EduDemic: 6 Pros and Cons of a Hybrid Education

Topics: blended literacy, hybrid learning, mobile learning, online learning inShare 11 This is a cross-post from onlineschools.com by Stacey Makely. Stacey is a writer with more than 15 years of experience. She has worked at several newspapers, covering a broad spectrum of topics including technology, education and online schooling. Her articles have appeared in dozens of major newspapers and leading online news sites across the country. Hybrid Education: Is It The Best of Both Worlds? Welcome to the world of hybrid education where you can sit on your couch in your pajamas and attend a class lecture at the same time, or make a comment about the lecture to your classmates without having to utter a word. Or perhaps you have class three days a week, but only have to travel to campus one of those days. Hybrid Education, or “blended learning” is a method of education that combines classroom and online learning, allowing students to attend lectures and do much of their coursework online but still requiring regular attendance on campus for other portions of their class (such as labs). Hybrid education is efficient, convenient, has proven to be effective, and is something many professors and students are embracing. But critics are quick to note that it also has downsides, such as less frequent personal interaction than classes that are completely brick-and-mortar. If hybrid education is part of your online degree program, here are a few of the pros and cons you’ll want to know: Pros to a hybrid education: 1. A hybrid education gives students with busy schedules the flexibility they need to earn their degrees. It allows students to combine online learning with the best techniques from classroom teaching, so they get the best of both worlds. A busy mom trying to get her degree or someone with a full-time job who is pursuing a hybrid education will have the opportunities to squeeze classes into their own time-frame, but they’ll still get the benefit of hands-on labs or checking-in with their professors face-to-face each week to be sure they stay on top of assignments. 2. Even though your lectures may not take place in a packed lecture hall with dozens of other students to bounce ideas off of, today’s technology still allows you to exchange thoughts. For instance, Tweeting is a great way to share information with your virtual neighbor. It can provide an interesting “back channel” for fill-in conversation, with students Tweeting and re-Tweeting interesting points from the lecture and adding their own commentary to supplement the lecture. You still get the benefit of a classroom “discussion” without having to leave the comfort of your home or office. 3. Pursuing a hybrid education allows students to become more independent and learn important skills that can give them a head-start when they enter the workforce. Hybrid classes still require students to physically come to class on a somewhat regular basis, but much of the coursework – from tests to discussions to tutorials – is done online. The nature of this hybrid learning environment helps students gain time management, problem solving and additional computer skills that can be key when it comes to graduating from college and entering the world.   Cons to a hybrid education: http://edudemic.com/2012/05/6-pros-and-cons-of-a-hybrid-education/ 1. Doing the majority of your coursework at home may be convenient, but if all your classes are hybrid or online learning courses you will miss out on the fun of being on campus on a regular basis. As much as college is about education, it is also about the college experience – making new friends, taking on new extracurricular activities, enjoying dorm life, etc. Someone who chooses a hybrid education may not be able to do as many of these things as a full-time, brick-and-mortar student would and could lose out on the chance to meet their life-long friends in a college setting. 2. Another criticism of online lectures that are used in conjunction with hybrid education is that you lose some of the personal interaction of the traditional classroom setting. For instance, there’s no friend sitting next to you for asking questions or making comments during a lecture. While Tweeting is an option for this kind of banter in a hybrid education setting, some students find it distracting to be Tweeting and reading Tweets, as well as checking out links that the professor tweets and discusses, all while trying to focus on the lesson at hand. 3. Hybrid classes are typically more expensive than traditional online learning classes. If you’re pursuing an online education and decide to take a few hybrid classes as part of that, be sure to first find out how much it will cost. In other words, do your homework before you start your class. Don’t assume that just because you’ll be going to school online, your hybrid classes will cost the same as your traditional online classes.