Dual Teaching: Simultaneous Remote and In-Person Learning during COVID

Abstract

Social distancing guidelines put in place to combat COVID-19 resulted in a general education introductory information technology course being taught in a dual teaching environment. Each lesson, some students attended in-person while simultaneously others attended remotely. Students alternated each lesson between in-person and remote attendance. We examined whether there was any difference in performance between in-person and remote attendance using an end-of-lesson quiz. For some students the quiz was announced and for others it was unannounced. Additionally, we measured the subjective experience of students via a survey. We found that students attending class in-person performed better on end of class quizzes; the difference was small but statistically significant. In-person students also reported paying more attention, being more engaged, and understanding the lesson material better than remote students. Announcing the quiz did not statistically affect performance, although it did improve the subjective experience of in-person students. Finally, when it comes to dual teaching, both students and instructors prefer in-person or remote teaching. Nevertheless, dual teaching may be an effective approach; there was little difference in final course grades between in-person teaching and dual teaching.