Definition of "Hybrid Course"
l What is formative evaluation l
Issues on which formative evaluation
should focus l
Flashlight Evaluation Handbook Table of Contents
The first step toward developing a plan
for formative evaluation of a program of hybrid courses is
to specify what you mean by "hybrid courses."
People can get into
frustrating or angry discussions if they don't realize that
each have a different definition. The following elements
are often part of what people mean by "hybrid course."
It's our impression that most people include the first
element in their definition, somewhat fewer include the
second element, and so on down the line.:
1. Use
of various technologies for complementary
communicative/interactive purposes including classrooms,
textbooks, and online tools such as course management
systems, e-mail, and the web.
2. Nontraditional
scheduling. Total time spent in the course remains
the same as in typical classes. However, students are
expected to spend more time on ‘homework’ (out of
classroom) including online work (using or creating Internet
materials; communicating). Fewer hours are spent in
face-to-face meetings in classrooms. This may be done for
many reasons. Most common: give students more time to do the
work online; reduce the demand for classroom space; decrease
the chance that a student won't be able to take two courses
(both required for graduation) because their class meeting
times overlap.
3. This
use of time is noted in the announcement/advertisement of
the course so that students who want this increased
accessibility can choose the course
4. Student
work done face-to-face is designed to complement or build on
the work done online, rather than duplicating it. So the
success of face-to-face work in a hybrid course is
relatively dependent on a high percentage of students having
done the homework effectively. Similarly the success of the
homework may be relatively dependent on students attending
and learning from the face-to-face work.
People who include #4 in their definition sometimes
resort to a variety of strategies to help assure that
students actually do that homework, including the online
work, and come to class prepared. Usually the faculty
member gets feedback on student homework within a short time
(12-24 hours) of a class, so that the design for class time
can be created or modified in light of what students have
mastered or misunderstood. This feedback may come from
online quizzes, online discussion, submission of homework
before class, etc. Below we will refer to all of these
collectively as “feedback loops.” This technique is
sometimes called
Just
in Time Teaching. In effect, a formative evaluation of
'hybrid courses' that are defined as including element #4
often requires studying the operation of these feedback
loops: feedback to the student during the homework, and
feedback to the faculty member to help plan the imminent
class meeting.
Formative evaluation is defined as the
intentional gathering of data in a way designed to produce
guidance for improving the program, service, technology, or
other thing/person being studied. The kinds of studies
described below are designed specifically to increase the
success rate and use of hybrid courses.
One important component for formative
evaluation is the process of studying teaching/learning
activities as they unfold in order to see how they can be
improved. In our explanation below, we'll refer to this
process as "debugging (click
here if you're interested in the history of this term.)
The first step in designing formative
evaluations (studies whose findings provide direct guidance
about how to increase the success of hybrid courses) is to
pinpoint the issues. Here are some key activities,
described in ways that suggest the kinds of studies that
might provide the most leverage for the effort.
-
Debugging problems that may be
hindering some or all students from participating fully
in elements of the homework. See, for example,
this first draft
survey (we're looking for subscriber institutions to
help us develop it, along with other surveys and also
accompanying workshop materials for faculty.)
- Debugging problems in the course that may be
hindering some students from using the homework to
prepare for classroom work. Among the issues that a
broader evaluation might investigate:
-
Whether the content of the homework is indeed good
preparation for the classroom work
-
Whether the students are participating in the
feedback loops in a thoughtful, timely way and, if
not, why not
-
If,
when students participate in the feedback loops, are
the message for faculty sufficiently accurate and
timely to enable planning of productive courses
-
If,
when faculty receive findings from the feedback
loop, do the faculty have the wherewithal to design
appropriate course meetings
- Debugging problems that may be hindering some or all
students from participating fully in the classroom work.
For example,
-
Are
all students able to attend all class meetings and,
if not, why not?
-
Are
all students abler to participate in all phases of
classroom work and, if not, why not (e.g., is the
student’s culture or native language inhibiting full
participation in classroom discussion)?
- Debugging problems that may be hindering the use of
hybrid courses from contributing fully to increased
access. For example,
- Problems preventing some students from enrolling
in, and passing, courses;
- Problems that may be preventing some students
from moving speedily to a degree despite the
‘availability’ of some hybrid courses (e.g., the
face-to-face time or location is inaccessible for
some students; some key courses are not available in
accessible formats).
By using a
matrix
survey, an institution can both help its faculty improve
individual hybrid courses while also helping the institution
support its faculty and students, so that all hybrid courses
can gradually become more effective. To talk more about
this, please
contact us.
