Hybrid curricula combine face-to-face classroom instruction with online classes. Gaming, simulation and teleconferencing are tools within a hybrid model that can transform the classroom and learning experience. These classes present a new format of teaching, and have proven successful at several universities across the nation. It would be prudent however, for universities considering the hybrid model to be aware of current controversies and challenges.
Hybrid curricula is a tool to transform learning, giving students a more diverse and flexible learning experience.
However in terms of actual implementation, various educational institutions are developing their own best practices to incorporate effective hybrid curriculum. Universities have tailored their own versions of this concept depending on their standards and financial opportunities.
Incorporating A Hybrid Curriculum
New Jersey’s Science and Technology University offers a clear perspective on implementing this concept. According to the university, best practices are contemporaneous with course selection that will best benefit from the hybrid model. The school suggested online courses that already incorporate a rich media, such as eLearning and Web-enhanced courses, are the best candidate courses for hybridization. They also encourage the faculty and design teams to have at least a semester in advance to prepare such courses.
Other universities have chosen to offer hybrid curriculums by addressing the courses in terms of specific disciplines. A team of doctors, led by Dr. Leslie Davidson, shared their thoughts on hybrid curriculum in the profession of occupational therapy in a research paper titled “The Changing Face of OT Education; A Hybrid Approach to OT Entry-Level Professional Education.” The article discusses a shift in pedagogy that offers a strong flexibility in educational instruction which allows students to enhance their adult-centered learning experience while still addressing family and work roles.
Professor Keith Patton of St. Charles Community College offered his solution to best practices for teaching hybrid and online A&P courses. Patton uses online tests in Web-enhanced courses as a formative and evaluative tool.
Instruction that incorporates the concept of a hybrid curriculum takes on many shapes and forms leaving educational institutions and professors with the creativity to enhance and tailor their courses to the needs of their students. With the benefits and flexibility of this learning style, the future of instruction will likely see an increase of hybrid curriculum.
In a case study conducted at the University of Virginia, the consortium compared the results between a traditional and hybrid version of the same course to determine what the impact would be on student performance. It performed this pilot on beginner-level Spanish classes. To begin, the consortium determined what areas would best be taught from a computerized approach, focusing on skill building. Upon completion of the pilot, it assessed that the key and best practices for hybrid models began with determining the areas in which computers would have the most concrete, positive benefits, and apply them there. The consortium also concluded that hybrid courses provided students with a sense of ownership — adding personal responsibility since professors are not readily available as they might be in a classroom setting. Both students and teachers said they felt classroom time was more productive and effective, since students were more prepared and had to account for their work on an individual basis prior to arrival. Evaluations showed students perceived they had greater mastery of the subject, while enjoying the class and study of the language more.
Student and Professor Experiences
Zimare Solomon Bekele is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in History with a concentration in Africa and the Middle East. He has taken online courses as part of his degree pursuit, even taking a three week summer course in Renaissance Europe. He took the course because of the flexibility it provided, so he could work around his busy summer schedule, including work, family events and travel. Bekele liked the fact that he had to be disciplined with the work and stay on top of his assignments, unlike regular semester courses where one could easily get notes if unable to attend classes. Yet, Berkele said the semester’s worth of classes crammed into three weeks required an immense amount of work, leading to several all-nighters during that period.
From his perspective, Berkele said he missed the classroom interactions. He suggested that classes meet at least once a month in person with longer online courses. He also suggested that for summer online courses for professors to have regular office hours to answer questions in person since some answers are not as clear via e-mail. As part of his summer course, Berkele had to listen to several podcast lectures a day. He said he found the experience especially taxing since it was hours of straight lecture, where he had to pause constantly to get notes, and could not interject to ask questions. Berkele said he also wished that he could have submitted questions to his course professor prior to the next podcast, so the next one would be more clear, with answered questions. However with tight deadlines, the opportunity was rare. Bekele’s online course had a discussion board, however, with students working hard to get through the information, there were rarely ever any postings. During the course of his online experience, there were a few times when technical difficulties arose, which led to frantic e-mails to the professor explaining the situation with class work submissions contingent on restored capabilities.
Overall, Bekele said he enjoyed the option to take an online graduate course, which allowed him to attend his brother-in-law’s graduation from Harvard University with a doctorate degree. However, Berkele said his learning experience could have been more enhanced, from a student’s perspective.
Elizabeth Cooney is an adjunct professor at Northeastern University in Boston, High Point University in North Carolina, and Educational Consultant for Research for Better Teaching (RBT). Cooney has used a hybrid curriculum model when teaching her “Research and Design and Education” 12-week course. Every other week students are required to attend classroom lectures, and on alternative weeks log on to Blackboard for Powerpoint slides, online lectures and peer discussions.
On alternate weeks, students are required to read information and respond twice to an online discussion by reacting to peer discussions and posting commentaries. Cooney said she has seen great benefits from this curriculum. She shared that students who dominated conversations in class were forced to listen in an online environment, while timid students were given more time to formulate their thoughts. From a personal standpoint, Cooney said she was able to “hear” student questions and respond with more preciseness by gathering resources to better answer their thoughts. She said she was able to post a lot of factual information online, therefore requiring students to move more quickly through analysis. Cooney said she also noticed more adult student participation, as they were able to take advantage of the flexibility and work on things as their schedules allowed. There was 100% online participation because students had to post discussions and comment on their peers’ work, which was always a challenge in the classroom environment.
However, Cooney said she found it difficult to read body language, tone or other indicators online that students needed clarification that she was accustomed to in the classroom. She said discussions were also difficult to facilitate online and she noticed a different energy in classroom dynamics compared with a live conversation when the students were present to interact.
Recommendations For Successful Implementation
David Swartz, chief information officer and vice president at American University, said institutions must have the support from the experts and the faculty for successfully incorporating hybrid curriculums. Swartz said it is important that institutions recognize that to do something so cutting edge, it takes tremendous effort.
To be truly successful in the implementation, Swartz said, schools must understand that technology is playing a bigger role in the learning process. Unfortunately for some schools, Swartz continued, this is not the highest priority. Yet when it is recognized as such, he said, it will take great effort and collaboration by the entire institution to accomplish. Implementing hybrid curriculums are innovative and risky, Swartz said, yet institutions need to be cognizant of the underlying incentives
A hybrid curriculum is a relatively new model of teaching/learning. Because of this, it is difficult to compare universities because there is no set standard or best practices developed on the subject. Though online courses are practically the norm, the concept of hybrid is still unknown and not practiced across universities.
There are ways, however, to examine universities’ offerings, standards and current level of technological abilities, which would help infer whether they are prepared for hybrid curricula and to what extent.
The most obvious way of critiquing a school’s ability and preparedness for hybrid classrooms is to examine the amount of technology offered on campus. For example, customized communications software, number of computer labs and information technology help.
When information is available, it would be easy to compare the number of hybrid classes offered at a school. If this is not available, it may be fruitful to look at the number of students enrolled in online courses, as they are similar in structure to hybrid classes.
There is also the benefit of looking at any special programs, recognitions, or awards that a school offers to initiate or support hybrid classes. These can be in the form of staff support or simply the number of technology-supportive classrooms.
American University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private, coeducational, liberal arts curriculum, doctoral institution in Washington, D.C.
Faculty and staff: 591 full-time faculty
Enrollment (Fall 2008): 6,023 undergraduate; 3,297 graduate; 1,667 Law; 1,199 Nondegree, certificate, Washington Semester, AU Abroad
The number of students enrolled at American University in 2008 was approximately 11,684[1]. For those students, there are 19 computer labs with approximately 500 computers available on campus and a variety of software installed on those computers, for any AU student’s use[2]. There is a group of information technology staff that services these computers as well as individual student computer issues. They are available standard business hours and on call during the weekend. Overall, the technology services, software and hardware seem more than adequate for the number of students on campus.
The school excels in particular by its Center for Teaching, Research and Learning, which appears supportive of hybrid curriculum. They put together a resource list for professors and faculty who teach online or hybrid classes. From here, tips and resources are linked to, including directions on Wimba, a software that provides an live online classroom, and supports multi-way audio, video, application sharing and other features, and is already installed on the school’s Blackboard system[3]. Professors schedule meeting times through Blackboard, and using headphones and microphones, students can discuss with their peers and the teacher remotely for online lectures or meetings.
In addition, the school offers students and faculty free tutorials from Lynda.com. The university also offer lectures in podcast form on iTunesU, a free service for people to learn from other universities.
According to David Swartz, chief information officer of AU, the next step is for students and faculty to collaborate. During a recent class lecture, Swartz said it was necessary, and hopes that with AU’s collaborative culture, new developments and products would eventually be created.
“AU has a much more collegial environment — people are much more willing to work together” — this gives the school “tremendous strength and power,” said Swartz.
“If you leverage the resources you have and come together you can do what other people can’t do.”
Overall, AU appears to have the hardware, software and staff support to move towards hybrid classes across campus. With proper planning and collaboration, hybrid classes could be a success at AU.
The number of students enrolled in 2008 at George Washington University was 25,116, according to US News & World Report. For these roughly 25 thousand students, there were 21 computer labs on campus (there are a total of 197 “computing locations” though the others were in lecture halls[4].) Compared to AU, George Washington University has a lower computer-lab to student ratio.
The school has a Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning, which guides faculty toward developing a hybrid class. They provide extensive resources and advice to help professors who have not previously taught this method. They offer a detailed step-by-step guide to creating the actual syllabus and format of classes, and help professors think through the steps needed to lead a hybrid class[5]. In addition to this program, there is a separate unit called the Center for Instructional Design & Development, which consults staff on how to use technology to enhance classrooms and curriculum[6]. This appears to be a deeper support system for hybrid learning.
Overall the resources at George Washington University appear sufficient but there is a lower computer to student ratio on campus. But the university does have impressive initiatives and support systems to encourage hybrid classes. Combined with a consulting group to further assist professors, the hybrid classroom appears to be a priority at the school.
Georgetown University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private institution in Washington, D.C.
Faculty and staff: 1,268 full-time faculty
Enrollment (2008): 1,571 undergraduate; 1,617 graduate; 194 medical center; 585 law center
The number of enrolled students at Georgetown University in 2008 was 15,318, according to US News & World Report. These students plus faculty and professors had access to several programs that encouraged or at least plays a part in hybrid learning.
One of these programs is called Digital Commons, which is a user-friendly Web site that offers definitions, ideas and tools to encourage online interactives in the classroom[7]. This program is actually a segment of the Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship at the school. Its overarching goal is “to bridge a historic gulf between pedagogy and technological advances,” and they now integrate a “learning center for the latest educational technology[8].” While they don’t come forward and encourage hybrid classes on the site, they do seem to share the same mission as the hybrid model: to explore ways in which technology can enhance classes and the curriculum.
Georgetown University also created a site called Academic Continuity 2010, which provides professors resources and tips for when they are not able to meet in the classroom[9]. Their reasoning for the site is for when there are extreme weather conditions and classes cannot meet, however it could also appear as an inadvertent way to support hybrid classes.
The school offers standard Blackboard programming for students to communicate and share documents within a class. They also offer Premiere for audio conferencing, and Elluminate Live! for web conferencing as a virtual classroom system.
Overall, the school appears very advanced when it comes to hybrid technology, especially due to recent weather conditions in the area, which have further supported the argument for such a type of classroom. The Academic Continuity 2010 site, for example, seems to have just been created because of the winter snowstorm in Washington, D.C. While the school seems supportive of the online or hybrid format, new technology and even Web/audio conferencing, it is difficult to find the hybrid classes offered at the school. Perhaps this is due to it being restricted information only to enrolled students. But nevertheless, it could be assumed that a school who seems so supportive of hybrid format would promote and showcase their classes and advanced thinking.
Emory University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private, research university in Atlanta, Ga.
Faculty and staff: 3,124 full-time faculty
Enrollment: 6,980 undergraduate; 5,950 graduate and professional
Emory University had a total of 12,755 students enrolled in 2008, according to US News & World Report. They appeared to offer the standard software that plays a major part of hybrid learning such as Blackboard and LearnLink – a software that offers discussion rooms, online chats, calendaring, etc.
But what stands out at Emory the most is their high-tech classrooms and consciousness of what changes need to be made to classes in order to meet changing technology. The school offers what they call SMART classrooms, which offer computer workstations, projection screens, video conferencing capabilities, reconfigurable furniture, and other amenities conducive to hybrid and online learning[10]. The facilities are the most impressive feature when it comes to determining how technologically wired a campus is.
Overall however, there is not a strong mention of hybrid classes, which are the combination of online and face-to-face learning. These SMART classrooms would be great for special lectures or online-only classes. However, they are not really necessary for hybrid classes, which require students to meet physically in the same place, several times during a course.
The online and technological offerings at Boston University appear to be the lowest of all the schools examined. For their 31,766 enrolled students in 2008, they had a total of five computer labs available to them[11]. Although they appear to have extensive IT help hours, their Web site does not offer a lot of support/help/tips on using software or any tools that promote hybrid classes.
The university has a program called the Metropolitan College & Extended Education, which offers courses designed for working professionals and students. One of its offerings is a series of blended learning classes that they’ve dubbed “eLive” programs. The eLive classes are true hybrid courses with online and traditional in-class components.
In addition to taking eLive courses within various departments, students can choose from four programs in the eLive format:
Master of Science in Computer Information Systems
Graduate Certificate in Digital Forensics
Graduate Certificate in Information Technology Project Management
Graduate Certificate Interactive Multimedia & Game Engineering
Boston University also offers online classes to students, furthering their experience and preparedness when it comes to hybrid curricula. The Boston University, Distance Education Web site offers several resources and contact information for support groups and more information.
In addition to all of these programs, Boston University also has a Center for Professional Education. This group encourages working professionals to update their skills by taking courses at the university. They offer online programs in several industries including financial planning, fund raising, geneology, management accounting, and real estate.
Overall, Boston University has a complex and large variety of hybrid and online course offerings. They also seem to have a thorough support system in place for faculty and students who participate in hybrid classes, which is inherent to a successful hybrid program at a university.
This segment of the University System of Maryland enrolled 34,172 students in 2008. Students are able to choose whether they take classes online, traditional in the classroom or hybrid format[12]. Although they did not have numbers for the number of students taking hybrid format classes, they had more than 196,000 online course enrollees in 2009, according to their site[13].
Pam Bandy recently graduated from UMUC with a Master’s of Business Administration. She chose the hybrid track because of her busy full time work schedule as a program analyst at the Department of State. She began her program in Sept. 2007 and completed in December 2009. During the course of that time, she completed all but one class in the hybrid format.
Her main recommendation for hybrid curricula is for excellent organization and structure.
“The organization of the professor becomes even more critical in this format because you have to navigate both in–person and online,” she said. “So if you have any sort of discrepancies it becomes a huge problem for students.”
Even so, there was very little she found problematic in the two years of her hybrid education.
“In the beginning, there was an adjustment period,” she said, “learning to sign-on everyday and check in on things every day or every other day” was a challenge to her at times.
Expert Opinion: Educause
Some experts such as Veronica Diaz from Educause, a nonprofit organization that encourages the use of information technology in education, can clearly identify the characteristics of a successful hybrid program.
As associate director of the Educause Learning Initiative, Diaz has experience with reviewing successful hybrid models. She says the most important factor is whether a school trains professors on how to teach a hybrid course and provides a support structure for that faculty.
“I’ve been in institutions where faculty can just start teaching that way,” she says about hybrid classes, “and others that have to go through a structured process.” Having been in both, she thinks the structured process is better because it “opens up their thinking to teaching that way.”
She also thinks it’s beneficial when faculty don’t teach as many classes as they would normally while learning about the hybrid model. For example, they would teach one less class per semester in order to fit in the time for hybrid training.
“The first semester they teach they should have a lighter load,” she said, “so they have time to get good at what they’re doing and make changes.”
Further benefits come from training students themselves on the new hybrid curriculum – instruction on how to use resources, offering orientation sessions or other support structures. This way the “institution really orients its products and services so that they can support that model,” she said.
When it comes to technology, Diaz does not think it’s as important as others may think.
“I don’t really think in hybrid mode that technology is that big of a factor,” she said. Diaz has seen some institutions offer numerous software programs, but they do not determine whether the school will be successful at hybrid curricula.
“It’s much more about the redesign and also the way that that’s communicated to students,” she said.
Conclusion
Though hybrid curricula is a relatively new concept in academia, it is already incorporated in several universities. Whether schools adopt a hybrid classroom format because of weather emergencies, or are simply interested in applying new technologies, several schools are primed to offer hybrid education.
The issue is no longer whether schools should offer hybrid education, but how to design a successful course and set standards of best practices. There also clearly needs to be extensive faculty and student support structures in place and organization needed for hybrid classes. Repeated themes among successful hybrid models are planning, support and time, which can directly apply to implementing hybrid education at American University.
Games and simulations can be used on personal computers, online or on game consoles
Games should not replace instruction, but should compliment classroom learning and encourage interaction between students and instructors
Games can help develop a number of skills such as strategic thinking, planning, communication and collaboration
Barriers:
Negative attitudes towards games
Lack of assessing games skills
Benefits of games are still in doubt
High cost to develop games
Games in education have come a long way since CD-ROM games were introduced in the 1990s.
However, the use of games and simulations in education is still a new and emerging field. Generally referred to as “serious games,” these games aren’t designed for purely entertainment reasons. Many types of games or simulations can be considered serious games, even commercial games that can be purchased at video game stores or played online.
Experts in the use of serious games say the games are not supposed to replace classroom instruction, but rather they should be used to enhance the learning experience. Games and simulations can be used to immerse students in virtual worlds and have been used as training tools for doctors and military personnel.[14]
Serious games “usually refer to games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education that are designed to run on personal computers or video game consoles. According to Corti (2006, p.1) game-based learning/serious games ‘is all about leveraging the power of computer games to captivate and engage end-users for a specific purpose, such as to develop new knowledge and skills.’ ”[15]
There is no agreement on the current definition of the concept, but “serious games can be applied to a broad spectrum of application areas, e.g. military, government, educational, corporate, health care.”[16]
The Education Arcade, a group of researchers studying the role of game play in education at MIT, noted that students at play exercise freedom along five distinct axes[17]:
Freedom to fail
Freedom to experiment
Freedom to fashion identities
Freedom of effort; and
Freedom of interpretation
“Serious Games” on YouTube, a four-minute video showing a small sampling of serious games:
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania: An Example of Games and Simulations in Education
The Wharton School has been using games and simulations in its business courses through its Learning Lab, which began about eight years ago as a pilot program with grant money donated by an alumni. The lab has developed about 30 games and simulations to teach subject areas such as economics, finance and management.
The lab is “Wharton’s development center and experimental laboratory to explore new approaches to learning. The Learning Lab develops technology-enhanced learning materials — simulations, web-based exercises, interactive programs, and serious games — to investigate new paradigms for learning and instruction.
“The products developed by the Learning Lab engage students in real-world exercises that challenge them to apply principles they’ve learned across multiple disciplines.”[18]
Kendall Whitehouse, director of new media at Wharton, said the lab’s games are usually not standalone where the takeaway is a lesson, he said. Rather, the games are used in the classroom to make the learning point stronger.
Instead of only reading about financial markets, the school’s WSX securities trading tool — a simulation — can show what happens in a financial market and how prices are set, Whitehouse said. “It makes the point in a way that’s more meaningful than the abstract,” Whitehouse said.
The director of the Learning Lab, Alec Lamon, said there is no question about the effectiveness of serious games as a learning tool. Anecdotally, Lamon said, you can see the interest and excitement in the students. “They are riveted to that screen,” he said.
The games and simulations the Learning Lab uses aren’t standalone tutorials meant to replace the instructor, Whitehouse explained — teachers are still needed and the games make the students’ interaction with the teacher more intense.
Lamon echoed Whitehouse in that the games are meant to increase engagement between instructors and students, not to replace instruction: “None of them [games] are supposed to teach anything, per se. The learning actually happens when you go back to the classroom to talk about what’s going on.”
With the exception of the WSX simulation, said Whitehouse, all of the lab’s games are Web-based and mostly use Flash, a multimedia program made by Adobe. Whitehouse said the Web-based architecture of most of the games lends itself well to a blended course delivered online, but an instructor is needed to make the scenarios open-ended.
In beginning the lab, Lamon said the school’s faculty submitted proposals to a committee, which decided how to use the funds. Even today, most of the proposals the committee receives are technology focused, and most proposals are for games or simulations, said Lamon.
The lab began with a skeleton staff and did not have a problem finding developers to work with, according to Lamon. Faculty members work with the game developers and they go back and fourth to create prototypes, but the faculty is considered the author.
Not all of the games are successful, however. Of the 30 or so applications the lab has developed, Lamon said 20 to 25 of them are used on a regular basis. Some of the reasons why some of the applications don’t work out are because the faculty member who used it left, or simply because the game doesn’t work as intended, said Lamon.
Lamon said a downside to using serious games is the expense of making them, but he said that shouldn’t be barrier if a game could help students learn.
Lamon said using games and simulations are a way universities can move beyond lecture-based study to attract high quality faculty and students.
The Education Arcade
Researchers at MIT established the Education Arcade to promote learning through game play, and mostly focuses on the K-12 level. Many of the games the group has studied are commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) games that can be purchased at video game stores or played online, such as World of Warcraft (WoW).
WoW is an MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role-playing game. MMORPG is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world.[19] While not an educational game itself, research notes multiple skills associated with being a “guildmaster” in WoW[20]:
Attracting, evaluating and recruiting new members
Creating apprenticeship programs
Orchestrating group strategy; and
Managing disputes
James Haas, a researcher with the Education Arcade, said using games should be tailored to what you are trying to teach. For example, students could play “Civilization” to explore material history.
Similar to Whitehouse and Lamon, Haas said teachers still have to do the work to teach a lesson.
Some examples of games given in its whitepaper “The instructional power of digital games, social networking, simulations and how teachers can leverage them” (2009) include:
Civilization: “The goal of the game is to successfully build an enduring empire. …In this turn-based strategy game, players must make decisions for their civilization around societal development and diplomacy – including when and where to build new cities, what societal advances in knowledge should be sought (and when), and how to handle adversarial and non-adversarial neighboring civilizations.”
Lure of the Labyrinth: “Designed at the MIT Education Arcade in development collaboration with Maryland Public Television, Fablevision, Johns Hopkins University, and Macro International, Labyrinth is funded by the U.S. Department of Education with a primary goal of enhancing pre-algebra mathematics learning and a secondary goal of improving literacy. Labyrinth is a Web-based, long-form puzzle adventure game played over many sessions.”
Simulations: “…they recreate a modeled or modified version of a real world situation. One essential aspect that separates digital games from simulations is the lack of game dynamics or the ‘win state’ that exists in digital games.”
SimCity: “One of the first, and biggest, COTS [commercial-off-the-shelf] simulation games to come onto the market was SimCity – where the objective is to design and create a thriving, sustainable city. Players designate which land is residential, industrial, or commercial, and as the mayor of the their city they are forced to confront issues of pollution, crime, waste management, transportation, and so on.”
Barriers To Adoption
Some of the barriers to adoption of games, their design and development, their sustainability, and innovation cited by the Education Arcade include[21]:
Curriculum requirements: Schools are historically reluctant to give up textbooks or purchase educational technologies that aren’t linked to state standards or haven’t proven their efficacy
Attitudes: Negative attitudes toward games by some parents and educators
Support for teachers: Teachers lack the time, incentives and support to integrate games into the classroom
Assessment: Developing new frameworks for assessing games skills since they are not typically assessed in standardized exams
Evidence: There are limited amounts of studies showing the effectiveness of games
High development costs
Limited sources of funding
Gamers are fickle: Games that lack re-playability can factor into the shelf-life of a game
Limited pedagogical paradigms: “Standard approaches to pedagogy in the classroom differ significantly from models present in games.”
Games and Simulations At American University
According to David Swartz, American University’s chief information officer, the Kogod School of Business uses games and simulations, but information about its serious games offerings could not be found on the university Web site.
However, David Johnson, an assistant professor at the School of Communications, posted online a grant proposal to the Knight Foundation Digital Challenge. Johnson’s proposal was to create a virtual Washington, D.C., similar to city-building games like SimCity. Avatars of public officials would be placed around the virtual city and the game would be linked to a database of financial information and its affect on public policy.
According to an e-mail from Johnson, the proposal has made it to the finals the last couple of times he has submitted it, but it has yet to see funding. It is in the finals again this year and he has two submissions for serious games to the MacAurthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Competition.
From Johnson’s e-mail: “If I land funding, my ideal scenario would be a university wide center for interactive communication arts and sciences, advancing simulations and serious games across other areas at the school.”
Serious Games
Pros
Games and simulations give players the ability to explore immersive virtual worlds
“Games can support development of a number of various skills: strategic thinking, planning, communication, collaboration, group decision making, and negotiating skills.”[22]
“While much of the evidence for serious games…shows no significant difference when compared with face-to-face, blended modes of learning, when learners use multi-modes of learning, often accelerated learning and longer retention of information results.”[23]
Cons
“For many people the benefit of games is still questionable, partly due to the lack of overwhelming and concrete evidence showing that games are inherently useful tools, and partly because the broader world still sees games as toys.”[24]
“The danger of using so many different communication channels simultaneously is that attention and focus may be difficult to hold, so work to enforce academic rigor, analysis and synthesis…needs to be considered in learning design.”[25]
Videoconferencing
Videoconference is a set of interactive telecommunications technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously.[26]
For education, the Wikipedia entry states: “Videoconferencing provides students with the opportunity to learn by participating in a 2-way communication platform. Furthermore, teachers and lecturers from all over the world can be brought to classes in remote or otherwise isolated places. …Students are able to explore, communicate, analyze and share information and ideas with one another. …
“Here are a few examples of how videoconferencing can benefit people around campus:
“faculty member keeps in touch with class while away for a week at a conference guest lecturer brought into a class from another institution
“researcher collaborates with colleagues at other institutions on a regular basis without loss of time due to travel
“faculty member participates in a thesis defense at another institution
“administrators on tight schedules collaborate on a budget preparation from different parts of campus
“faculty committee auditions a scholarship candidate
“researcher answers questions about a grant proposal from an agency or review committee”
Cons
expense of buying dedicated teleconferencing and videoconferencing equipment
Swartz, the CIO at AU, said the school only has one teleconferencing suite, which he said wasn’t a problem as the equipment is expensive and the technology moves fast. Swartz did say, however, that maybe the school could include teleconferencing equipment in every classroom as the costs of the equipment comes down.
One example in avoiding the cost of buying expensive equipment is to use the Web-based videoconferencing service Skype. The technology works via the Internet using a computer’s Web camera and microphone and is free. Users can choose to enable the camera or simply talk via voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Many laptop and desktop PCs now come with Web cameras and can fully use the software.
Recommendations
As the use of games and simulations in education is a growing field that is still evolving, it would benefit the school to survey the faculty members in its potential use. As noted earlier, the business school is already using serious games and at least one instructor in the School of Communications would like to apply their use university wide.
As for teleconferencing, the use of Internet-based phone services such as Skype is gaining popularity. Students and instructors in the Interactive Journalism course have used Skype to collaborate and communicate with each other inside and outside of the classroom with relative ease.
While many American colleges and universities have begun to offer more distance/hybrid learning, there are several obstacles to full implementation. American Universities “Strategic Plan 2009” sets out various goals increasing the number of classes offered, with an eye toward fighting the stigmas against distance/hybrid learning and overcoming institutional bias and the cost of start-up.
“Anything beyond the 10th row in a large lecture hall is distance learning anyway.” — Clayton Christenson of Harvard Business School. [27]
In the summer of 2008, American University offered 36 distant learning courses to 503 students. The university’a two-year plan calls for an increase in the number of classes offered online and establishment at least one satellite location. The university also plans to “provide an enterprise solution to support the need for synchronous and collaborative modes of online teaching to complement existing asynchronous learning tools.” James Lee, associate director for technical support and training for American University’s Center for Teaching, Research & Learning (CTRL) says while the business school and the School of Education seem to have done the most with hybrids, other programs have courses that are on an ad hoc basis.
The two-year plan says American University will follow “Educause” standards. “Educause” is a nonprofit association that advances higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. American University acknowledges that, following those standards, its current performance is at the low end of peers. The two-year plan calls for moving AU to the mid-point of its peers in terms of online/hybrid education.
“The program has grown steadily at AU but it is really dependent on getting faculty to teach online,” said Lee. “There is a training program for online and grants for faculty. We are looking to expand into hybrid courses, which is a different model. These would more likely be shorter training modules which are more evolutionary rather than transformative in approach. I would also differentiate in types of hybrid courses. Some of the face-to-face courses in hybrids occur at AU. Some may occur in other parts of the world.”
Dr. Nicole Melander said the Kogod School of Business moved many part-time classes to the hybrid format three years ago to provide more flexibility to working students.
“Part timers are usually working during the day and taking courses at night,” said Melander. “By moving to a hybrid format we could reduce campus visits to every other week on campus or one day per week on campus.”
Melander said they’ve also experimented with offering the hybrid format full time or undergraduate students to give them some experience with new technology. “They’ll be familiar with it for future jobs — online meetings, conference calling, they’ll know how to behave and participate in a company where people are located in different offices and different countries around the world.”
Organizational change is not easy to accomplish. That’s true at American University and other educational institutions across the country. AU has begun the move toward increasing the availability of distance/hybrid curricula, but the cost and concern over organizational changes has kept the school from being in the vanguard of change.
“I think we’re a little bit behind,” said Melander. American University Vice President and Chief Information Officer David Swartz said AU needs a clear vision of where they want to be five years from now. “Basic technology literacy among faculty and students could be better,” he said. There are multiple scheduled workshops and classes available to support students and faculty. However, other than Lynda.com and a handful of online courses, Swartz said most courses or training are not available on-demand when needed. “Further there is no certification or specific training or literacy actually required to teach or take courses at AU.”
Swartz also said the school also needs more people who can help the faculty in the design and implementation of innovative programs.
“I think we need to recognize the importance that these curriculum designers will provide to the faculty,” said Swartz. “Maybe you don’t need as many people, but you need more than what we have.”
“In order to be innovative in hybrid programs, American University needs the help of experts to partner and work with faculty,” said Swartz. “It takes time and effort.”
Distance learning is not without problems. Massachusetts Institute of Technology has replaced its introductory physics lecture with smaller, hybrid classes that emphasize collaborative learning. The program is called “TEAL — Technology Enhanced Active Learning. It was funded by a $10 million donation from an MIT alumnus. Without the $10 million dollar donation, MIT would not have been able to launch the TEAL program because of the high start-up costs. There is also a steep learning curve for both faculty and students, and the potential for decreased interaction between faculty and students. [28]
The student-teacher relationship is also more complex in an online/hybrid class. Cincinnati resident Rosie Joseph dropped out of her online finance courses at University of Phoenix because of her unhappiness with the lack of response from her teachers. Two of her four instructors failed to respond to her e-mails asking for help. Mistakes made online, whether in tests or coursework, are hard to correct and could sour a teacher or student on internet-based education.[29]
Howard Finberg is director of interactive learning at the Poynter Institute’s “News University.” “News U” is a training program for journalists and journalism teachers that offers over 150 online training modules. While he said “News U” has received exceptionally high feedback from users, “NewsU” students have complained about the lack of personal feedback for the person who wants help for their own specific needs.
There are some who question whether a fully online class (not a hybrid) is equivalent to a face to face class. “The University of Phoenix kind of polluted the water, allowing people to devalue an online education,” said Melander. “But thats one of the reasons we do hybrid classes versus totally online classes because of faculty feeling online is not as valued as a regular face to face class. There’s still a question about that.”
The growth in educational technology has led to a shift in the approach to online/hybrid education. The “sage-on-the-stage” model of teaching has given way to an emphasis on the student as “learner” and the teacher as a facilitator. [30] Students have to learn self-direction and self-discipline in order to succeed in a hybrid/online class.
“With students as consumers, students have impact and can demand change. One of the things students want is more control over their learning experience. How can students take more control over their learning?” asked Swartz. “I think there needs to be recognition that the traditional model is shifting and that learning is occurring outside the classroom… The power of the student to drive that is impressive. We’re very responsive to students, because if the student doesn’t like what they’re getting, they’re not going to come.”
“Like anything new, and anything different from what you were doing, there’s always a period of adjustment,” said Finburg. He said they worked hard in the development of Poynter’s “News U” program to make it as comfortable for users as possible. “There have been other attempts at online journalism training and those failed miserably…and so there was some bias in that regard.”
Many faculty members fear cheating will become easier for students who have little or no interaction with faculty teaching online/hybrid classes. Dr. Wallace K. Pond, chief of academic affairs at Education American Online, said he believes there is more cheating in a traditional classroom than an online class.
“You can’t put 500 students in an online class. So far, quality online education has demanded small class sizes and interactivity between students and teachers,” said Pond. He adds that high online interactivity can act as a safeguard against students who plagiarize or try to have others take their exams.[31] The University of Phoenix generally limits its online class sizes to 13. [32]
Developing instructor proficiency in the technology required to teach an online or hybrid course is also a challenge. Melander said students like the flexibility of online classes, but have sometimes complained about faculty. If a student takes two or three hybrid classes during the fall semester, by spring they’ve mastered the technology. But by spring they may have classes with faculty who are teaching their first hybrid course.
“They feel like they know more than the faculty — that classroom scenario where the students feel they know more than the faculty does,” said Melander. “In this case its just about timing and whether the person is teaching the class for the first time. The pool of faculty members who have taught a hybrid class is growing, but there are still plenty who haven’t done it yet, so students complain about having to retrain people.”
On the other hand, Melander said Kogod faculty have embraced hybrid learning. “They have been amazing. All the biases you hear about — faculty that have been here a while, tenured faculty, they just wont do this, there will be lots of resistance — they’ve been terrific and excited to experiment with some different ways to teach their classes. The faculty have been great.”
Swartz said software also presents a barrier. Many American University professors use the Blackboard software program to communicate with students.
“One of the problems with Blackboard is, it can’t invite outside people to participate,” said Swartz. “Learning doesn’t just happen in side the classroom, it happens outside with other people and universities”
Online educational software has the potential to help students learn more information in less time than they would have spent in a conventional classroom.
“Online training modules have taken the barrier of time and money down, and also there are some topics that are best served by other delivery means,” said Howard Finberg. “Some things are best done by web based training — it can be a very efficient form of delivery.”
Poynter surveys their users every three to four months to make sure the modules are reaching their target audience and provided the education sought by journalists and others. According to Finberg, their latest survey shows that about 70 percent found the course content was useful, 80 percent say the course material would be helpful on their job or in their classroom, and more than 85 percent say they’re likely to take another News U course.
The variety and accessibility of the modules has made “News U” popular among journalists. Finberg said they serve over 137,000 users in over 223 countries. Many of the classes are free or low cost, and they are accessible whenever the user wants.
To succeed in the ever-crowded market of online/hybrid education, American University must make an investment in the advanced technology required to provide students with a multi-media educational experience that will allow them to fully participate in the learning experience. Part of that investment should include designers who can bring innovative curricula to students. Finally, AU has to make an investment in time: the time to fully develop online/hybrid courses and the time to train faculty to provide a world class online education.
[5] George Washington University. (n.d.). Hybrid Course Development . Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Center For Innovative Teaching & Learning: http://citl.gwu.edu/pages/hybrid.htm
[10] Emory University. (n.d.). Emory’s Center for Interactive Teaching – ECIT . Retrieved February 8, 2010, from The Centers For Educational Technology: https://cet.emory.edu/ecit/index.cfm
[12] University of Maryland University College. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from University of Maryland University College: http://www.umuc.edu/gen/about.shtml
[13] University of Maryland University College. (n.d.). UMUC at a Glance. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Office of Institutional Planning, Research and Accountability: http://www.umuc.edu/ip/ataglance.shtml
[14] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas (2009). Using the technology of today, in the classroom of today, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2
[15] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, 1
[16] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, 1
[17] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Katie Salen (2009). Moving learning games forward, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4
[20] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas (2009). Using the technology of today, in the classroom of today, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5
[21] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Katie Salen (2009). Moving learning games forward, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18
[22] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, p. 12; citing Kirriemuir & McFarlane
[29] “The Shift Toward Online Education,” Charlene A. Dykman and Charles K. Davis, Journal of Information Systems Education, Spring 2008
[30] McLaren, C. H. (2004), “A Comparison of Student Persistence and Performance in Online and Classroom Business Statistics Experiences.” Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. Vol. 2(1), pp. 1-10.
[31] “Safeguarding Against Online Cheating; Distance Education Standards and Plagiarism,” by Ronald Roach, Black Issues in Higher Education, June 7, 2001
[32] “Staying Connected: Getting Retention Right is High Priority for Online Degree Programs,” by Ronald Roach, Black Issues in Higher Education, October 24, 2002
Developing Effective Hybrid Curricula
Introduction
Hybrid curricula combine face-to-face classroom instruction with online classes. Gaming, simulation and teleconferencing are tools within a hybrid model that can transform the classroom and learning experience. These classes present a new format of teaching, and have proven successful at several universities across the nation. It would be prudent however, for universities considering the hybrid model to be aware of current controversies and challenges.
Key Findings
Recommendations
——————————————————————-
Best Practices For Hybrid Curriculum | Competitive Analysis | Gaming, Simulations and Videoconferencing In Education | Current Conditions and Controversies
Best Practices For Hybrid Curriculum
Hybrid curricula is a tool to transform learning, giving students a more diverse and flexible learning experience.
However in terms of actual implementation, various educational institutions are developing their own best practices to incorporate effective hybrid curriculum. Universities have tailored their own versions of this concept depending on their standards and financial opportunities.
Incorporating A Hybrid Curriculum
New Jersey’s Science and Technology University offers a clear perspective on implementing this concept. According to the university, best practices are contemporaneous with course selection that will best benefit from the hybrid model. The school suggested online courses that already incorporate a rich media, such as eLearning and Web-enhanced courses, are the best candidate courses for hybridization. They also encourage the faculty and design teams to have at least a semester in advance to prepare such courses.
Other universities have chosen to offer hybrid curriculums by addressing the courses in terms of specific disciplines. A team of doctors, led by Dr. Leslie Davidson, shared their thoughts on hybrid curriculum in the profession of occupational therapy in a research paper titled “The Changing Face of OT Education; A Hybrid Approach to OT Entry-Level Professional Education.” The article discusses a shift in pedagogy that offers a strong flexibility in educational instruction which allows students to enhance their adult-centered learning experience while still addressing family and work roles.
Professor Keith Patton of St. Charles Community College offered his solution to best practices for teaching hybrid and online A&P courses. Patton uses online tests in Web-enhanced courses as a formative and evaluative tool.
Instruction that incorporates the concept of a hybrid curriculum takes on many shapes and forms leaving educational institutions and professors with the creativity to enhance and tailor their courses to the needs of their students. With the benefits and flexibility of this learning style, the future of instruction will likely see an increase of hybrid curriculum.
The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) studies the impact of students and classroom performances as a result of hybrid curriculums.
In a case study conducted at the University of Virginia, the consortium compared the results between a traditional and hybrid version of the same course to determine what the impact would be on student performance. It performed this pilot on beginner-level Spanish classes. To begin, the consortium determined what areas would best be taught from a computerized approach, focusing on skill building. Upon completion of the pilot, it assessed that the key and best practices for hybrid models began with determining the areas in which computers would have the most concrete, positive benefits, and apply them there. The consortium also concluded that hybrid courses provided students with a sense of ownership — adding personal responsibility since professors are not readily available as they might be in a classroom setting. Both students and teachers said they felt classroom time was more productive and effective, since students were more prepared and had to account for their work on an individual basis prior to arrival. Evaluations showed students perceived they had greater mastery of the subject, while enjoying the class and study of the language more.
Student and Professor Experiences
Zimare Solomon Bekele is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in History with a concentration in Africa and the Middle East. He has taken online courses as part of his degree pursuit, even taking a three week summer course in Renaissance Europe. He took the course because of the flexibility it provided, so he could work around his busy summer schedule, including work, family events and travel. Bekele liked the fact that he had to be disciplined with the work and stay on top of his assignments, unlike regular semester courses where one could easily get notes if unable to attend classes. Yet, Berkele said the semester’s worth of classes crammed into three weeks required an immense amount of work, leading to several all-nighters during that period.
From his perspective, Berkele said he missed the classroom interactions. He suggested that classes meet at least once a month in person with longer online courses. He also suggested that for summer online courses for professors to have regular office hours to answer questions in person since some answers are not as clear via e-mail. As part of his summer course, Berkele had to listen to several podcast lectures a day. He said he found the experience especially taxing since it was hours of straight lecture, where he had to pause constantly to get notes, and could not interject to ask questions. Berkele said he also wished that he could have submitted questions to his course professor prior to the next podcast, so the next one would be more clear, with answered questions. However with tight deadlines, the opportunity was rare. Bekele’s online course had a discussion board, however, with students working hard to get through the information, there were rarely ever any postings. During the course of his online experience, there were a few times when technical difficulties arose, which led to frantic e-mails to the professor explaining the situation with class work submissions contingent on restored capabilities.
Overall, Bekele said he enjoyed the option to take an online graduate course, which allowed him to attend his brother-in-law’s graduation from Harvard University with a doctorate degree. However, Berkele said his learning experience could have been more enhanced, from a student’s perspective.
Elizabeth Cooney is an adjunct professor at Northeastern University in Boston, High Point University in North Carolina, and Educational Consultant for Research for Better Teaching (RBT). Cooney has used a hybrid curriculum model when teaching her “Research and Design and Education” 12-week course. Every other week students are required to attend classroom lectures, and on alternative weeks log on to Blackboard for Powerpoint slides, online lectures and peer discussions.
On alternate weeks, students are required to read information and respond twice to an online discussion by reacting to peer discussions and posting commentaries. Cooney said she has seen great benefits from this curriculum. She shared that students who dominated conversations in class were forced to listen in an online environment, while timid students were given more time to formulate their thoughts. From a personal standpoint, Cooney said she was able to “hear” student questions and respond with more preciseness by gathering resources to better answer their thoughts. She said she was able to post a lot of factual information online, therefore requiring students to move more quickly through analysis. Cooney said she also noticed more adult student participation, as they were able to take advantage of the flexibility and work on things as their schedules allowed. There was 100% online participation because students had to post discussions and comment on their peers’ work, which was always a challenge in the classroom environment.
However, Cooney said she found it difficult to read body language, tone or other indicators online that students needed clarification that she was accustomed to in the classroom. She said discussions were also difficult to facilitate online and she noticed a different energy in classroom dynamics compared with a live conversation when the students were present to interact.
Recommendations For Successful Implementation
David Swartz, chief information officer and vice president at American University, said institutions must have the support from the experts and the faculty for successfully incorporating hybrid curriculums. Swartz said it is important that institutions recognize that to do something so cutting edge, it takes tremendous effort.
To be truly successful in the implementation, Swartz said, schools must understand that technology is playing a bigger role in the learning process. Unfortunately for some schools, Swartz continued, this is not the highest priority. Yet when it is recognized as such, he said, it will take great effort and collaboration by the entire institution to accomplish. Implementing hybrid curriculums are innovative and risky, Swartz said, yet institutions need to be cognizant of the underlying incentives
Competitive Analysis
A hybrid curriculum is a relatively new model of teaching/learning. Because of this, it is difficult to compare universities because there is no set standard or best practices developed on the subject. Though online courses are practically the norm, the concept of hybrid is still unknown and not practiced across universities.
There are ways, however, to examine universities’ offerings, standards and current level of technological abilities, which would help infer whether they are prepared for hybrid curricula and to what extent.
The most obvious way of critiquing a school’s ability and preparedness for hybrid classrooms is to examine the amount of technology offered on campus. For example, customized communications software, number of computer labs and information technology help.
When information is available, it would be easy to compare the number of hybrid classes offered at a school. If this is not available, it may be fruitful to look at the number of students enrolled in online courses, as they are similar in structure to hybrid classes.
There is also the benefit of looking at any special programs, recognitions, or awards that a school offers to initiate or support hybrid classes. These can be in the form of staff support or simply the number of technology-supportive classrooms.
American University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private, coeducational, liberal arts curriculum, doctoral institution in Washington, D.C.
Faculty and staff: 591 full-time faculty
Enrollment (Fall 2008): 6,023 undergraduate; 3,297 graduate; 1,667 Law; 1,199 Nondegree, certificate, Washington Semester, AU Abroad
Average class size: 22.5
Tuition (2009/2010): $34,973
(Source http://www.american.edu/discoverau/fast-facts.cfm; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/washington-dc/american-university-1434)
The number of students enrolled at American University in 2008 was approximately 11,684[1]. For those students, there are 19 computer labs with approximately 500 computers available on campus and a variety of software installed on those computers, for any AU student’s use[2]. There is a group of information technology staff that services these computers as well as individual student computer issues. They are available standard business hours and on call during the weekend. Overall, the technology services, software and hardware seem more than adequate for the number of students on campus.
The school excels in particular by its Center for Teaching, Research and Learning, which appears supportive of hybrid curriculum. They put together a resource list for professors and faculty who teach online or hybrid classes. From here, tips and resources are linked to, including directions on Wimba, a software that provides an live online classroom, and supports multi-way audio, video, application sharing and other features, and is already installed on the school’s Blackboard system[3]. Professors schedule meeting times through Blackboard, and using headphones and microphones, students can discuss with their peers and the teacher remotely for online lectures or meetings.
In addition, the school offers students and faculty free tutorials from Lynda.com. The university also offer lectures in podcast form on iTunesU, a free service for people to learn from other universities.
According to David Swartz, chief information officer of AU, the next step is for students and faculty to collaborate. During a recent class lecture, Swartz said it was necessary, and hopes that with AU’s collaborative culture, new developments and products would eventually be created.
“AU has a much more collegial environment — people are much more willing to work together” — this gives the school “tremendous strength and power,” said Swartz.
“If you leverage the resources you have and come together you can do what other people can’t do.”
Overall, AU appears to have the hardware, software and staff support to move towards hybrid classes across campus. With proper planning and collaboration, hybrid classes could be a success at AU.
George Washington University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private institution in Washington, D.C.
Faculty and staff: 1,576 full-time faculty
Enrollment (2008): 25,116 total students
Average class size: 28
Tuition (2009/2010): $39,945
(Source http://www.gwu.edu/explore/aboutgw/facts; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/washington-dc/george-washington-university-1444)
The number of students enrolled in 2008 at George Washington University was 25,116, according to US News & World Report. For these roughly 25 thousand students, there were 21 computer labs on campus (there are a total of 197 “computing locations” though the others were in lecture halls[4].) Compared to AU, George Washington University has a lower computer-lab to student ratio.
The school has a Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning, which guides faculty toward developing a hybrid class. They provide extensive resources and advice to help professors who have not previously taught this method. They offer a detailed step-by-step guide to creating the actual syllabus and format of classes, and help professors think through the steps needed to lead a hybrid class[5]. In addition to this program, there is a separate unit called the Center for Instructional Design & Development, which consults staff on how to use technology to enhance classrooms and curriculum[6]. This appears to be a deeper support system for hybrid learning.
Overall the resources at George Washington University appear sufficient but there is a lower computer to student ratio on campus. But the university does have impressive initiatives and support systems to encourage hybrid classes. Combined with a consulting group to further assist professors, the hybrid classroom appears to be a priority at the school.
Georgetown University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private institution in Washington, D.C.
Faculty and staff: 1,268 full-time faculty
Enrollment (2008): 1,571 undergraduate; 1,617 graduate; 194 medical center; 585 law center
Tuition (2009/2010): $ 39,212
(Source http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=742; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/washington-dc/georgetown-university-1445)
The number of enrolled students at Georgetown University in 2008 was 15,318, according to US News & World Report. These students plus faculty and professors had access to several programs that encouraged or at least plays a part in hybrid learning.
One of these programs is called Digital Commons, which is a user-friendly Web site that offers definitions, ideas and tools to encourage online interactives in the classroom[7]. This program is actually a segment of the Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship at the school. Its overarching goal is “to bridge a historic gulf between pedagogy and technological advances,” and they now integrate a “learning center for the latest educational technology[8].” While they don’t come forward and encourage hybrid classes on the site, they do seem to share the same mission as the hybrid model: to explore ways in which technology can enhance classes and the curriculum.
Georgetown University also created a site called Academic Continuity 2010, which provides professors resources and tips for when they are not able to meet in the classroom[9]. Their reasoning for the site is for when there are extreme weather conditions and classes cannot meet, however it could also appear as an inadvertent way to support hybrid classes.
The school offers standard Blackboard programming for students to communicate and share documents within a class. They also offer Premiere for audio conferencing, and Elluminate Live! for web conferencing as a virtual classroom system.
Overall, the school appears very advanced when it comes to hybrid technology, especially due to recent weather conditions in the area, which have further supported the argument for such a type of classroom. The Academic Continuity 2010 site, for example, seems to have just been created because of the winter snowstorm in Washington, D.C. While the school seems supportive of the online or hybrid format, new technology and even Web/audio conferencing, it is difficult to find the hybrid classes offered at the school. Perhaps this is due to it being restricted information only to enrolled students. But nevertheless, it could be assumed that a school who seems so supportive of hybrid format would promote and showcase their classes and advanced thinking.
Emory University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private, research university in Atlanta, Ga.
Faculty and staff: 3,124 full-time faculty
Enrollment: 6,980 undergraduate; 5,950 graduate and professional
Average class size: 18
Tuition (2009/2010): undergraduate $37,500; graduate $32,800
(Source: http://www.emory.edu/home/about/factsfigures/index.html; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/atlanta-ga/emory-university-1564)
Emory University had a total of 12,755 students enrolled in 2008, according to US News & World Report. They appeared to offer the standard software that plays a major part of hybrid learning such as Blackboard and LearnLink – a software that offers discussion rooms, online chats, calendaring, etc.
But what stands out at Emory the most is their high-tech classrooms and consciousness of what changes need to be made to classes in order to meet changing technology. The school offers what they call SMART classrooms, which offer computer workstations, projection screens, video conferencing capabilities, reconfigurable furniture, and other amenities conducive to hybrid and online learning[10]. The facilities are the most impressive feature when it comes to determining how technologically wired a campus is.
Overall however, there is not a strong mention of hybrid classes, which are the combination of online and face-to-face learning. These SMART classrooms would be great for special lectures or online-only classes. However, they are not really necessary for hybrid classes, which require students to meet physically in the same place, several times during a course.
Boston University
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Private, research university in Boston
Faculty and staff: 3,931 total faculty
Number of Students: 32,735
Tuition (2009/2010): $38,440
(Source: http://www.bu.edu/info/about/; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/boston-ma/boston-university-2130)
The online and technological offerings at Boston University appear to be the lowest of all the schools examined. For their 31,766 enrolled students in 2008, they had a total of five computer labs available to them[11]. Although they appear to have extensive IT help hours, their Web site does not offer a lot of support/help/tips on using software or any tools that promote hybrid classes.
The university has a program called the Metropolitan College & Extended Education, which offers courses designed for working professionals and students. One of its offerings is a series of blended learning classes that they’ve dubbed “eLive” programs. The eLive classes are true hybrid courses with online and traditional in-class components.
In addition to taking eLive courses within various departments, students can choose from four programs in the eLive format:
Boston University also offers online classes to students, furthering their experience and preparedness when it comes to hybrid curricula. The Boston University, Distance Education Web site offers several resources and contact information for support groups and more information.
In addition to all of these programs, Boston University also has a Center for Professional Education. This group encourages working professionals to update their skills by taking courses at the university. They offer online programs in several industries including financial planning, fund raising, geneology, management accounting, and real estate.
Overall, Boston University has a complex and large variety of hybrid and online course offerings. They also seem to have a thorough support system in place for faculty and students who participate in hybrid classes, which is inherent to a successful hybrid program at a university.
University of Maryland University College
Demographic Snapshot:
Status: Public university in College Park, Md.
Enrollment: 34,000
Tuition (2009/2010): In-state $7,140; Out-of-state $15,210
(Source: http://www.emory.edu/home/about/factsfigures/index.html; http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/adelphi-md/umuc-11644)
This segment of the University System of Maryland enrolled 34,172 students in 2008. Students are able to choose whether they take classes online, traditional in the classroom or hybrid format[12]. Although they did not have numbers for the number of students taking hybrid format classes, they had more than 196,000 online course enrollees in 2009, according to their site[13].
Pam Bandy recently graduated from UMUC with a Master’s of Business Administration. She chose the hybrid track because of her busy full time work schedule as a program analyst at the Department of State. She began her program in Sept. 2007 and completed in December 2009. During the course of that time, she completed all but one class in the hybrid format.
Her main recommendation for hybrid curricula is for excellent organization and structure.
“The organization of the professor becomes even more critical in this format because you have to navigate both in–person and online,” she said. “So if you have any sort of discrepancies it becomes a huge problem for students.”
Even so, there was very little she found problematic in the two years of her hybrid education.
“In the beginning, there was an adjustment period,” she said, “learning to sign-on everyday and check in on things every day or every other day” was a challenge to her at times.
Expert Opinion: Educause
Some experts such as Veronica Diaz from Educause, a nonprofit organization that encourages the use of information technology in education, can clearly identify the characteristics of a successful hybrid program.
As associate director of the Educause Learning Initiative, Diaz has experience with reviewing successful hybrid models. She says the most important factor is whether a school trains professors on how to teach a hybrid course and provides a support structure for that faculty.
“I’ve been in institutions where faculty can just start teaching that way,” she says about hybrid classes, “and others that have to go through a structured process.” Having been in both, she thinks the structured process is better because it “opens up their thinking to teaching that way.”
She also thinks it’s beneficial when faculty don’t teach as many classes as they would normally while learning about the hybrid model. For example, they would teach one less class per semester in order to fit in the time for hybrid training.
“The first semester they teach they should have a lighter load,” she said, “so they have time to get good at what they’re doing and make changes.”
Further benefits come from training students themselves on the new hybrid curriculum – instruction on how to use resources, offering orientation sessions or other support structures. This way the “institution really orients its products and services so that they can support that model,” she said.
When it comes to technology, Diaz does not think it’s as important as others may think.
“I don’t really think in hybrid mode that technology is that big of a factor,” she said. Diaz has seen some institutions offer numerous software programs, but they do not determine whether the school will be successful at hybrid curricula.
“It’s much more about the redesign and also the way that that’s communicated to students,” she said.
Conclusion
Though hybrid curricula is a relatively new concept in academia, it is already incorporated in several universities. Whether schools adopt a hybrid classroom format because of weather emergencies, or are simply interested in applying new technologies, several schools are primed to offer hybrid education.
The issue is no longer whether schools should offer hybrid education, but how to design a successful course and set standards of best practices. There also clearly needs to be extensive faculty and student support structures in place and organization needed for hybrid classes. Repeated themes among successful hybrid models are planning, support and time, which can directly apply to implementing hybrid education at American University.
Gaming, Simulations and Videoconferencing In Education
Findings:
Barriers:
Games in education have come a long way since CD-ROM games were introduced in the 1990s.
However, the use of games and simulations in education is still a new and emerging field. Generally referred to as “serious games,” these games aren’t designed for purely entertainment reasons. Many types of games or simulations can be considered serious games, even commercial games that can be purchased at video game stores or played online.
Experts in the use of serious games say the games are not supposed to replace classroom instruction, but rather they should be used to enhance the learning experience. Games and simulations can be used to immerse students in virtual worlds and have been used as training tools for doctors and military personnel.[14]
Serious games “usually refer to games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education that are designed to run on personal computers or video game consoles. According to Corti (2006, p.1) game-based learning/serious games ‘is all about leveraging the power of computer games to captivate and engage end-users for a specific purpose, such as to develop new knowledge and skills.’ ”[15]
There is no agreement on the current definition of the concept, but “serious games can be applied to a broad spectrum of application areas, e.g. military, government, educational, corporate, health care.”[16]
The Education Arcade, a group of researchers studying the role of game play in education at MIT, noted that students at play exercise freedom along five distinct axes[17]:
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania: An Example of Games and Simulations in Education
The Wharton School has been using games and simulations in its business courses through its Learning Lab, which began about eight years ago as a pilot program with grant money donated by an alumni. The lab has developed about 30 games and simulations to teach subject areas such as economics, finance and management.
The lab is “Wharton’s development center and experimental laboratory to explore new approaches to learning. The Learning Lab develops technology-enhanced learning materials — simulations, web-based exercises, interactive programs, and serious games — to investigate new paradigms for learning and instruction.
“The products developed by the Learning Lab engage students in real-world exercises that challenge them to apply principles they’ve learned across multiple disciplines.”[18]
Kendall Whitehouse, director of new media at Wharton, said the lab’s games are usually not standalone where the takeaway is a lesson, he said. Rather, the games are used in the classroom to make the learning point stronger.
Instead of only reading about financial markets, the school’s WSX securities trading tool — a simulation — can show what happens in a financial market and how prices are set, Whitehouse said. “It makes the point in a way that’s more meaningful than the abstract,” Whitehouse said.
The director of the Learning Lab, Alec Lamon, said there is no question about the effectiveness of serious games as a learning tool. Anecdotally, Lamon said, you can see the interest and excitement in the students. “They are riveted to that screen,” he said.
The games and simulations the Learning Lab uses aren’t standalone tutorials meant to replace the instructor, Whitehouse explained — teachers are still needed and the games make the students’ interaction with the teacher more intense.
Lamon echoed Whitehouse in that the games are meant to increase engagement between instructors and students, not to replace instruction: “None of them [games] are supposed to teach anything, per se. The learning actually happens when you go back to the classroom to talk about what’s going on.”
With the exception of the WSX simulation, said Whitehouse, all of the lab’s games are Web-based and mostly use Flash, a multimedia program made by Adobe. Whitehouse said the Web-based architecture of most of the games lends itself well to a blended course delivered online, but an instructor is needed to make the scenarios open-ended.
In beginning the lab, Lamon said the school’s faculty submitted proposals to a committee, which decided how to use the funds. Even today, most of the proposals the committee receives are technology focused, and most proposals are for games or simulations, said Lamon.
The lab began with a skeleton staff and did not have a problem finding developers to work with, according to Lamon. Faculty members work with the game developers and they go back and fourth to create prototypes, but the faculty is considered the author.
Not all of the games are successful, however. Of the 30 or so applications the lab has developed, Lamon said 20 to 25 of them are used on a regular basis. Some of the reasons why some of the applications don’t work out are because the faculty member who used it left, or simply because the game doesn’t work as intended, said Lamon.
Lamon said a downside to using serious games is the expense of making them, but he said that shouldn’t be barrier if a game could help students learn.
Lamon said using games and simulations are a way universities can move beyond lecture-based study to attract high quality faculty and students.
The Education Arcade
Researchers at MIT established the Education Arcade to promote learning through game play, and mostly focuses on the K-12 level. Many of the games the group has studied are commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) games that can be purchased at video game stores or played online, such as World of Warcraft (WoW).
WoW is an MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role-playing game. MMORPG is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world.[19] While not an educational game itself, research notes multiple skills associated with being a “guildmaster” in WoW[20]:
James Haas, a researcher with the Education Arcade, said using games should be tailored to what you are trying to teach. For example, students could play “Civilization” to explore material history.
Similar to Whitehouse and Lamon, Haas said teachers still have to do the work to teach a lesson.
Some examples of games given in its whitepaper “The instructional power of digital games, social networking, simulations and how teachers can leverage them” (2009) include:
Simulations: “…they recreate a modeled or modified version of a real world situation. One essential aspect that separates digital games from simulations is the lack of game dynamics or the ‘win state’ that exists in digital games.”
Barriers To Adoption
Some of the barriers to adoption of games, their design and development, their sustainability, and innovation cited by the Education Arcade include[21]:
Games and Simulations At American University
According to David Swartz, American University’s chief information officer, the Kogod School of Business uses games and simulations, but information about its serious games offerings could not be found on the university Web site.
However, David Johnson, an assistant professor at the School of Communications, posted online a grant proposal to the Knight Foundation Digital Challenge. Johnson’s proposal was to create a virtual Washington, D.C., similar to city-building games like SimCity. Avatars of public officials would be placed around the virtual city and the game would be linked to a database of financial information and its affect on public policy.
According to an e-mail from Johnson, the proposal has made it to the finals the last couple of times he has submitted it, but it has yet to see funding. It is in the finals again this year and he has two submissions for serious games to the MacAurthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Competition.
From Johnson’s e-mail: “If I land funding, my ideal scenario would be a university wide center for interactive communication arts and sciences, advancing simulations and serious games across other areas at the school.”
Serious Games
Pros
Cons
Videoconferencing
Videoconference is a set of interactive telecommunications technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously.[26]
For education, the Wikipedia entry states: “Videoconferencing provides students with the opportunity to learn by participating in a 2-way communication platform. Furthermore, teachers and lecturers from all over the world can be brought to classes in remote or otherwise isolated places. …Students are able to explore, communicate, analyze and share information and ideas with one another. …
Cons
Swartz, the CIO at AU, said the school only has one teleconferencing suite, which he said wasn’t a problem as the equipment is expensive and the technology moves fast. Swartz did say, however, that maybe the school could include teleconferencing equipment in every classroom as the costs of the equipment comes down.
One example in avoiding the cost of buying expensive equipment is to use the Web-based videoconferencing service Skype. The technology works via the Internet using a computer’s Web camera and microphone and is free. Users can choose to enable the camera or simply talk via voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Many laptop and desktop PCs now come with Web cameras and can fully use the software.
Recommendations
As the use of games and simulations in education is a growing field that is still evolving, it would benefit the school to survey the faculty members in its potential use. As noted earlier, the business school is already using serious games and at least one instructor in the School of Communications would like to apply their use university wide.
As for teleconferencing, the use of Internet-based phone services such as Skype is gaining popularity. Students and instructors in the Interactive Journalism course have used Skype to collaborate and communicate with each other inside and outside of the classroom with relative ease.
Additional Resources on Games and Simulation
Article
Video
Educational Games and Simulators
Commercial Games
Current Conditions and Controversies
While many American colleges and universities have begun to offer more distance/hybrid learning, there are several obstacles to full implementation. American Universities “Strategic Plan 2009” sets out various goals increasing the number of classes offered, with an eye toward fighting the stigmas against distance/hybrid learning and overcoming institutional bias and the cost of start-up.
In the summer of 2008, American University offered 36 distant learning courses to 503 students. The university’a two-year plan calls for an increase in the number of classes offered online and establishment at least one satellite location. The university also plans to “provide an enterprise solution to support the need for synchronous and collaborative modes of online teaching to complement existing asynchronous learning tools.” James Lee, associate director for technical support and training for American University’s Center for Teaching, Research & Learning (CTRL) says while the business school and the School of Education seem to have done the most with hybrids, other programs have courses that are on an ad hoc basis.
The two-year plan says American University will follow “Educause” standards. “Educause” is a nonprofit association that advances higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. American University acknowledges that, following those standards, its current performance is at the low end of peers. The two-year plan calls for moving AU to the mid-point of its peers in terms of online/hybrid education.
“The program has grown steadily at AU but it is really dependent on getting faculty to teach online,” said Lee. “There is a training program for online and grants for faculty. We are looking to expand into hybrid courses, which is a different model. These would more likely be shorter training modules which are more evolutionary rather than transformative in approach. I would also differentiate in types of hybrid courses. Some of the face-to-face courses in hybrids occur at AU. Some may occur in other parts of the world.”
Dr. Nicole Melander said the Kogod School of Business moved many part-time classes to the hybrid format three years ago to provide more flexibility to working students.
“Part timers are usually working during the day and taking courses at night,” said Melander. “By moving to a hybrid format we could reduce campus visits to every other week on campus or one day per week on campus.”
Melander said they’ve also experimented with offering the hybrid format full time or undergraduate students to give them some experience with new technology. “They’ll be familiar with it for future jobs — online meetings, conference calling, they’ll know how to behave and participate in a company where people are located in different offices and different countries around the world.”
Organizational change is not easy to accomplish. That’s true at American University and other educational institutions across the country. AU has begun the move toward increasing the availability of distance/hybrid curricula, but the cost and concern over organizational changes has kept the school from being in the vanguard of change.
“I think we’re a little bit behind,” said Melander. American University Vice President and Chief Information Officer David Swartz said AU needs a clear vision of where they want to be five years from now. “Basic technology literacy among faculty and students could be better,” he said. There are multiple scheduled workshops and classes available to support students and faculty. However, other than Lynda.com and a handful of online courses, Swartz said most courses or training are not available on-demand when needed. “Further there is no certification or specific training or literacy actually required to teach or take courses at AU.”
Swartz also said the school also needs more people who can help the faculty in the design and implementation of innovative programs.
“I think we need to recognize the importance that these curriculum designers will provide to the faculty,” said Swartz. “Maybe you don’t need as many people, but you need more than what we have.”
“In order to be innovative in hybrid programs, American University needs the help of experts to partner and work with faculty,” said Swartz. “It takes time and effort.”
Distance learning is not without problems. Massachusetts Institute of Technology has replaced its introductory physics lecture with smaller, hybrid classes that emphasize collaborative learning. The program is called “TEAL — Technology Enhanced Active Learning. It was funded by a $10 million donation from an MIT alumnus. Without the $10 million dollar donation, MIT would not have been able to launch the TEAL program because of the high start-up costs. There is also a steep learning curve for both faculty and students, and the potential for decreased interaction between faculty and students. [28]
The student-teacher relationship is also more complex in an online/hybrid class. Cincinnati resident Rosie Joseph dropped out of her online finance courses at University of Phoenix because of her unhappiness with the lack of response from her teachers. Two of her four instructors failed to respond to her e-mails asking for help. Mistakes made online, whether in tests or coursework, are hard to correct and could sour a teacher or student on internet-based education.[29]
Howard Finberg is director of interactive learning at the Poynter Institute’s “News University.” “News U” is a training program for journalists and journalism teachers that offers over 150 online training modules. While he said “News U” has received exceptionally high feedback from users, “NewsU” students have complained about the lack of personal feedback for the person who wants help for their own specific needs.
There are some who question whether a fully online class (not a hybrid) is equivalent to a face to face class. “The University of Phoenix kind of polluted the water, allowing people to devalue an online education,” said Melander. “But thats one of the reasons we do hybrid classes versus totally online classes because of faculty feeling online is not as valued as a regular face to face class. There’s still a question about that.”
The growth in educational technology has led to a shift in the approach to online/hybrid education. The “sage-on-the-stage” model of teaching has given way to an emphasis on the student as “learner” and the teacher as a facilitator. [30] Students have to learn self-direction and self-discipline in order to succeed in a hybrid/online class.
“With students as consumers, students have impact and can demand change. One of the things students want is more control over their learning experience. How can students take more control over their learning?” asked Swartz. “I think there needs to be recognition that the traditional model is shifting and that learning is occurring outside the classroom… The power of the student to drive that is impressive. We’re very responsive to students, because if the student doesn’t like what they’re getting, they’re not going to come.”
“Like anything new, and anything different from what you were doing, there’s always a period of adjustment,” said Finburg. He said they worked hard in the development of Poynter’s “News U” program to make it as comfortable for users as possible. “There have been other attempts at online journalism training and those failed miserably…and so there was some bias in that regard.”
Many faculty members fear cheating will become easier for students who have little or no interaction with faculty teaching online/hybrid classes. Dr. Wallace K. Pond, chief of academic affairs at Education American Online, said he believes there is more cheating in a traditional classroom than an online class.
“You can’t put 500 students in an online class. So far, quality online education has demanded small class sizes and interactivity between students and teachers,” said Pond. He adds that high online interactivity can act as a safeguard against students who plagiarize or try to have others take their exams.[31] The University of Phoenix generally limits its online class sizes to 13. [32]
Developing instructor proficiency in the technology required to teach an online or hybrid course is also a challenge. Melander said students like the flexibility of online classes, but have sometimes complained about faculty. If a student takes two or three hybrid classes during the fall semester, by spring they’ve mastered the technology. But by spring they may have classes with faculty who are teaching their first hybrid course.
“They feel like they know more than the faculty — that classroom scenario where the students feel they know more than the faculty does,” said Melander. “In this case its just about timing and whether the person is teaching the class for the first time. The pool of faculty members who have taught a hybrid class is growing, but there are still plenty who haven’t done it yet, so students complain about having to retrain people.”
On the other hand, Melander said Kogod faculty have embraced hybrid learning. “They have been amazing. All the biases you hear about — faculty that have been here a while, tenured faculty, they just wont do this, there will be lots of resistance — they’ve been terrific and excited to experiment with some different ways to teach their classes. The faculty have been great.”
Swartz said software also presents a barrier. Many American University professors use the Blackboard software program to communicate with students.
“One of the problems with Blackboard is, it can’t invite outside people to participate,” said Swartz. “Learning doesn’t just happen in side the classroom, it happens outside with other people and universities”
Online educational software has the potential to help students learn more information in less time than they would have spent in a conventional classroom.
“Online training modules have taken the barrier of time and money down, and also there are some topics that are best served by other delivery means,” said Howard Finberg. “Some things are best done by web based training — it can be a very efficient form of delivery.”
Poynter surveys their users every three to four months to make sure the modules are reaching their target audience and provided the education sought by journalists and others. According to Finberg, their latest survey shows that about 70 percent found the course content was useful, 80 percent say the course material would be helpful on their job or in their classroom, and more than 85 percent say they’re likely to take another News U course.
The variety and accessibility of the modules has made “News U” popular among journalists. Finberg said they serve over 137,000 users in over 223 countries. Many of the classes are free or low cost, and they are accessible whenever the user wants.
To succeed in the ever-crowded market of online/hybrid education, American University must make an investment in the advanced technology required to provide students with a multi-media educational experience that will allow them to fully participate in the learning experience. Part of that investment should include designers who can bring innovative curricula to students. Finally, AU has to make an investment in time: the time to fully develop online/hybrid courses and the time to train faculty to provide a world class online education.
Links For Further Research:
Citations
[1] U.S. News & World Report. (2010, January 1). Best Colleges 2010: National Universities Rankings. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from U.S. News & World Report: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings
[2] American University. (2010, January 15). Computer Labs. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from American University Library: http://www.library.american.edu/about/labs.html
[3] American University. (2009, January 1). Center for Teaching, Research & Learning. Retrieved February 15, 2010, from American University: http://www.american.edu/provost/ctrl/index.cfm
[4] George Washington University. (n.d.). Computing Locations. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Academic Technologies: http://acadtech.gwu.edu/locations/browse
[5] George Washington University. (n.d.). Hybrid Course Development . Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Center For Innovative Teaching & Learning: http://citl.gwu.edu/pages/hybrid.htm
[6] George Washington University. (2004, May 13). Consultations. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Center For Instructional Design & Development: http://cidd.gwu.edu/excellence/consultations.html
[7] Georgetown University. (2009). Digital Commons – Home. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/index.php
[8] Georgetown University. (n.d.). About The Center. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Center For New Designs In Learning & Scholarship: http://cndls.georgetown.edu/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.about
[9] Georgetown University. (n.d.). Making the Most of the Closure. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Academic Continuity 2010: https://digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/continuity/
[10] Emory University. (n.d.). Emory’s Center for Interactive Teaching – ECIT . Retrieved February 8, 2010, from The Centers For Educational Technology: https://cet.emory.edu/ecit/index.cfm
[11] Boston University. (2009, November 15). General Access Computing Labs. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Computing Web: http://www.bu.edu/computing/facilities/labs/
[12] University of Maryland University College. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from University of Maryland University College: http://www.umuc.edu/gen/about.shtml
[13] University of Maryland University College. (n.d.). UMUC at a Glance. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from Office of Institutional Planning, Research and Accountability: http://www.umuc.edu/ip/ataglance.shtml
[14] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas (2009). Using the technology of today, in the classroom of today, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2
[15] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, 1
[16] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, 1
[17] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Katie Salen (2009). Moving learning games forward, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4
[18] Wharton’s Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/learning/
[19] Wikipedia (n.d.). Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_game
[20] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas (2009). Using the technology of today, in the classroom of today, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5
[21] Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Katie Salen (2009). Moving learning games forward, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18
[22] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, p. 12; citing Kirriemuir & McFarlane
[23] Becta (2008). Emerging technologies for learning — volume 3, 67
[24] Tarja Susi, Mikael Johannesson, Per Backlund (2007). Serious Games — An Overview, University of Skovde, Sweden, p. 7
[25] Becta (2008). Emerging technologies for learning — volume 3, 66
[26] Wikipedia (n.d.) Videoconferencing, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videoconferencing
[27] Hybrid Education 2.0, by Steven Kolowich, December 28, 2009
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/28/carnegie
[28] “AT MIT, Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard,” by Sara Rimer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&sq=MIT%20TEAL&st=cse&scp=1
[29] “The Shift Toward Online Education,” Charlene A. Dykman and Charles K. Davis, Journal of Information Systems Education, Spring 2008
[30] McLaren, C. H. (2004), “A Comparison of Student Persistence and Performance in Online and Classroom Business Statistics Experiences.” Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. Vol. 2(1), pp. 1-10.
[31] “Safeguarding Against Online Cheating; Distance Education Standards and Plagiarism,” by Ronald Roach, Black Issues in Higher Education, June 7, 2001
[32] “Staying Connected: Getting Retention Right is High Priority for Online Degree Programs,” by Ronald Roach, Black Issues in Higher Education, October 24, 2002