Online Graduate Students' Perceptions of Face-to-Face Classroom Instruction

This article reports online graduate students' perceptions of face-to-face classroom instruction in a doctoral program at a large public university in the eastern United States. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of graduate students returning to a face-to-face classroom after becoming accustomed to online learning. The students' online course experiences impacted their subsequent return to the face-to-face classroom in terms of logistics (anxiety finding a physical classroom, budgeting time to make it there) and learning (including interactions with students and instructors). The primary impact was increased appreciation of face-to-face interactions. Instructors also gained experience applying some other strategies to improve their classes. These findings could inform course developers and instructors about student expectations in face-to-face classrooms as well as stimulate reflections on recommendations for instructional improvements to enhance student learning.