How to Design and Teach a Hybrid Course

“I feel comfortable in saying that the book you now hold in your hands is well worth your time: it’s a book that I believe to be basic to any instructor’s appreciation of the full value of blended teaching and learning.”― Alan Aycock, Professor of Anthropology and Acting Director , University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee’s Learning Technology Center

This is practical handbook for designing and teaching hybrid or blended courses focuses on outcomes-based practice. It reflects the author’s experience of having taught over 70 hybrid courses, and having worked for three years in the Learning Technology Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a center that is recognized as a leader in the field of hybrid course design.

Jay Caulfield defines hybrid courses as ones where, not only is face time replaced to varying degrees by online learning, but also by experiential learning that takes place in the community or within an organization, with or without the presence of a teacher; and as a pedagogy that places the primary responsibility of learning on the learner, with the teacher’s primary role being to create opportunities and environments that foster independent and collaborative student learning.

Starting with a brief review of the relevant theory – such as andragogy, inquiry-based learning, experiential learning and theories that specifically relate to distance education – she addresses the practicalities of planning a hybrid course, taking into account class characteristics such as size, demographics, subject matter, learning outcomes, and time available. She offers criteria for determining the appropriate mix of face-to-face, online, and experiential components for a course, and guidance on creating social presence online.

Jay Caulfield is an associate professor and an associate dean at Marquette University, where she has led the curriculum design of the college’s hybrid graduate degree in leadership studies. She routinely teaches courses in leadership theory, organizational behavior, and research methods, and has moreover taught over 80 hybrid courses within the past eleven years. She serves on numerous university and college committees and boards including the University Board of Graduate Studies, the Institutional Review Board, and the Committee on Teaching, which she recently chaired. She is currently a member of the International Leadership Association and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.In spring of 2011 she received the college’s Faculty Excellence in Service Award for her significant long-term contributions to the College, as evidenced by her teaching, leadership and service to students, fellow faculty, staff and the greater community.Caulfield’s research interests include transformational leadership and adult learning. Recent peer reviewed publications include, Why should I tell you how you teach? An expectancy theory perspective and Applying graduate student perceptions of task engagement to enhance learning conditions. She and colleagues are currently engaged in a longitudinal study on transformational leadership and she is authoring a second book on transformational coaching.