Developing a Hybrid Course
At Niagara College we refer to courses that involve face to face and online components as hybrid. The term hybrid is often used interchangeably with the term blended. We choose to use the word hybrid throughout this section to describe the intentional combination of in-class and online learning experiences, but some of the external resources that we link to may use the term blended.
As you think about your hybrid course, we’ll look at decision making strategies for choosing what elements of your course will be online and which will be face-to-face. Next, you’ll have a chance to think through what materials and activities you will include online to help support your students in developing the skills and competencies they will need in their face-to-face learning. Finally, we’ll have a look at some models that can help you to make the most of online instruction and reconsider ways that online learning may offer improved or additional opportunities for effective teaching and learning.
How do I choose what aspects of my course will be online and which will be face-to-face?
Identify the opportunities
A hybrid course is an excellent opportunity to explore the best aspects of face to face and online teaching and learning in one course. Give some thought to what aspects of face to face teaching work really well for you and which features of online teaching are especially useful. Capitalizing on those strengths will allow you to engage the best of both worlds.
Identify your time constraints
Hybrid teaching exists on a continuum and can be very flexible. You may have a lot of face to face time with some online instruction or assessment. You may be almost wholly online with some face to face time for practical or experiential learning. You may have a balance between online and offline. The time that has been allotted to online and face to face instruction within your hybrid course will have significant implications for what learning and assessment activities you choose and how you divide these activities between the in-class and online domains.
Consider the advantages of each delivery mode and how they relate to your course
Face to face allows students to practice hands on learning with immediate instructor guidance and supervision. This is especially true in classes where students require access to situations or equipment that they are unlikely to have at home. Online learning offers students the opportunity to learn when it is most convenient for them and offers additional flexibility around reviewing class materials as needed.
Start with your outcomes
Set out your course outcomes. Working backwards, review or plan for your assessments and what has to happen for students to demonstrate that they have the skills and knowledge that they need. Evaluate whether those assessments have to happen face to face, online, or whether they can happen in either delivery mode. Once you know what your assessments are, you can start to think about what course materials and activities will support students in developing their knowledge and skills.
Evaluate what you already have
Look at what you would typically do in your classes. Separate your materials, assessments, and learning activities into content that will easily go online, content that could go online with some tweaking, and content that can’t be delivered online and will need to be revisited.
Consider what has to happen face to face
If your class has components that are lab-based, you may find it easy to identify what elements of your course will be face to face and which will be delivered online based on what activities require specific equipment. If the things that have to happen in a lab are fairly established and require a specific setting or equipment, this may automatically determine what happens in different modes of delivery. If you have some flexibility, look at your course components and select those that are best delivered online and those that would work better face to face.
Consider a flipped classroom
A flipped classroom is a model of hybrid teaching that involves moving most of the class instruction to the online learning space. In this model, students are exposed to new content that supports learning online prior to coming to class. This frees up the face to face time for interactive, engaging activities that allow students to apply course concepts.
- Flipping the Classroom
Set your priorities
If your time online or face to face is limited, it may be important to establish your priorities. Consider evaluating your content in terms of identifying what has to be included, what would be nice to have, and what can be left behind. If you have too much content for your course, you may need or want to leave out some things that are not essential for students to know, or that are adequately covered through other courses in your program. This will help to keep the focus on achieving the stated course outcomes for you and for your students.
Don’t overdo it
The split between face to face and online can make it easy to slip into doing too much. While it’s important to have a well-designed course, avoid packing in too much content, consider reusing materials and activities that you already have, and take advantage of teaching and learning tools that work well with your class and help to save time.
How do I ensure that the online and face to face components of my course work well together?
Consider how your online and face to face sessions relate to each other
Often, the face to face portions of a hybrid course are used to practice and demonstrate concrete skills that can best be accomplished and assessed in a supervised, synchronous environment like a classroom or lab space. In turn, the online portions are often used to have students build their knowledge and skills through reviewing course materials, and completing asynchronous learning activities and assessments. Ensuring that the online and face to face sessions relate to, build on, and support each other will help to create a cohesive course that supports students’ learning.
Identify what your students need to know prior to face to face
This approach is based on backwards course design.List your outcomes for what students will be expected to do in a given face to face session. Next, write out the knowledge and skills that they will need to have in order to do what’s required of them. Use this list to guide your online planning and to ensure that students have access to the content and practice that they will need to be successful in the face to face experience.
- Backwards course design
Start with what you’d usually do in a typical class
Give some thought to the kinds of materials, resources, and activities that you would typically use in your full face to face classes. Identify what can be easily moved online and what changes could be made to your existing teaching for effective online delivery.
Build materials and activities to support knowledge and skill development
If your students are expected to demonstrate specific skills, it’s important to work towards that skill development in your hybrid course. In addition to building students’ knowledge, plan for learning activities that will let them apply that knowledge and start to work on the skills that they will be required to use going forward.
Look for open educational resources (OERs)
Resource creation can be time-consuming, but there are a lot of freely available resources that you can make use of in your teaching.
Identify simulations
Online simulations can be an excellent way to introduce students to technical concepts and engage in virtual experimentation as a supplement for face to face learning. They also have the benefit of reducing risk in some contexts and allowing students the opportunity to fail without significant consequences.
- An extensive list of simulations that are openly available can be found here:
Develop at home activities for practice
Consider what opportunities exist to mimic or build towards skills and competencies that students will need. Activities that help students to build skills like hand movements, coordination, spatial awareness, appropriate pressure, and strength may all help to build towards the skills that students need. Here is one such activity that another instructor developed for inspiration:
- “Pedagogy hand” to practice I.V. insertions
Challenge students to create their own examples or applications
Allowing students to develop their own conceptualizations of how to use important course concepts gives them the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a way that is meaningful to them. Sharing these ideas with the instructor or the class can be used to check what they’ve come up with for validity, and may also be useful to other students.
Challenge students to demonstrate course concepts
Encourage students to get creative and use materials around them to model course concepts. Developing their own ideas requires critical thinking, helps improve recall, and allows them to demonstrate their understanding of concepts through application.
What is the SAMR model and how can I apply it to reconceptualize the role of online learning in my hybrid course?
Review the SAMR model of online development
SAMR is a model that’s focused on using technology to benefit teaching and learning by seeking opportunities to improve delivery and access. The model moves through a progression from a class where technology is used to Substitute, Augment, Modify, and then Redefine class components. This is an excellent model for identifying opportunities for technology to add to class content in interesting and innovative ways that help to support student learning.
- A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration
- 8 Examples of Transforming Lessons Through the SAMR Cycle
Focus on the M and R of the SAMR model to effectively develop your online course
Modify/Modification prompts instructors to think about how they can use technology to modify, enhance, and transform the classroom and associated learning activities. What activities can be effectively enhanced by using online learning technologies and tools?
Redefine/Redefinition asks instructors to consider what new tasks, activities, assignments, etc. are now possible because of the use of online learning technologies and tools? What can you do now that was previously inconceivable? How can you leverage your online learning platform to better support your students’ learning?
For an example of how faculty and students at Niagara College redefined an assessment for online delivery and reached new audiences and discovered new opportunities in the process, check out this article about our Dental Hygiene program.
Consider incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into your online course development
Teaching online offers many opportunities to improve the accessibility of materials and resources for students. Universal Design for Learning is a framework that offers flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of increasingly diverse learners in your course. UDL encourages you to begin your course design and teaching process with learner variability in mind.
- University of Guelph’s Universal Design – Best Practices for Online Learning
- Universal Design for Learning Overview (Durham College)
Resources
- Hybrid and Online Course Support – Cornell University
- Introduction to Online and Blended Courses – The George Washington University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Use this citation format: Design, Develop and Deliver: A Guide for Effective Online Teaching, Centre for Academic Excellence, Niagara College.