What I Love (and don't) about Hybrid Teaching

Okay, let's get the bad out of the way first. I am constantly trying to get faculty to bump their courses up to be fully online so that we can reach potential students who live far, far, far away and couldn't possibly commute to campus, even once per week. I am certainly grateful that I was able to earn my own Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by taking only fully online courses (Lincoln is a long drive from Georgia). With that said, I absolutely love teaching 1/2 online. Five reasons:

1. Students who seem terrified of saying anything out loud in the f2f portion really get involved in the online discussions.
2. I am able to quickly and clearly clarify course issues (grades, assignments, etc.) in the f2f meeting. No matter how many times I tell them something online, some of them just don't seem to get it unless they hear me say it.
3. I am able to have highly-participatory, fun, engaging activities on the f2f day, since students are responsible for reading the text and taking a weekly quiz. We spend very little time going over what is in the text in the f2f portion, and instead do quick debates, lots of questions and hand-raising polls, and looking at news and YouTube materials regarding the upcoming presidential election (the class is American Government).
4. Since this is a freshman class, this is a great, but less risky way, for these new students to become good online learners.
5. My ego enjoys it. Yep, I am guilty. I like hearing myself talk and the instant gratification I get from seeing the faces and reactions of students who are listening and thinking.

Out-of-Gas Instructors Turn to Online Teaching

The other day my daughter told me that one of her f2f courses was cancelled and that they would do their coursework online for the next week. The reason? The instructor, who had a 30-mile commute to campus, was uncertain whether or not she'd be able to find gas. Just last Friday, I traveled to teach the f2f portion of my hybrid course at one of our branch campuses, 45 minutes away. I was low on gas, but figured I would just fill up after class. Wrong! After finding six gas stations completely out, I gambled and drove the rural road to the next tiny town along my way back. The first three stations had none. I called my husband and put him on stand-by to pick me up as the needle fell below empty. Finally, the last station in town had gas, and about four cars in line. It was one of those old-timey stations, and they didn't take debit or credit cards. I managed to find a couple of dollars plus some change in the bottom of my purse, and got enough gas to get back home. I heard some reports of one of more community colleges cancelling classes altogether (why didn't they go online?), and one oil distributor even suggested that the Georgia-Alabama game be postponed or cancelled (what - never!). Unfortunately, the Georgia team, embarrased by their unexpected 41-30 brusing by the Crimson Tide, won't be able to blame the gas shortage on this one.

Babies at Work?

Recently, a faculty member complained about another faculty member who kept bringing their child to work - not everyday, but frequently. She wanted a policy created that allowed for no children on campus at all. I know that there are some institutions that have such a policy, but I strongly believe that "no children" is too prohibitive. In these days of budget cuts and having to take on increased workloads with little or no salary increases, we have to be more family-friendly than ever. When my staff had little tiny ones (it was in our water for a while), I tried to be as flexible as possible, letting them bring their newborns to work for a short period of time or working from home when practical. Any disruptions are minimal and are offset by the job satisfaction of that employee and their retention as an employee. I would argue for policies that allow for greater work flexibility for working parents. One negative would be the potential risk to the institution (if the child were hurt), but several institutional policies simply state that the parent assumes such risk. There are lots of variables - what type of work the employee does, their proximity to other employees, etc. - and this is why policies should be flexible enough to allow for supervisors to take these variables into account when setting departmental policies.

Do We Coddle Our DL Students?

Recently, I was in a meeting where another assistant/associate dean suggested that we must consider taking the tough-love approach on our students (not specifically online ones), lest those in the workplace felt that we had coddled them too much, making them ill-prepared for the real world. As heads around the room nodded in agreement, I shuddered, knowing this was quite contrary to everything I had done to make our DL programs successful in terms of student success and retention. While real challenge is integral to teaching and learning, it must be accompanied by an unwavering commitment to helping students and guiding them the sometimes confusing path of online learning. I have trained my staff to refrain from being annoyed by difficult online students, who call often asking question after question about passwords, where to get their books, when to sign up for their test, and other questions that are often found in their syllabus. Instead, I argue, these are the students that we must help the most. This is where we can make a real difference. I can't tell you the number of students I've known personally - students who were on the verge of dropping out of college - who have gone on to graduate and become outstanding members of society and the workforce because we went that extra mile.

DLA Weekly Word: Unconference

An unconference is a relatively new concept that we can apply not only to professional conferences, but also to training sessions. An unconference is different in that the topics and discussions develop during the conference, and are produced by the attendees rather than the organizers. Generally, unconferences do focus on a particular theme. Kaliya Hamlin has an entire blog devoted to the topic on unconferences. What I like about using these for training sessions is that the discussions and learning are rarely stale, and tend to address the most timely, burning issues. In my 4-month Distance Education Certified Trainer Program, we have an unweek, where activities and discussions are extremely unplanned. It's the ultimate in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

A Crowded Office

When my staff first moved into part of an old house on our campus, there were just two of us. We steadily grew to six full-time employees, and more than a dozen part-timers or student assistants. Our offices look more like little bedrooms or living rooms than regular offices, so there is a built-in coziness and comfort. On the other hand, we are squeezed in pretty tightly. Everyone shares their space with at least one other person, and no one is really more than 10-20 steps away. Yet, even when given the chance to move to a spacious, modern building, we've hung on to our arrangement. Being this close has its advantages. First of all, we really have an understanding of what one another does, and are able to provide instant advice and immediate support to one another. So, if one person is taking a helpcall and is uncertain about the best answer, there is always another person nearby who can assist. This means a much faster response time for students and faculty - there's almost never a "let me find out and call you back." The proximity also means that we are unusually close and bonded - not that we don't get snippy and catty - but we're very much like siblings. At left is a picture of our team.

Branding Your CMS

Ever since Blackboard took over WebCT, universities have been a bit perplexed about what to name their CMS. Is it WebCT Vista or Blackboard or WebCT View or what? Just when we've got students used to one name, it seems it's time to change again. I'm seeing more and more institutions picking their own names, ones that aren't tied to any specific product. Here are some examples for inspiration:

• Georgia State University - ULearn


• Columbus State University - CougarView


• Sacremento State - SacCT


• University of Minnesota - WebVista


• Simmons College - Simmons eLearning


• University of Sheffield - MOLE (My On Line Learning)


• Valdosta State University - BlazeView


• University of Connecticut - HuskyCT


• University of Tasmania - MyLO