Classroom Climate and Learning Effectiveness Comparison for Physical and Cyber F2F Interaction in Holistic-Blended Learning Environment

A holistic-blended learning environment has been developed in which physical face-to-face, cyber face-to-face and cyber asynchronous blended models are synthesized into one holistic-blended learning model. Such a model enables teachers and learners to do two-way interaction asynchronously and synchronously no matter whether they are in physical space or cyber space. The aim of this research is to explore whether significant differences exist in terms of effects on classroom climate and learning effectiveness between physical face-to-face group and cyber face-to-face group. The research methodology includes surveys, interviews, and content analyses. The results show that although cyber face-to-face group has a larger change on classroom climate and learning effectiveness before mid-term and after final exam than physical face-to-face group there was no significant difference in learning effectiveness between the cyber face-to-face and physical face-to-face student groups. Furthermore, results show a positive correlation between classroom climate and learning satisfaction. This study validates the positive potential of implementing holistic-blended learning for higher education.