Valuable Features of Hybrid Teaching in a Higher Education Context

Even if there is no precise definition of hybrid teaching, it is generally referred to as having both face-to-face and remote audiences for the same class of students. Hybrid teaching has peculiar features in the way it integrates technology into educational spaces. This paper aims at understanding how first-year university students approach and take advantage of the features of hybrid teaching. The research has been carried out through a quantitative and qualitative study within a first-year module in Mathematics and Biostatistics at the Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology at the University of Turin. In this module, students could not only choose whether to attend classes face-to-face or remotely, but they were also supported by an online course with all the useful contents: recording of lectures, presentation of course contents, interactive resources, in-depth materials, and assessment with feedback. Results show a high appreciation of hybrid teaching and its benefits, usefulness, simplicity, high flexibility, facilitation of students’ time management, and fulfillment of learning needs, giving additional value to face-to-face attendance.