Evolving Roles of Online and Face-to-face Instructors in a Lecture/lab Hybrid Course

Although lecture and lab courses are commonly used in higher education, there are potential problems with this format. However, technology is presenting new opportunities for teaching such a type of a course. This study explores the changes in the role of the instructors when a lecture and lab course evolved into a hybrid course, with the lecture portion of a course online and the labs kept face-to-face. As revealed through the use of discourse analysis, the roles of the instructors were transformed from teacher-centered to student-centered, lowinteractor to high-interactor, and low-initiator to high-initiator. There was also an obvious merging or synthesis of the roles of the lecture and lab instructors, particularly in the areas of course administration, subject matter expertise, and face of the course. INTRODUCTION In higher education, teaching in a lab/lecture format is common (Perkins, 2005). These courses often consist of one lecturer, generally the expert, in a single large, lecture hall. The courses are complemented by multiple, small-group labs, often taught by adjunct faculty or graduate students. A second scenario is small group lectures (often by one or more instructors) accompanied by similar small group labs. There are potential problems with these formats. Large group lectures tend to lack multiple opportunities for instructor-student interaction, while small group lectures many times require more instructors than are available. However, the advent of online learning has facilitated a new scenario for these lab/lecture formats. As suggested by current research (Angeli et al., 1998; Bonk and Wisher, 2000; Stephenson, 2001; Zheng & Smaldino, 2003; Murihead, 2000), online instruction varies in comparison to face-to-face instruction, which necessitates a reevaluation of the online instructor’s role. Changing from conventional means of instruction to online methods of teaching can often produce extraordinary modifications in the perceptions of teachers (Dringus, 2000). Some of the challenges and barriers for online learning that have been identified by researchers are the change of roles and responsibilities for instructors (Yang & Cornelious, 2004). Moreover, the changing roles of the teacher have required a change in pedagogies for the higher education lecturer (Yang & Cornelious, 2004). There is very little research that examines the roles of the lecture and lab instructors when the lecture has gone online and the labs remain face-to-face. The focus of this study is to explore the changes in the roles of the instructors in this new hybrid environment. Due to the nature of the research question surrounding the changing roles and identities of the instructors, the identities and roles building task was selected as a focal point of my discourse analysis. This building task looks at how we use language to get recognized as taking on a particular identity or role (Gee, 2005). It attempts to ask and answer the following research questions for this study: 1. What identities or roles with their personal, social, and cultural knowledge and beliefs, feelings, and values, seem to be relevant to, taken for granted in, or under construction in this situation where the lecture was moved online? 2. How are these identities or roles stabilized or transformed in this situation? In terms of identities and relationships, what Discourses are relevant (and irrelevant) in the situation? How are they made relevant (and irrelevant), and in what ways? METHOD Context. This study examined a course entitled, ‘Introduction to Educational Technology.’ The course had been traditionally offered in a lecture/lab format through a large College of Education in the United States. Introduction to Educational Technology is an introduction to computer productivity, multi-media,