Abstract

The pandemic-induced conversion of entire academic experiences to virtual-only environments became an unexpected experiment in preferred methods of instruction for students and instructors of many disciplines around the globe. According to the US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of students enrolled in distance education courses doubled to 72.8 percent in 2020. The purposes of this study were to quantify the attitudes of design students regarding their preferences for modes of instruction, to identify any shifts in preferences that may have occurred over time, and to identify factors that contributed to a shift. Students in any design major or minor at a large US Hispanic-serving institution who enrolled in spring 2020, fall 2020, or spring 2021 were eligible to participate in the mixed methods Qualtrics online survey with a final sample size of 104. Results indicate a shift in favorability regarding online instruction and contributing factors. Of note, 92.4 percent of students preferred all or part of their instruction online. However, based on the type of course, there were significant shifts in preference.