Developing a Hybrid Course
Some people consider the hybrid format of courses to be the best of both worlds - online and in person - but there are some major considerations to contemplate in the planning of one of these courses. This hybrid course sample was designed for a 50/50 hybrid schedule; that is, for each in-person meeting there was to be planned an equal amount of asynchronous content.
Key points:
- Don't overload students
- Leave space for spontaneity
- Adjust future async lessons to build on spontaneous discussion topics
Consider In-Person Interaction
Compared with fully online or fully in-person courses, developing a hybrid course can prove to be extra challenging; the mixed modes of teaching add a layer of complication. This added layer, when planned well, can prove to be quite beneficial, nevertheless.
This hybrid course sample was a writing course, so there needed to be interaction in the preliminary stages of the writing process (brainstorming, structuring ideas, discussing different paths), while the later stages where the writing actually happened would benefit more from individual work.
How do you accomplish this when the writing process tends to be linear? One method is implementing the flipped classroom, and this method, to an extent, was used in this hybrid course. Students would access instructional materials in the online portion of the course while completing specific tasks during class time.
In this class, collaboration was emphasized by assigning a significant amount of small-group work to take advantage of the in-person meeting time.
Image 1. A brainstorm activity leads to discussion.
Image 2. Brief itinerary for in-person meetings.
Don't Overload Students
Although wanting to take full advantage of meeting in person by packing the class time with activity upon activity like a conference, students can become overwhelmed. It’s important to structure an in person session in a hybrid course similar to structuring a traditional in-person course.
You should begin with some kind of ice breaker and/or warm-up exercise, have a clear itinerary presented to the students, and allow enough time for each activity. While the aim is no longer set on explaining big topics or ideas, there should be an emphasis on eliciting student questions primarily through task-based or collaborative activities.
Through the completion of this work, students should encounter a question they might not have been aware they had prior to beginning the activity.
Embrace Spontaneity
In this hybrid writing course, students were tasked with brainstorming ideas related to an essay prompt in small groups during the in-person meeting. The essay prompt had been made available to them in the asynchronous portion of the course, and they were to read it and note any questions.
As it often is, there were no questions which sends the teacher the message that the material is completely understood, yet when collaborating to create a brainstorm, it came to be that students had different interpretations of what the prompt was asking for. In their small groups, this led to conversation, disagreement, and ultimately, a class discussion about the essay prompt.
The beauty of the hybrid model is that it supports spontaneity. Students can ask a question that can lead to a loosely related discussion. This is, more often than not, something that cannot be foreseen by the course designer (be it the actual course teacher or an instructional designer), and thus is not possible to incorporate in an asynchronous online course.
Despite this spontaneity being a positive feature of the hybrid model, it’s important to not allow these moments to take over the entire meeting. The topics brought to light can lead to follow-up readings or lessons for the asynchronous part of the course, so leave some room for flexibility in the course plan.
Image 4. Discussing projects in person