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Survey: Online, Blended Dominate Today’s Learning Environments

In our latest Teaching with Technology Survey, the vast majority of faculty members said they teach in either a fully online or blended format.

college student studying with a laptop and learning online

In a recent survey, nearly nine in 10 faculty members (87 percent) at colleges and universities across the country said they are using either fully online or a mix of online and face-to-face instruction in their courses. That leaves just 13 percent who are still teaching exclusively face-to-face.

These findings come out of Campus Technology's 2018 Teaching with Technology Survey, which asked higher education faculty about their work with online and blended courses and their plans for exploring those modes in the future. The blended model was the most common among our respondents, at 76 percent, up from 73 percent in 2017.

teaching environments

However, that doesn't mean those instructors blend every course. When we asked faculty how many of their classes are blended, 29 percent said they teach all blended classes, while 45 percent blend some of their classes. Six percent said they plan to use the blended model in the next year or are exploring the option.

use of the blended or hybrid model in class

We also asked faculty if they employ the flipped classroom model, in which students review recorded lectures or other course content on their own, saving class time for hands-on, active learning activities. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said all or some of their classes are flipped, while 17 percent plan to flip in the next year or are exploring the model.

use of flipped classes

Note: We will post more results from the survey over the coming weeks. You can check back for ongoing coverage in our Research section.

Who Responded

Our survey polled 161 faculty members across the United States about the use of technology in higher education. The majority of respondents (67 percent) come from public institutions, with 29 percent from private nonprofits and 4 percent working at for-profit schools. Sixty-seven percent work at four-year colleges or universities; 26 percent are at community colleges; and 7 percent designated their institutional level as "other."

Respondents represent institutions of a range of sizes, with 46 percent working in colleges or universities with 10,000 students or more. Twenty-five percent of respondents are from institutions with 2,500 to 9,999 students; 16 percent from institutions with 1,000 to 2,400 students; and 13 percent from institutions counting under 1,000 students.

Sixty percent of respondents have 21-plus years of experience in the education field, while 30 percent have 11 to 20 years of experience under their belts. Just 2 percent are newbies with under five years of experience.

Respondents work in a variety of disciplines, ranging from pharmacy and law to humanities and engineering. The top two most common school and college types represented were education (38 percent of respondents) and business/business administration (26 percent).

The top states with the most survey respondents are Texas, New York, California, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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