Transformation From Traditional Lecture-Lab to An Integrated Studio-Hybrid Course Format—Student Performance, Feedback, and Lessons Learned.

Many upper division science courses are taught in a traditional lecture-lab format where student meet several times a week for lectures and generally one day a week for a longer period of time for lab. In this format it can be challenging to integrate activities in lecture periods due to time constraints and the one day a week of lab isn’t always enough time for all of the lab and field activities an instructor may want to incorporate.  In 2010 I embarked on a journey towards transforming the format of my traditional upper division level lecture-lab Geomorphology course, which primarily serves geology and soil science majors/minors.  Initially the course format was modified to a studio model in 2010, where we met for fewer but longer blocks of time (two days a week for three hours each session).  In this format, students still learned from traditional face-to-face lecture; however, there was ample time and flexibility to incorporate activities and field experiences.  There was a slight decline in student performance between the studio and traditional format and student feedback was mixed with only 60% enjoying the studio format.   Since 2011, the course has been taught using an integrated studio-hybrid format, where students are responsible for all content and background material outside of class via online lecture and all of class time is spent working on activities, projects, and field exercises.  There was a significant improvement in student performance with a 43% increase in the number of students earning an A or B in the course.  Overall, 94% of students indicated they enjoyed the studio-hybrid format, and 87% felt they learned more than they would have in a traditional lecture-lab format.