How to Fail in Hybrid Teaching
Hybrid Courses – Design and Delivery > How to Fail in Hybrid Teaching
Course-and-a-Half Syndrome
A common mistake of many first-time hybrid instructors is to take the
syllabus from a familiar face-to-face class and simply add some online
assignments. This produces what is sometimes referred to as “course-and-a-half” syndrome, where students wind up overwhelmed with the
amount of material and work assigned to them, much of it not
necessarily adding to the educative effectiveness of the course.
Parallel Universes
Another problem with simply tacking online activities onto a
pre-existing face-to-face course is a lack of integration between the
two formats. In such cases, assignments and activities may be
topically related, but ultimately do not flow into one other, instead
serving as shorter, disjointed pieces of some vague whole rather than
successive markers along one cohesive journey.
Limited Interaction
It might seem natural to think of hybrid courses (consciously or not) in terms of online and face-to-face sessions dichotomously, with the former dedicated to independent work and the latter to collaboration and group interaction. But this need not be the case. You can have a great deal of student-student and student-instructor interaction take place online with discussion forums, synchronous chat/video sessions, and especially collaborative Web 2.0 tools.
Underutilized Assessment
Even instructors who take great advantage of the flexibility of hybrid teaching may yet remain doggedly committed to an assessment plan of “two exams, one term paper, one final.” Not only does this often fail to capture true student learning and growth, it also fails to capitalize on the opportunities inherent to the hybrid format. Frequent low-stakes assessments, rapid learning checks, online discussions, collaborative projects, and summative e-portfolios can replace the old model, and better allow students to demonstrate their learning.
From “Introduction to Hybrid Teaching” from College of Du Page