F.A. Davis Hybrid Learning | Making the move to a hybrid environment
Hybrid Learning MAKING THE MOVE TO A HYBRID ENVIRONMENT
Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN Managing Director Collaborative Momentum Consulting
Planning to transition to a hybrid teaching and learning approach? Some of your course objectives may be best met in the classroom while other objectives will be met through online work. How should you proceed?
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Online Education Advantages and Challenges 1. The first step is to evaluate the advantages and challenges of online education. This understanding will guide the development of your teaching strategies both in the classroom and online. Evaluation of online delivery became “front of mind” for most teachers when, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, many schools, colleges, and universities were required to pivot to online learning only. As difficult as the pandemic was for all educators, thinking about what we learned from this experience to see how it can be applied in the future can be instructive. Letterman (2021) reported on a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research which used a large-scale database from one large public research university to compare how learning in person and online affected students’ course completion rates and grades before and after the pandemic. The report indicated that, accounting for certain differences in student and instructor traits, students in face-to-face courses performed better than their online counterparts with respect to both completion and pass rates. These findings held steady before and after the spring of 2020 when the pandemic became widespread. 1 McKensie (2020) reported on a survey of 1,413 students registered at a U.S. higher education institution for both the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters. Interestingly, the survey found that most students (73%), “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed that they would like to take some fully online courses in the future. A slightly smaller number of students, 68%, indicated they would be interested in taking courses offering a combination of in-person and online instruction. Despite the desire for face-to-face classes, 68% of students strongly or somewhat agreed that they would like to see greater use of technology in the teaching-learning process. The use of digital resources is also popular, with 67% of respondents indicating they would like an increased usage of these materials. 2 Impact of Hybrid or Blended Format 2. Turnball, Chugh, and Luck (2021) completed an integrative literature review to identify lessons learned about online instruction in higher education during the pandemic. The literature reviewed found that students preferred some form of face-to-face instruction. However, hybrid or blended learning, which combines the benefits of face-to-face learning with online technologies to enrich learning content and delivery, was seen as an excellent option. The opportunity for learners to participate in enhanced online learning communities also provided a sense of connectedness often found only in face-to-face instruction. 3
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Structures to Support Hybrid Learning
What structures should be in place to support both students and faculty in a hybrid approach? Garcia and Weiss (2020) reported that pandemic-relevant research regarding online learning has demonstrated that success in online education is effective only if two conditions are met. First, students must have consistent access to the internet and computers. Second, educators must have recent, targeted training and support for online instruction. 4 Addressing these issues likely requires policy makers and administrators to prioritize these issues to improve the online portion of hybrid learning. Perhaps the most critical factor in developing a hybrid approach to teaching and learning is to plan activities that encourage student engagement. The emphasis on student engagement in the classroom as a means of improving student outcomes has been considered best practice for more than a decade. However, it is important to also structure the online learning component of the hybrid approach to encourage student engagement as well. A long-time leader in online education and a winner of the Sloan Consortium’s Award for Excellence in Online Teaching, Bill Pelz, has suggested the following three principles to improve student engagement in online learning:
The key to improving student engagement in online learning
1. Let the students do (most of) the work 2. Interaction is critical 3. Strive for presence (Hanover Research Council on Online Teaching, 2009 5 )
Let’s consider how to put these three principles into action. First, letting students do most of the work does not mean that the instructor gives students an assignment online and then sits back and waits to see what they produce. Students learn more when they are interacting with the material in a meaningful way. This requires the instructor to be thoughtful in crafting objectives and assignments that require students to comprehend the material and apply it in the context of what they are learning. Even when the online component delivers required knowledge via faculty videos or text, the instructor must require students to do something with the material presented. In the Hanover Research Council on Online Teaching report (2009), projects that will require students to actively do something with the content may include activities where students: § Lead discussions § Find and discuss web resources § Help others learn (peer assistance) § Grade their own assignments § Analyze case studies 6 The instructor’s role doesn’t end with presenting the assignment. Rather, the instructor must be in contact with students, providing assistance throughout the process. Timely, constructive, actionable feedback is part of this support. Students are more likely to be engaged if they see the value in what they are doing. The instructor’s role is to (1) develop learning objectives clearly related to their career goals and (2) interact with the students to help them see how accomplishing the objective is necessary for their future (Wood, Barry, 2020) 7 .
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The second principle, interaction is critical , requires students be involved with each other, with the available learning resources including the internet, and certainly with the instructor. Student interaction may involve the whole class, small groups or teams, or one-on-one with a partner. This interaction may include discussing course content or assignments, problem solving, and developing projects (Hanover Research Council on Online Teaching, 2009) 8 . Encouraging interaction prevents students from feeling isolated in an online environment, which could cause them to mentally “check out.” Designing teaching strategies that focus on collaboration allows students to experience being an active leader and active listener and learn to shift responsibilities to various members of the group or community (Wood, Barry, 2020) 9 . Instructors in hybrid courses should avoid treating either the in-class experience or the online assignments as the “dumping ground” for content. Both portions of the course should be related to each other, and both should be filled with student activities that encourage application of the content in appropriate real-life situations. An important responsibility of the instructor is to think deeply about what part of the content should be emphasized in class and which can best be delivered online. Often the best approach is to connect online and classroom assignments. For example, student groups might work together on an online case study, followed by a presentation in the classroom. The third principle, striving for presence , involves developing a community of learners, which includes the instructor. The instructor will, of course, take the lead in establishing a sense of presence. The hybrid format helps establish presence because students and instructor typically have a regularly scheduled time to interact face-to-face. However, this presence must be felt during the online portion of the course as well (Hanover Research Council on Online Learning, 2009) 10 Instructors must be role models for involvement in the online portion of the course. If instructors do not want students to be on the online portion of the course only once a week, for example, the faculty must also be a regular presence (perhaps daily) in the course. 4. For those of you who are transitioning from a traditional classroom model to a hybrid learning approach, it may be helpful to consider how the two approaches are different. Table A, adapted from the Cornell Universi- ty Center for Teaching Innovation (2022), highlights some of the differences in a hybrid model. Transitioning from Traditional Classroom Learning to a Hybrid Model
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Table A: Characteristics of Hybrid Learning 11
Components of Hybrid Learning
Characteristics
Facilitator; guides students in learning Provides frequent feedback with many small assessments
Instructor Role
Student Role
Assumes more responsibility for individual or collaborative learning
Learning Environment
Class time shortened; more time used for interactive learning
Learner-centered Less time spent in lecture Active and collaborative learning (problem-solving, group work, case studies, presentation)
In-class time
Watching relevant videos Discussion boards for students and instructor Reading or searching for materials Online quizzes Posting reading responses Collaborative writing Assignments with wikis and blogs
Online time
(Cornell University Center for Learning, 2022)
An additional way to connect students’ work online can inform the class portion of the course. For example, students might post questions that they have on the discussion board and a component of class time can be spent in answering these questions or explaining “fuzzy” concepts. Discussion boards, as identified in Table A, are often used to encourage student participation in the online portion of the course. Often, to encourage students to respond, instructors give “points” for the number of times they post in a given period. Despite this approach, instructors are often disappointed with the quality of the students’ postings. Student responses often seem as if they are just “posting to be posting,” as a way to achieve the necessary points. One way to improve the quality of the posting–and the underlying reflection—is to spend the necessary time to craft ques- tions to guide the discussion toward analysis and synthesis of information. Probing questions require the respondent to look beyond “yes” or “no” and move from reaction to reflection. Here are some examples of probing questions: § What do you think would happen if….? § How will you plan to…? § Why do you think this might happen? § What are some ways you can…? § Why did you decide to…? § How will you include…? § What is the value of ….? Such probing questions provide structure for students to think deeply about their work. This approach also gives in- structors direction to develop discussion grading rubrics. 12 (Sportsman, 2021) Hybrid instruction may provide the best of both worlds for students. However, using best practices both in face-to-face and online learning is key to success for both students and instructors.
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References 5. 1 Letterman, D., (2021) Student Performance in Remote Learning, Explored (Imperfectly) Inside Higher Edu- cation News. August 6. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/08/06/do-college-students-perform- worse-online-courses-one-studys-answer. Accessed, 2022. 2 McKensie, L., (2021) Students want online learning options post-Pandemic. Inside Higher Education News. April 27. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/27/survey-reveals-positive-outlook-online-in- struction-post-pandemic Accessed, 2022. 3 Turnbull, D., Chugh, R, & Luck, J. Transitioning to E-Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: How have Higher Education Institutions responded to the challenge? Education Informatic Technology https://doi. org/10.1007/s10639-021-10633-w Accessed, 2022. 4 Garcia, E., Weiss, E. (2020) COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy. Economic Policy Institute. September 10. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED610971.pdf Accessed, 2022. 5 Hanover Research Council–Academy Administration Practice. (2009) Best Practices in Online Teaching. Hanover Research Council July. https://q8rkuwu1ti4vaqw33x41zocd-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/academics/ files/2015/05/Best-Practices-in-Online-Teaching-Strategies.pdf 6 Ibid. 7 Wood, A., Barry, N. (2020) Nine strategies to maximize student engagement in online classes. Fierce Educa- tion Blog. September 1. https://www.fierceeducation.com/distance-learning/9-strategies-to-maximize-stu- dent-engagement-online-classes 8 Hanover Research Council–Academy Administration Practice. Op. cit. 9 Wood, A., Barry, N., Op. cit. 10 Hanover Research Council–Academy Administration Practice. Op. cit. 11 Getting started designing a hybrid learning course. Cornell University Center for Learning. (2022) https:// teaching.cornell.edu/resource/getting-started-designing-hybrid-learning-course Accessed, 2022. 12 Sportsman, S. (2021) Developing clinical judgment in an online environment. Collaborative Momentum Consulting Blog. January 18. https://collaborativemomentum.com/2021/01/18/developing-clinical-judg- ment-in-an-online-environment/#more-17091. Accessed, 2022.
About the author Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN , is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant with over 10 years of consulting experience, providing program development and other consultation services to nursing and health professions programs throughout the United States and Canada. Previously, she served as Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
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