Hybrid Course
Encyclopedia
Definition
Hybrid courses blend face-to-face interaction such as in-class discussions, active group work, and live lectures with typically web-based educational technologies such as online course cartridges, assignments, discussion boards, and other web-assisted learning tools. The degree to which the design of hybrid courses utilize traditional classroom and online learning environments varies, being largely dependent on the subject matter and overall nature of a course. Regardless of design, such courses may be expected to deliver instruction in both an asynchronous and synchronous manner, and are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s society. Important to note is that the term hybrid is not used often in the U.S., where the more common term for this kind of education is Blended learningBlended learning
Blended learning refers to a mixing of different learning environments. It combines traditional face-to-face classroom methods with more modern computer-mediated activities. According to its proponents, the strategy creates a more integrated approach for both instructors and learners. Formerly,...
.
Higher education
Institutions of higher education choose a hybrid course delivery method for various reasons, including the following:- Hybrid courses appeal to the market of busy working adults who choose to complete their collegeCollegeA college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
-level education beyond their late teens and early twenties. Hybrid courses allow these adults to fit occasional class time into their busy schedule while completing the remainder of the course work over the internet. - Hybrid courses reduce pressure on universityUniversityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
classrooms. The costs to build and maintain a university is high. Hybrid courses provide a solution to crowded classrooms, since much of the course work is completed on a virtualVirtualThe term virtual is a concept applied in many fields with somewhat differing connotations, and also, differing denotations.The term has been defined in philosophy as "that which is not real" but may display the salient qualities of the real....
campus. - They bring studentStudentA student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s together only where/when needed, allowing them to self studyAutodidacticismAutodidacticism is self-education or self-directed learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a person who teaches him or herself something. The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός and διδακτικός...
otherwise. For example, a chemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
course may require students to perform experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
s in a physical laboratoryLaboratoryA laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
; but the reading and writing of the course could be completed outside of the classroom.
Indeed, hybrid courses have been described as "the most prominent instructional delivery solution" since they provide the ever-growing and increasingly diverse academic world with the flexibility of fully online learning along with valuable collaboration achieved through face-to-face student-student and student-instructor interaction. A recently published meta-analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that a hybrid course design has the potential to enable instructors to offer students a greater range of learning avenues and uphold educational and academic design standards, even when instructing large classes and non-traditional students living sizable distances away from campus. As a consequence of the latter, institutions of a higher education implement hybrid designs as a cost-effective strategy, utilizing staff and resources as effectively and efficiently as possible while standardizing the learning experience and relieving instructor discomfort generated by the larger traditional classroom environment. However, an important and realistic consideration is the difficulty sometimes generated in the development of hybrid courses which requires instructors to sacrifice their autonomy in teaching in order to work with instructional design experts. Other issues that may present problems for faculty include fear of failure of the technology, lack of preparedness from the students, and lack of support from the faculty institutions . This along with other issues may lead to a large initial expenditure in time and resources.