Do students prefer online or in-person classes this fall semester?

Are you seeing college students opting more for online or in-person classes this fall semester?

I’m asking this question today because I’m hearing contradictory things from various reports and individual academics as they observe students choosing in real time.  On the one hand, polls have held that students prefer in-person education.  On the other, online sections might be more popular, especially if students don’t enjoy face-to-face classrooms mediated through masks, shields, and social distancing.

I put this question to Twitter and people have offered a range of stories about a shift towards online learning.

For example, Dr. Tracy Stuntz:

our students are saying they want to be on campus, but our online sections filled first. I can grab some data for you when I get to work if you want!

— dr. tracy stuntz (@traftycracy) August 24, 2021

Dr. Christopher Conzen concurs:

We also plateaued with the interest in in-person. Now that we’re shifting under-enrolled sections to remote, those sections are picking up students.

— Dr. Christopher Conzen (@chrisconzen) August 24, 2021

Stephanie Kim describes a situation with two different online options, and both are growing:

Yes. Actually, we are offering three modalities: in person, online synchronous (Zoom), and online asynchronous. In person classes are unusually under-enrolled. Online synchronous is somewhat more popular than online asynchronous, on a case by case basis.

— Stephanie K. Kim (@stephaniekkim) August 24, 2021

Things might be more complicated than a simply online/offline class choice. Karen Kosta distinguishes between face-to-face in 2019 versus in-person in 2021:

Yes, we saw this repeatedly last year. Surveys show students want to be in-class. Faculty report no one coming to class, opting for remote. Surveys are flawed. Students want in-class circa 2019, not in reality.

— Karen Costa (@karenraycosta) August 24, 2021

Joann Martyn offers an interesting argument about residential campuses, I think:

Many students wish to be on campus, not necessarily in a classroom. There's a difference.

— Joann Martyn (@joannmartyn) August 24, 2021

Dannon Loveland agrees:

Maybe students are wanting the in-person social aspect of education without actually having to be in class. They want to be on-campus (in-person) but not in-class (in-person).

— Dannon Loveland (@DannonL) August 24, 2021

Matt “Dean Dad” Reed (and great Forum guest) sees the online rise as part of a year-long pandemic driven oscillation:

It has been a moving target. When we started fall registration in late spring, online/remote was popular. In June/July, in-person was popular. Now we're seeing a shift back to online/remote.

— Matt Reed (@deandad) August 24, 2021

I posed this question on Facebook, both on my own wall as well as in a few groups, and received a wide range of responses.  Some saw rising preference for in-person, while others wanted more online. Some opined that it was too early to tell.

What are you seeing in your academic world?  If you’re a student, which would you prefer?