Author(s): Reem Al Qenai, Randa Diab-Bahman, Sapheya Aftimos
During the unexpected pandemic, education systems around the world have experienced many changes. The abrupt switches between the different systems of learning have led to many disruptions in the learning process. Though there is a plethora of information on the implications of online learning and more on conventional in-person education, there is a dearth of information when it comes to the hybrid method – particularly from the students’ point of view. Also, many aspects of the learning process have been investigated previously, including rapport and relationships. Yet, there is still a gap in research which helps practitioners and policy makers identify optimal methods of learning. Thus, this research will be one of the first to investigate the implications of hybrid learning in building student-teacher rapport by comparing it to a fully online system. In this paper, the SIRS-9 was used to measure two Student-Instructor constructs (Rapport & Relationship) to explore the perceptions of undergraduate students (n=238) comparing hybrid & online learning methods. The findings reveal that all the perceptions on online learning had relatively high mean ratings than the perceptions regarding hybrid learning. Thus, it can be concluded that online learning was more effective and successful than hybrid learning. The findings are important as they will help further determine the pros and cons of the different methods of learning to make relevant decisions.