During the coronavirus pandemic, german universities had to act quickly: Lectures and seminars had to be offered online via Zoom. After the pandemic-related lockdowns, many lecturers introduced synchronous hybrid teaching/learning settings. These are courses in which students can take part either on site in the seminar room or online at the same time.

Students are therefore faced with the decision every session as to whether they want to take part in the course online or on site. Three researchers from the Professorship of Adult Education/Continuing Education at the Institute of Education at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) have investigated the factors that influence this decision. The findings of Dr. Lisa Breitschwerdt, Christina Hümmer and Professor Regina Egetenmeyer have now been published in the journal Nature Higher Education.

“Our findings show how relevant synchronous-hybrid teaching formats are in today's higher education,” says Breitschwerdt. This type of teaching expands participation opportunities in courses and can take into account the different needs of learners.

Online or on site: How students decide

The researchers used data from course evaluations and (group) interviews with students on the JMU Master's degree course in “Educational Science” with a focus on adult education/continuing education as a basis. The survey covered a period of three semesters and nine courses. A total of 73 students took part. Here are the most important results:

• Synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning settings offer flexibility that suits students' respective life situations:

This is particularly important if the place of residence and place of study are not identical, students have a part-time job or are caring for family members. However, individual study planning and online participation in the event of illness with mild symptoms are also important factors. Students welcome the opportunity to act flexibly in such situations.

• Individual learning preferences play an important role:

Students need to reflect on the conditions under which they can learn best. Their own energy reserves available at the time of the course also influence their decision. Online participants must develop a greater sense of responsibility for their own learning success, as they have to design their own learning environment at home or at another location. On-site students, on the other hand, state that they can concentrate better, understand the learning material better and participate more actively in the course.

• Relationships within the learning group influence the decision:

Above all, the desire for personal contact is why students participate on site in the seminar room. There, they experience the possibility of direct, even informal, exchange with their fellow students and can perceive group dynamics, facial expressions and gestures much better than via the tiles of a Zoom meeting. Relationships within the learning group also play an important role. Which form of participation other course participants choose influences their decision.

The results show that synchronous-hybrid settings respond to the diverse realities of students' lives. The reasons for the decision to participate on site or online provide important information for the future design of these teaching formats.

Part of a project with multiple locations

The study is part of the DigiTaKS* project, under whose umbrella JMU researchers are developing, piloting and researching synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning settings at universities. DigiTaKS* stands for “Digitale Schlüsselkompetenzen für Studium und Beruf – Entwicklung eines Modells zur transformativen digitalen Kompetenzentwicklung Studierender”. The project is funded by the Bundeswehr Centre for Digitalization and Technology Research (dtec.bw) and financed by the European Union in the context of “NextGenerationEU”.

In addition to the JMU Professorship for Adult Education/Continuing Education, the following are involved: the Professorship for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning at Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg (project management and overall coordination), the Professorship for Adult Education at the University of Duisburg-Essen, WeTeK Berlin gGmbH and the Institute for Applied Computer Science at the University of Leipzig.