Variety in the Classroom
In my experience, combining a variety of methods within the classroom allows for all students to be accommodated.
In an online setting, posting lecture notes as well as a video lecture provides multiple modals for students to access key content information regardless of their learning style. Asynchronous discussions allow all students to participate, while synchronous "office hours" enable students to ask questions directly to a person as if they were in a traditional classroom.
Some colleges are incorporating online elements to the traditional classroom. For instance, students attend a traditional ground lecture but then participate in discussion forums over the course of the week.
Does anyone have experience with that type of class? It seems like a happy medium between the two formats.
The same thing happens in the online environment. Our discussions close at midnight on Sunday and I will find learners coming in at the 11th hour and posting all of the requirements. We have moved to a discussion scoring guide that requires them to post their initial post by Thursday and be in the discussion at least two days to achieve a "distinguished" score. Tina
The first class I taught was a hybrid class. What I found was the students would wait until the day they would come in to the physical class to do anything. It was a bit frustrating to plan to move forward according to the schedule laid out and have to try to get through a weeks worth of work in one four hour class block.
I would concur. I was a student of a blended model which combines online and classroom together. I was also a part of a classroom only environment where the classes were held in the classroom but the materials were provided online. Both methods used technology and classroom. I believe that a blended model is the best in order to keep up with current technology and be ready to work in the workplace - but as far as education is concerned, I still believe that the best way to learn is in the classroom where there are many more opportunities for group learning and in-class exercises.
Victoria,
What you are describing is exactly what I do in my online environment. I do 2 1-hour live chats each week. These are not required but students are encouraged to participate. They are recorded so they can listen at their convenience. In addition to the live chats students participate in weekly discussion boards which are required. From my experience, participation in the live chats seems to run around 20% or so, but I think it does help and many of the students seem to really like it (even if they listen offline later).
There is a great deal of research that suggests the hybrid model (a little bit of both), which is what you are suggesting in your post Victoria, is the most effective of all three modalities. It really takes the best of both words and combines them.
