"Student Choices of Reduced Seat Time in a Blended Introductory Statistics Course"

Two instructional features are available to students in blended courses that are not present in traditional courses. First, online content is available with the intent that it substitute for a portion of face-to-face lectures or other in-class types of material delivery. Second, in-class seat time in a blended course is reduced as compared to the traditional version of the course. In this paper, we explore student choices of reduced seat time in a style of blended course that does not have a punitive attendance policy, uses online lectures rather than in-class lectures, and conducts alternative, but optional, in-class activities. After accounting for the natural tendency of students to skip classes in a traditional course, we find an interval estimate of 49 to 62 percent for the mean reduction in seat time chosen by students. Also, using an empirical model of attendance, we find that student use of online materials contributes in a positive way to class attendance.