(447e) Student Motivations for Enrolling in Online or Face-to-Face Sections of Material and Energy Balances

Chemical engineering departments may offer some sections of their courses in either traditional face-to-face format (F2F) or in online (OL) formats. Students therefore may have a choice in which type of section to enroll in and will make this choice for different reasons. The goal of this study was to assess the motivations behind student choice of enrollment in F2F vs OL sections of the materials and energy balance course (MEB). Students were given an online survey near the end of the semester which asked them about their motivation for their enrollment decision in addition to their thoughts on their interest in, the utility of, and their performance in MEB. Data will be summarized and presented by comparing F2F and OL student survey results in addition to student performance results in the F2F and OL sections. Recommendations will be made for chemical engineering programs to consider about the value of offering F2F and/or OL sections of core courses such as MEB.