Experiencing the Best of Both Worlds by Teaching a Hybrid Course

"Web-Enhanced," "Blended," or "Hybrid" courses-call them what you want. This strategy for delivering instruction appears to be taking off at the Maricopa Community Colleges. Faculty and students are taking advantage of emerging technology to access course materials that are "always on" and that provide structure and flexibility that can improve learning. Many approaches and definitions for these courses exist. For the purpose of this article, I offer the definition below that best describes a majority of hybrid courses that are being offered at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Hybrid courses make significant use of web technology to facilitate access to class materials and support communication between faculty and students, among students, and between students and resources. A key characteristic of a hybrid course is that the communication hub of a course has shifted from the physical classroom to the web. Hybrid courses are a blend of face-to-face and online learning experiences with heavy reliance on web technology and tools.

But why do faculty teach a hybrid course? What support is needed to design a course for a successful student experience? These questions first faced faculty and administrators at Estrella Mountain two years ago. Progress has been made since then, but these questions remain at the forefront. Along the way, we are discovering that when faculty take the time to reexamine their courses, proper instructional design improves not only their hybrid courses, but also their face-to-face courses by adding the structure they and their students need.

The Hybrid Teaching Experience

There are a number of reasons why faculty members are teaching hybrid courses, such as improving student learning, increasing student engagement and retention, and offering new approaches to their teaching. One of the main reasons why I created and taught a hybrid course for the first time this semester was that I was tired of hearing myself talk. My redesigned class provided much more student interaction. Here are some reasons why other faculty at Estrella Mountain Community College are choosing to redesign their courses for hybrid delivery:

• The hybrid course format allows for new teaching opportunities. Faculty can teach in new and diverse ways, making it possible to better achieve course competencies and outcomes. The hybrid model allows faculty to design approaches to address learning challenges and to integrate new types of learning activities that were not possible in face-to-face courses. Rod Freeman, English Humanities Faculty, discovered, "The approaches and tools available in creating my hybrid course provided something I always knew was possible, and let me do it." For example, well-designed hybrid courses are using much more interactive media from various sources that the instructor easily makes available, rather than tying the course to a single source, such as a textbook.
• Hybrid courses promote better student performance and better student learning. Most faculty offering hybrid courses report that their students are doing a better job of writing, learning course material, mastering concepts, and applying what they have learned compared to students in sections of their traditionally taught courses. Dr. Valerie Akuna, CIS Faculty, remarked, "My students have done better than I've ever seen. They are motivated, enthused, and doing their best work. My students are better prepared for our face-to-face sessions, and they love the flexibility of the course."
• Hybrid courses promote greater student engagement and interaction. One of the main concerns articulated by faculty who will be teaching a hybrid course for the first time is that they will become less connected with their students because they are seeing them less often. In contrast, after having taught a hybrid course, faculty by and large report that they feel more connected with their students and know them better. "I see more community building taking place in my hybrid courses. My students are able to collaborate much more effectively working in groups using online tools," commented Alex Joncas, English Faculty. The hybrid model fosters active learning approaches. The online interaction often carries over into the traditional face to face classes, and discussions started in class are continued online.
• Redesigning a course for hybrid delivery affects the way faculty approach their other courses. Learning to teach a successful hybrid course leads to using more participatory and student-centered learning activities in traditional courses. The faculty participating in Estrella Mountain's eLearning program the past two years indicated that after teaching a hybrid course, they changed the way they taught their other courses. Thus, an institutional program to redesign hybrid courses can also serve as an effective faculty development program, leading to the gradual improvement of student learning.

Successful Faculty Development Components

Any successful program surrounding a major learning initiative involves a shared philosophy between administrators and faculty. Our shared goals involve an understanding that faculty and students need support for teaching and learning in new environments. The most valuable form of support came in creating the collegial atmosphere where faculty received instructional design guidance.

Two years ago, the Estrella Mountain eLearning Task Force was commissioned by President Homero Lopez to investigate the best practices related to online learning and to make recommendations for a comprehensive program. We learned from this process that teaching hybrid or distance courses meant much more than providing lecture notes or PowerPoint presentations online. Faculty and students need to be prepared for new teaching and learning environments. All too often, colleges neglect to provide support to faculty creating hybrid courses.

We offered faculty workshops modeled after the Chandler-Gilbert Community College Summer Institutes. Our initial focus was on hybrid course development since it takes time to build the infrastructure for a distance education program. A talented consultant from San Juan College in New Mexico facilitated our first two events that we purposely called "Redesign Workshops." Our faculty needed the time together to help work out the process, and most importantly, examine their courses from the beginning to the end.

Questions emerged such as, "what are the most appropriate activities for face-to-face instruction and which ones are more appropriate for online delivery?" and "how can we improve student collaboration?" and "what are the best ways to determine if our students are learning?". All faculty wanted to see models of existing hybrid courses. At first, all we could share were fully online courses. Few colleges were offering hybrid courses at the time, and even fewer were willing to share their experiences with hybrids. Most colleges were letting their faculty figure it out on their own with little or no support.

As with any new program at a college, the early adopters were ready to go. All of the details for our new hybrid program were not in place, and our motto was (and still is), "Don't punish the pioneers." Early adopters are risk takers-they need support and colleagues to confide in when clarification is needed.

Three major "lessons" learned from implementing a hybrid redesign program are clear:

1. The process of faculty developing a hybrid course leads to instructional improvement in their face-to-face traditional classes.
2. Faculty who receive instructional design support in redesigning courses report more satisfaction in their teaching and better student learning and retention. We must provide the same level of support to faculty with the creation of hybrid courses as we do with the creation of pure online courses.
3. A rich collaborative environment amongst the faculty developing hybrid courses emerges within and across disciplines.

If you ask an administrator why our colleges should offer hybrid courses, you are likely to hear, "we need to better use our classroom space" (in other words, more hybrids translate into lowering the cost of doing business). If you ask a student her reason for taking a hybrid course you are likely to hear, "I like the flexible learning options, but yet I have the face-to-face contact with my instructor and other students." As faculty, we may teach a hybrid course for many reasons, but I hope it's because it leads to better student learning. These various views need to be adjudicated in a collaborative environment, enabling the institution to achieve the goals of all stakeholders.

Advancements in technology will provide more options for administrators, students, and faculty. Whatever the method of delivery we choose, we must consider the instructional design practices that lead to effective teaching and optimal student learning.

Dr. Roger Yohe is the Faculty Developer and Ocotillo Chair at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Roger Yohe, Ph.D., Estrella Mountain Community College

Faculty Development
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fsd/