Attitudes, beliefs, and attendance in a hybrid course

Since online learning technology, such as streaming video, was introduced to the college distance-learning environment, there has been a need to study the attitudes of college students toward the use of this modality in hybrid courses. Understanding students' attitudes toward using online materials and the impact on class attendance is not only essential to ascertain how effectively the online content is delivered, it also helps teaching faculty prepare online courses and education programs. This paper studies the attitudes of college students' about online materials in a hybrid upper division communications class. Student attitudes towards combining distance-learning techniques with traditional lecture tended to be positive. Students held the belief that hybrid courses have a negative impact on attendance, but they did not self-report an actual impact. Students do believe that they benefit from this technology, but the belief is strongest in those who are most computer/Internet literate. How these attitudes/beliefs impact the student in the context of a rural culture will be discussed.