Blended Courses
Blended/hybrid courses are courses where 20% or more of the traditional face-to-face classroom time is replaced by online assignments and activities. Students spend less time in the classroom and more time working and interacting online, providing greater flexibility regarding when and where coursework can be completed.Instructors can redesign their traditional classes to move substantial course content and student learning activities online, allowing them to reduce the number of face-to-face class meetings. The LTC staff has in-depth experience with the hybrid teaching model and is internationally recognized for its expertise in hybrid courses. We can help instructors in the design and delivery of hybrid courses.
Sloan-C Blended Teaching Certificate
Blended teaching offers significant advantages for faculty, students, and institutions for optimizing access, learning, convenience, flexibility, and resources. The Sloan-C certificate in blended teaching provides practical and comprehensive training in all aspects of course redesign via synchronous and asynchronous communications.
The facilitators, a renowned team from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee include experienced hybrid instructors who represent a wide range of disciplines including the humanities, fine arts, social and natural sciences. The trainers have successfully offered this program on numerous campuses across the United States. Sloan-C Blended Teaching Certificate
Consulting
The Learning Technology Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has provided consulting services for institutions developing Hybrid and online courses. Our services have focused upon 1) working with faculty who are developing Hybrid or online courses, and 2) working with faculty support staff who are designing faculty development programs to assist instructors who will be designing Hybrid or online courses.
The LTC has also developed workshops that presents our successful Hybrid Course Faculty Development model for institutions interested in establishing a similar faculty development program on their campuses.
Most recently, the LTC has conducted workshops at Northern Illinois University, Simmons College, College Bend Community College, Eastern Arizona University, and Maryville University.
Earlier workshops were conducted for:
Illinois Community Colleges (Chicago, IL) April, 2005
The hybrid or blended course is a pedagogically effective teaching model that is popular with both instructors and students. Teaching hybrid courses well requires that faculty change their traditional approach to instruction and learn new instructional strategies. To support this change process, instructors need a formal faculty development program that supports their course redesign process and introduces them to the techniques required to teach well online.
This seminar presented the successful Hybrid Course Faculty Development model and materials developed over four years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and included presentations, demonstrations, and small group activities related to the development and teaching of hybrid courses.
Visit ILCCO for more information.
Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix, AZ) March, 2005
LTC staff served as "Virtual Guest Experts on Hybrid Course Forum" on week-long Discussion Board for faculty.
The LTC staff presented virtually on hybrid/blended courses for Maricopa's faculty-led "Action Group" on Hybrid Course structures. We posted readings, contributed to the online discussions, and answered questions from the Maricopa faculty interested in developing hybrid/blended courses.
Visit MCC for more information.
College of Lake County (Grayslake, IL) June-July 2004
Objective: Help faculty develop their first hybrid courses.
Format: Hybrid with four half-day sessions (noon to 4 p.m.), scheduled every two weeks over an eight week period (with a lapse of two weeks between the second and third session to accommodate a holiday). Assignments were completed online on a workshop website between sessions. The sessions were facilitated in person by three or four LTC staff instructors at each session.
Westminster College (Salt Lake City, UT) March-April 2004
Objective: Help faculty develop their first hybrid courses.
Format: Hybrid with two, consecutive full day sessions (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), facilitated by one LTC staff instructor physically at Westminster College, who was assisted by colleagues physically in Milwaukee via live videoconferencing of several presentations during the two day workshop. Online assignments were completed prior to and subsequent to full day sessions.
Visit Westminster Faculty Technology Center for more information.
Boise State University (Boise, ID) October 2003
Objective: Help faculty develop their first hybrid courses.
Format: Two four-hour videoconference sessions scheduled a week apart, facilitated by four LTC staff instructors in Milwaukee, who met with the faculty in Idaho via ISDN video conferencing. PowerPoint presentations and Word handouts were emailed to Boise State for distribution during the videoconferences.
Sample material: Seven tips for going hybrid
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) June-July 2003
Objective: Help faculty develop their first hybrid courses
Format: Hybrid with three face-to-face day sessions, facilitated by four LTC staff instructors at UW-Stevens Point, and one one virtual synchronous teleconference. Online assignments were completed prior to and subsequent to the F2F sessions.
Sample material: Overview of "Hybrid Teaching and Learning Faculty Development Program" developed for Stevens Point
University of Wisconsin Colleges (Fox Valley, WI) January 2003
Objective: A "train the trainers" session, presenting our hybrid faculty development program to the faculty instructional support staff from the 13 UW-Colleges.
Format: One full-day session facilitated by three LTC staff instructors, assisted by a UW-College coordinator.
Sample material: Preparing to Teach Hybrid Courses presentation
Conference Workshops
Sloan-C Invitational Workshop on Blended (Hybrid) Learning
LTC was invited to participate in the Sloan-C Invitational Workshop on Blended (Hybrid) Learning in Chicago, April 17-19. The meeting was sponsored by the Sloan Foundation and hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago. The LTC was invited because of our international reputation as leaders in hybrid course education. Carla Garnham participated in the roundtable on Effective Pedagogical Practices in Blended Teaching. For more information about this workshop go to: http://www.online.uillinois.edu/uicsloanc/Default.asp.
Hybrid Teaching and Learning: A Faculty Development Program
This half-day workshop presents the successful Hybrid Course Faculty Development model and materials developed over four years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Participants leave the workshop with a detailed template for establishing a faculty development program on their campuses that prepares instructors for hybrid courses. Workshop materials include a 90-page workshop manual and a companion CD.
Presented at EDUCAUSE 2004 Conference as "Getting Faculty Ready for Hybrid/Blended Teaching" on October 19, 2004 in Boulder, CO
Presented at 20th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning as "Preparing Faculty to Teach Hybrid Courses: A Faculty Development Model" on August 4, 2004 in Madison, WI
New Media Centers Online Conference on Social Computing, November 16-19, 2004
Building Learning Communities with Hybrid Courses
For the 20-minute online presentation by Bob Kaleta and Alan Aycock (voice over PowerPoint), click here.
"We address some best practices for instructors that we have identified for framing and managing online asynchronous conversations or forums in hybrid courses. We explain the usefulness of forums as a tool to integrate the face-to-face and online components of a hybrid course, so that these two rather distinct forms of teaching and learning experiences complement and intensify one another. And, we summarize key pedagogical tips that help ensure a successful hybrid course experience for both instructors and students."
New Media Centers 2004 Summer Conference, June 16-19, 2004, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)
Panel: "Hybrid Courses: Lessons Learned from Three Institutions" June 17, 2:30 p.m. by Robert (Bob) Kaleta, Director, Learning Technology Center, University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Alicia Russell, Director, Educational Technology Center, Northeastern University; Ruth Sabean, Associate Provost for Educational Technology, University Of California-Los Angeles; Jay Caulfield, Instructional Designer and Faculty, Learning Technology Center, University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.