I teach both hybrid and online courses, and like the hypothetical cases posed in the book Teaching Online: An Overview, I use a different approach for each. In the hybrid course, I have my lectures notes (both PowerPoint and text) available, use the discussion board, and have additional information available if students want to pursue the topic farther. For the online course, I supplement the information with a web site to show student work.
Online Course
The concerns Mr. Helgelmark, the online instructor, had about student participation and student comprehension of course material rang so true. How can you show that you are a caring, concerned instructor, but still encourage students to complete the work? It is very frustrating to see students miss deadlines. The more I teach online courses, the more I realize we are here to help students learn the course content, not just hold them to the due dates.
Another revelation Mr. Helgelmark had, was he wasn’t presenting the information in an interesting way. One organizational method I use that I learned from taking classes at Boise was to use tables to organize the information. Now my students can easily view what work is required and when it is due.
Hybrid Course
The online part of a hybrid course can add a lot of value for the student and instructor. I keep the syllabus and course documents online; I don’t have to keep extras handy for students who have lost theirs or didn’t make it to class. For the graphics classes, I also store images for students to use and have additional tutorials available.
posted by Marol @ 5:14 PM
2 Comments:
I enjoyed reading your posts about teaching online and teaching a hybrid course. I have yet to experience this so congratulations to you! I read a little more about hybrid courses after reading your post. I went to http://teachvu.vu.msu.edu/public/pedagogy/hybrid/index.php?page_num=1 and read the article on "Pedagogy and Techniques". It seems that in a hybrid course the common sense of the teacher plays an important part. A teacher must be flexible in designing the structure of the class and in choosing the online tools that are appropriate. A teacher must figure out what to put online and what not to put online. In the k-12 setting, some learning will be better left to face-to-face interaction in the traditional classroom.
K-12 teaching is very different from teaching higher ed courses. I do have high school students in my online college courses though, and they seem to handle the online coursework well.
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