Engineering Students’ Engagement in a Hybrid Learning Mode: Comparative Study

After almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, higher education institutions are adopting transitional strategies towards returning to normal campus life while respecting the health and safety regulations. An example of such strategies is the hybrid teaching model where only half of the students attend their classes physically on campus while the other half attend their classes simultaneously but online, and their attendance alternates every week. A major challenge imposed by this strategy is the complexity of students’ engagement as instructors are exposed simultaneously to two different teaching styles. In this paper, the effectiveness of an Audience Response System in terms of boosting the students’ engagement in a hybrid learning environment is investigated. The collected data is analyzed at various stages and comparative conclusions are drawn about the Audience Response System’s effectiveness over the interaction of online and on-campus students. Furthermore, an anonymous detailed survey is conducted to verify the students’ satisfaction level and to link its results with the conclusions obtained from analyzing the data of the Audience Response System.