From Confrontation to Combination: Analyzing Students' Narratives of In-Person and Virtual Instructions

The increasing trend of using the Internet and social media has fundamentally changed education. Controversies about the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet and social media and their impact on learning have become one of the most important topics in higher education. The present study, by using a definition of face-to-face and virtual instruction and the combination of these two networks - the theory of media convergence and the theory of the actor - has tried to contrast and combine these two types of instructions in the university. Using the method of narrative analysis - the narrative of students as the main beneficiaries and users - on the effectiveness and efficiency of both types of instructions styles at Farhangian University of Sanandaj and with a purposive and criterion-based preferential sampling - 18 people - this issue was analyzed. The results obtained from semi-structured interviews with Brown and Clark's six-step analysis and in the form of main themes - competition over the field of education, dehumanization of instruction, improving educational quality, Corona and the spread of virtual instruction and hybridization of education - showed that the narratives of the interviewees are different and sometimes contradictory, considering their experience of using social media in learning and teaching. They believe that there is a confrontation and competition between the two styles of in-person and virtual instruction in universities and with the spread of Corona, virtual instruction has gained superiority. In this regard, some interviewees stated that the increasing trend of virtual instruction and the use of virtual media have moved towards the dehumanization of education, and this has presented education with challenges. Therefore, most interviewees, emphasizing the combination and use of both educational styles, see the solution to overcome the challenges and problems of both methods in multimedia and hybridization of education.