Charlotte.
 There is a difference in the comfort level between students and the different
courses they can choose to take either online or in a hybrid model.
 Some students feel that peer contribution is vital to their success within the
course.

38. Recommendations

39.  To help the student succeed, we recommend upon meeting their advisor, they take an
attitudinal/behavioral test to determine what their learning style is and what type of
classes would meet that profile.
 Online courses can be cost-effective for both the school and the students. To increase
enrollment in courses with online components, UNC Charlotte can launch a campaign,
advertising the appeals and benefits of such courses, such as the flexibility that they offer.
 UNC Charlotte should consider embracing the growing trend of courses with online
components. They can do this by offering more online courses for Gen Ed courses that
students are less comfortable with, such as math courses. They can offer those course with
hybrid components to allow a face-to-face interaction with peers and the professor.