During my first director role, in the early 2010s, we created created a hybrid, modular way to not only complete courses but an entire graduate degree. Now, keep in mind, we are talking about true blended/hybrid teaching, where part of the course is completed online and another part of the course is completed in-person. We are not talking about hyflex, which some wrongly called hybrid, where teaching occurs simultaneously for in-person students and online students via live streaming. We are not talking about hyflex but true hybrid teaching.
In the early 2010s, there was still some resistance to creating fully online programs at some institutions. They believed that the in-person element of education was extremely valuable and worth preserving. Yet the student dynamics, needs, demographics, etc. were making more flexible learning options absolutely necessary. For this particular professional graduate institution, like many online programs, the average student was 33, married, working full-time, may have kid, and trying to pursue their education. And to this institution’s student body, they wanted to maintain as much in-person learning as they could too. Not every student population is that way, but for this institution, in-person learning was highly prized as well.
So, we created this hybrid, modular program that allowed students to come to campus and complete 21 hours of course work over 2 days per course. We scheduled a long-weekend in both direction and offered a slew of courses during this time. Students traveled from all across the Southeast to be on-campus during these days and very much valued the experience.
But as teachers and leaders, what did we learn from offering this program? Well, we asked the students about their experience and learned a lot. To help other program leaders who might be looking for innovative ideas or lessons learned from exploring a new hybrid program delivery format, I collected these lessons learned into the 13 best practices for teaching blended (or hybrid) courses. Feel free to check out the slide deck to discover the best practices we discovered by offering hybrid learning.
