Hybrid Courses

I'm sure a lot of us just finished another semester, and are now registering for Spring. Congrats!

One of the classes I will take in the Spring is a hybrid course; a blend of face to face and online interaction. Has anyone else taken courses like these? What do you think of them? This will be my third hybrid course with UMUC, and they meet biweekly for three hours over 12 weeks. Other than that it is a typical online course.

I've read some posts in here before of those doing DL doctorates favoring having a short residency to meet and talk with classmates and faculty. Do you think your own program would be better or worse if it had residencies or hybrid courses?

 

I like hybrid courses and hybrid programs because they give you some of the benefits of online courses while avoiding some of the online school stigma. If anyone asks whether you earned your degree online you can say that at least some of your degree was earned in person. I personally find little other benefit to attending physical classes; I always have learned more online.

 

I'd love to do a hybrid class, and if I could find the subjects I needed, I would sign up in a heartbeat. I like indy work- I like to do my work in spurts, and I hate frequent meetings. I think it would be awesome to meet a few times per semester and do the rest on my own. There are frequently time when I wish I had a teacher, and in all my online work I can honestly say only one class really "had a teacher" in the traditional sense. That class had all lectures uploaded, which was really REALLY nice. I miss lectures, and find text book/multimedia study to be a little dry. I also like to ask spontaneous questions in person, something else I miss.

 

I guess it depends on what type of learner you are. If your a visual learner, then solely online courses may be fine for you. However, if your an audio learner you may find an online class difficult. (I fall into this category)

Hybrid courses can great a great thing, or they could be a waste of time. It completely depends on the instructor and the classes participation.

My community college education was all brick & mortar, which was the best fit for me. When I began looking for a bachelors program, my schools hybrid program in my major is what made the difference for me. But again, that just my learning style. I zone out in front of a computer to easily, and I am not the type that can just read something and retain the information, I like the human interaction.

But again, if you haven't been tested to see what type of learner you are, you may want to see about getting tested. It helped me discover why I was having trouble with certain things, and help me to look for things that I can use to compensate.

During an eight week semester, my classes meet for two hours every Saturday during five of those weeks during each semester. I like the Hybrid program because I don't have to deal with telling someone I got a degree online, and get stigma attached to such an endeavor.

 

I think there are some classes where a hybrid format is preferable. I have taught several science classes in both face-to-face and online at the undergraduate level. The challenge with many undergraduate science classes is how to get a true lab experience when the class is taught online. A hybrid class solves this problem. Labs can be done face-to-face every other week; whereas, the remainder of the instruction is done online. As a science teacher this is the best of both worlds.

 

As a science student, I hear ya. That's the EXACT problem. Sure I do labs at home (real labs) and photograph each step or slide, but half the time I'm confused as hell and hoping for the best.