Yes,Cleve, have you decided why this is so? I have found in my experience that the direct connection each student online provides them with the idea of individual one-to-one communication, which takes away the anxiety of larger groups. I like your extension of the learning in the blended model. I would suggest that you "work" during class and leave more self-directed learning to the online portion of the course. That will give students a feeling of using the F2F time purposefully.
