Instructional Technology
Conference 2007

Title: Blending Online and Face-to-Face: A Hybrid Model Assures Both Quality Learning and "Real World" High School Classroom Experiences.

Name: Dr. Carrie Thornthwaite
Audience Level: All

Audience: faculty and deans

Length: 1 hour

Abstract:
Debates rage over whether online, face-to-face, or hybrid models are best for student learning and experiences. Over eight years, one undergraduate course utilized all three models. This study paired students from Lipscomb University, which has limited diversity, to a high school with high numbers of both disadvantaged and culturally diverse students. Adjustments have settled on a hybrid model that enhances the quality of learning and promotes the social aspects necessary for training teachers.

Description:
Since computers first began to enhance the distance learning options, educators have discussed, debated, and researched the values attributed to face-to-face, fully online, or the hybrid models of instruction. Lipscomb’s secondary methods course has undergone an eight-year cycle of transforming from fully face-to-face, to fully online, to a blended mode. The proverbial “best of both worlds” is now used in this course, in such a way to allow students to receive quality learning, as well as experience a maximum of “real world” experiences in the schools. Over the last year, 96.7% of enrolled student rated the online component as “very valuable”. Similarly, 93.3% of the students rated the off-campus experiences with that highest rating of “very valuable”.

Through the mid-1990s, this course was only taught on campus, except for a couple of high school observations. In 1998, I began to teach the course, initiating a more substantive practicum. However, time conflicts left many students failing to meet the full practicum requirements. Therefore, in the spring 2000, the course was placed fully online, using WebCT as the Learning Management System. The course was still offered at a specific time, but those times were solely used for the practicum component. Some students, however, were either not responsible enough to check online assignments or they refused to adapt to the non-traditional environment.

After a year of being fully online, I made the decision to create a hybrid course. Since that decision, this course has been adapted every semester until, over the last year, approval ratings have reached the highs indicated in the opening paragraph. I have come to the conclusion that the hybrid mode offers advantages for undergraduate students that would be hard to achieve with either totally teaching face-to-face or teaching totally online. Students still value the social aspects of the traditional course, while, at the same time, valuing the convenience and flexibility of online learning.

The social aspect of the course includes interacting and learning from both the professor and the cooperating teachers. Additionally, the students learn to become comfortable with working with students from a variety of cultures. Online features that enhance the social nature include threaded discussions. The online environment also promotes quality learning, due, in part to the emphasis on written work. Additionally, I have been encouraged to give better feedback to the students by uploading graded papers with more substantive comments. Cumulative data shows that students in the hybrid course achieve better grades than the students from previous semesters. For undergraduate students, the hybrid model has achieved greater success from a variety of perspectives.

The off-campus school used in this study has 68.3% disadvantaged students, as well as the largest ELL population in Metro Nashville. A PowerPoint presentation will show associated data from years of adjustments to improve efficiency. WebCT course work, as well as dozens of webpages with images from both the classroom experiences and work with the ELL students, will enhance the presentation

Session Type: Presentation - ELearning and the "Social" Student

Contact information/affiliation:
Dr. Carrie Thornthwaite
Lipscomb University
3901 Granny White Pike
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 279-5829
carrie.thornthwaite@lipscomb.edu