Hybrid Teaching

Hybrid Courses and Good Practice

The commentary below takes the points made by Margie Martyn in her paper, and discusses them as I have experienced them in the classroom.

Martyn, M. 2003. “The Hybrid Online Model: Good Practice” Educase Quarterly 1: 18-23. Download: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0313.pdf

Hybrid Teaching

"The hybrid online model employs the best characteristics of online education and the interactivity that typically characterizes face-to-face classroom instruction." (Martyn 2003: 18)The consensus about hybrid learning seems to be that it is more successful and effective than courses that are fully online or fully in person. I agree.I have found that students enjoy the hybrid course considerably more. They are more engaged, and attendance and participation are higher. Students come to possess a more sophisticated understanding of course material, and stronger analytical skills.

The dropout rate of my hybrid courses is much lower than traditional courses. Test scores have been very close, only somewhat better. However, I receive an entirely different caliber of written assignments and essay questions. Submissions are much more sophisticated, thoughtful, and better argued. Arguments are better supported, more effective, better structured, and display a higher class of reasoning.

When designing your hybrid course, remember that you need to completely redesign your course. You must make fundamental changes to the way material is presented and to your assignments. The rookie mistake instructors make is to simply post PowerPoints and lecture notes online. That's what I did my first semester teaching a hybrid. Remember that you are presenting your course in a different medium and teaching in an entirely new way. You need to adapt your teaching and materials to suit the hybrid course. The essential element is discussion, detailed in the right column of this page.

"The challenge is to find the optimal mix of online and face-to-face instruction that will leverage the major advantage of asynchronous learning (any time, any place), while still maintaining quality faculty-student interaction." (Martyn 2003: 19)

The truth is that the optimal mix is specific to each instructor. You can determine what you think will be the optimal mix when designing course materials. However, you will have to tweak it after teaching a semester or two. In order to make department-wide implementation possible, it is possible to find a good mix specific to each discipline. However, each teacher must take the framework his or her department has established, or the minimum requirements for the hybrid (outlined by the school), and customize them to suit the individual instructor and the individual course.

Feedback from Faculty"The main factors that impacted their success included comfort with the technology, especially familiarity with the course management system, and having a fluid and less structured teaching style." (Martyn 2003: 21)You will have to be willing to put in a good deal of effort in the months before your first semester of hybrid teaching. You must go into it well-prepared and must remain constantly attentive when you first teach a hybrid course. If you aren't competent and confident in the technology and course format, your students will flounder and stress for everyone will increase.As Martyn indicates, you must be more adaptable, to have planned for various contingencies, and be flexible enough to change instruction mid-course if necessary. The first hybrid course is the most daunting, but I believe you will come to enjoy hybrids more than traditional courses, as I have done.

"Instructors require students to post their own examples, which helps ensure that they understand the material and are ready to progress in the course. A minimum number of posts are required for each student to earn discussion points. Only good-quality posts that show careful thought earn points." (Martyn 2003: 20)For the weekly discussion at home, I write 3 open-ended prompts from which students pick 1 to respond. One example is, "Find a sculpture or painting produced in Italy that was designed on a Classical model, and describe how it displays Classical influence or conscious citation." As you can see, students choose their own examples.You should also provide length and content criteria. Rubrics and examples of posts that earned full credit make discussion requirements more concrete for students. They feel grading is fairer, particularly when you can point to a missing criterion or aspect of their post that needs improvement.

I create a separate thread for each prompt. In a class of 15-30 students, you can still hold an effective discussion with 3 threads. I typically require a minimum of 3 posts / week, each worth up to 5 pts. I provide criteria for initial posts and for replies (this much earns you 5 pts, this much 4, etc.). If a discussion prompt is particularly involved, or you would like your students to write more, you can increase the initial post's value to 10 pts.

I set post length at between 150 and 200 words. Some students would like to compose longer posts, but I find that's the maximum their classmates are willing to read. I offer extra credit to students who make extra posts (above 3). Some students participate more actively in discussion, often those who don't perform as well on written assignments. They make up for lost points in other areas by additional participation in discussion where they are strong. "The posts allow students to apply course material to their own work situations and find current situations in the news that relate to course content." (Martyn 2003: 20)Students have reported that they enjoy choosing their own examples, and I've found they connect better to the material when they have more choices. I also try to include prompts related to contemporary events.

In order to make the most effective use of discussion, you should connect written assignments to discussion. You might have a written assignment due a few days after the end of weekly discussion. You will find that students who are weak in written assignments often produce better quality submissions after discussion with their classmates. I feel also that students gain deeper understanding of the material and develop their analytical skills more effectively with written assignments that spring out of discussion.

Online Quizzes"Weekly online quizzes provide the opportunity for students to test their understanding of the material. They also provide an incentive to stay current with the reading assignments. The online assessments are timed and programmed so that the student can only take each quiz once." (Martyn 2003: 20)For routine testing of course material, I like to save class time by having students take quizzes at home. I have found it decreases stress on students, and they perform better. You do encounter some academic dishonesty, but you can drastically reduce it by limiting testing time.

For 15 point quizzes that are a combination of multiple choice and short answer, I allow 20 minutes. Typically, I allow 1 minute for each point. But when students have short answer or essay responses, I allow additional time.

I also limit the availability of quizzes, setting them to open at the end of each class and close at the beginning of the next.

When writing your quizzes, you must assure that instructions are specific and concrete, allowing no ambiguity. You should review how to take a quiz at least twice in class. The best method I've found is to complete a quiz in front of your students the first class to demonstrate the method. I also provide a visual guide for my students if they encounter trouble at home. Because some students encounter technical difficulties, I open 1 quiz (to allow a 2nd attempt) in the semester.

Two things I specify to address technical problems:

1. I tell students to click "save" (not "save and submit") after every 4 multiple choice questions and after every short answer. That way, if they are locked out of the quiz, some answers will be saved.
2. I open 1 quiz to a second attempt. However, I indicate from the onset that they should attempt quizzes a few days before class, so that I have sufficient notice to open a quiz to a second attempt.

By moving quizzes online, you gain class time to pursue active learning activities. You can also moderate group work and discussions that require instructor oversight.

Feedback from Students

Asking students for immediate feedback (anonymously through surveys in Blackboard) allows you to change direction in the middle of your course, or to continue to pursue a new direction with which you are experimenting.

I've found that some activities I've designed and expected to excite students flopped, while others that I was unsure of were extremely popular. The truth is, as much as we try to be in touch with our students, we aren't today's students. So, some things will always be unknown until attempted.

Good Practice

Good Practice Encourages Contact Between Students and Faculty

"The hybrid online model encompasses both face-to-face contact in the first and last classes, and extensive computer-mediated communication through the use of extensive e-mail... and asynchronous online threaded discussion." (Martyn 2003: 22)

Be prepared for every contingency: technology down, inaccessible, breakdown in communication with students. Watch for system changes, upgrades that say, "Blackboard won't be affected" and expect the systems in question will be down for 1-2 days around those periods.

You need to be fast and loose with discussion boards - grading students on content, engagement with one another, and creative thinking. You will have to allow opinions that don't fit the prevailing scholarly opinions, even if you feel an interpretation is not valid. Just require that they support arguments with evidence.

Good Practice Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students

"Many students seek an online group-learning environment because they enjoy collaboration with other students. The adult students appreciate the creation of a learning environment that exposes them to different points of view, lets them express and explore their own views, and supports them in formulating their own opinions." (Martyn 2003: 22)

Group learning needs to be facilitated both in discussions, and in at least one group project. Optimally, the group project will involve discussion as well. Information about how to structure and facilitate a group project are provided in Alison King's article on p. 34-35 under "Cooperative Learning".

King, A. 1993. “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side” College Teaching 41 (1): 30-5. Download: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27558571

"Students typically find that they are drawn into the subject matter of the class more deeply than in a traditional course because of the discussions in which they become involved." (Martyn 2003: 22)

For group projects, I have my students research various topics related to the material we're covering in class. I provide a list of 6-8 topics and allow students to choose topics on a first-come first-served basis with a maximum of 4 students per group (depending on class size). They post their requests to a discussion thread, and are instructed to assure their topic's group isn't full. Students are divided by their choices, which I finalize in class, and I correct any difficulties there.

I have a bibliography section on my teaching website that provides brief descriptions of topics and extensive bibliographies with links. (See the link to my bibliographies on the left of the top of this page.) I provide a list of recommended articles to aid student selection, but I allow them to pick their own articles, provided they are at least 10 pages of text. Students very much appreciate the article recommendations. The rest of the requirements and expectations are laid out in the instructions, which you can download from the Teaching Resources page.

Good Practice Uses Active Learning Techniques

"The constructivist learning theory... holds that learners ultimately construct their own knowledge based on personal experience. Students who participate in integrated lessons using discussion groups as a component engage in more constructivist learning and may exhibit deeper thought through written communication." (Martyn 2003: 22)

As mentioned above, if you can create written assignments that follow discussion, you will be able to foster higher level thinking in your students.

Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback

"Instructor immediacy was the singular predictor of affective and cognitive learning in a study of threaded discussion in the online classroom." (Martyn 2003: 22)

Timeliness is critical. You simply must return your students' work quickly. If possible, providing feedback on assignments within 4 business days is optimal. If I have time, I grade and return online assignments the next day. Quick feedback will allow your students to improve their work for the next assignment, and is especially important if you are moving onto another topic. If possible, I provide feedback and then allow revisions. However, assignments are returned within a week after the deadline, and revisions are due a week after that. Dragging out revisions longer than 2 weeks stalls your students' progress.

Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

"By saving time on travel, students can use that time to interact with course content." (Martyn 2003: 23)

I advocate the hybrid course model in which the course meets half of the time a traditional course would meet. Martyn outlines a model where there is just a first and a last meeting. Ultimately, you will have to determine how much your class should meet. I tend to structure my hybrid courses to be 60% online, so I will skip a few of the in-person meetings during the semester.

Working on their computers at home increases the time available to students and places learning resources and activities at your students' fingertips. Students also appreciate being able to complete their quiz during the week whenever they complete studying. Older students appreciate being able to post to the discussion board at 6 or 7am, before work. Working at home allows you and your students a great deal of flexibility. Everyone works independently on activities, and together in discussion, and in-person meetings are helpful times to connect, check in, and pursue free range discussion and activities.

Good Practice Communicates High Expectations

"The first class meeting gives instructors the opportunity to thoroughly discuss the learning outcomes, assessments, and projects with students." (Martyn 2003: 23)

Instructors should not just be reading the syllabus. Instead, they need to introduce the framework of the course, its daily and weekly functioning, to explain the assignments, and to indicate expectations (and what happens if they aren't met). In the first class, you should run through all of the technical aspects of the course as well: explaining how Blackboard is organized, how to take an online assessment, how to upload a paper to SafeAssign, how to participate in discussion, how the teaching website is organized and how to navigate it, and where to find all of the materials they need for the course.

Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning

"The students in online courses begin the program with a wide range of technology skills and backgrounds, which increases the importance of consistent, simple, and user-friendly materials. The first face-to-face meeting allows the instructor to get all students to a minimum technology skill-level to ensure success in the online class." (Martyn 2003: 23)

Consistency and clarity in the presentation of assignments and written instructions is essential. The same format should be used for all written assignments, the same criteria outlined for assignments of a particular type (discussion posts, exercises, essays), and the same rubrics employed to grade them. You should provide detailed explanations of requirements and expectations, content requirements, source requirements, etc.

"With the pressure to enter the online education arena, the hybrid online model may be an excellent fit for many institutions." (Martyn 2003: 23)

I will advocate for hybrid courses in my department, and continue to use technology in instruction. I certainly think it is worth the effort to develop hybrid courses, given the increase in the quality of learning I have seen in my students, and because of their enjoyment of the class.

Keep in mind, you don't have to spend months developing a hybrid course to use these methods. You can begin introducing things like active learning exercises in the classroom, discussion in Blackboard, and online quizzes - individually - to try them out before full implementation.

For Further Reading

Rovai, A. P. and H. M. Jordan. 2004. "Blended Learning and a Sense of Community: A comparative analysis with traditional and fully online graduate courses" The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 5 (2). Download: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/download/192/795