Hybrid Vigor in Religious Studies Courses - Accentuating the Positives

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The two “purebreds” were available to me. I had been teaching “Introduction to Religion” in a face-to-face format for several years. Since 2003 I had been teaching and continually transforming the course as an online course. So, what was I hoping to accentuate from each original class and what was I hoping to minimize or eliminate in the hybrid?

Course Format	Strengths	Liabilities
Seated/Face-to-Face	Face-to-face engagement with students Class discussion Question-and-answer over content Easy to get to know the students (and for them to know me)	Students typically do not come to class prepared I rarely cover all the intended course content for the semester Having to sit through classes even if they are tired, preoccupied (may not be in a “zone” for learning that day) Work and family responsibilities often keep even the best students from attending at times
Online	Students do more of the readings and class “prep” work, since there is no division between in-class and out-of-class work The asynchronous nature is both convenient to schedule and conducive to choosing their best learning environment Students have choices in when, where, and how to complete coursework	No immediate question-and-answer format No immediate interaction with classmates on course content Most students still prefer face-to-face discussion, rather than the clunky nature of several students participating in online discussion (they tell me this!) Harder to get to know the students (and for them to get to know me)

I began mapping the blend by blocking out each topic in my course and listing what I had found to be the best pedagogical resources from each delivery format.

In Fall 2009, I launched a blended version of “Introduction to Religion.” The class was scheduled as a Tuesday through Thursday class. Students came to a 75-minute class on Tuesdays, then the Thursday class meeting time was exchanged for online lecture and web-based media content that students could do at any time before our next Tuesday class meeting. At the first Tuesday meeting of the semester, I promised never to lecture in our Tuesday meetings. The content of those face-to-face Tuesday sessions would be question-and-answer, peer review of writing, small group discussion, and full-class discussion and debate. In addition, all quizzes and exams would also be online.

The challenges included:

Not resorting to lecturing to fill the weekly class meeting time. If all I have to offer in the class meeting is more lecture, then I had might as well film those lectures and make the class fully online.
Developing meaningful class interaction. I think of this in two dimensions: 1) The class interactions need to be meaningful between the students, as well as between myself and the students; and 2) The class interactions need to be meaningful pedagogically. Am I just giving them busy-work to fill the time? Or am I guiding them in interactions that clarify and solidify the learning?
Organizing the class well and communicating clearly. The blend must be well-mapped and the “map” must be easily accessible and easily understandable. I do this in at least four ways:
- A Course Outline in the syllabus that clearly states the plan for each Tuesday session, as well as what they will be doing between each Tuesday class session.
- A Weekly Assignment Module page on Blackboard. I have their Blackboard site set to always open to that Weekly Assignment Module page. For each week, the assignments are listed, plus the links are given to each lecture, PowerPoint, and assignment.
- A note on the board or screen in each class meeting that communicates that day’s agenda, assignments for the upcoming week, and the plan for the next class meeting.
- An e-mail after each class meeting that summarizes and positively reflects on what we did in the previous session and directs them to the Weekly Assignment Module.

Now that I’m teaching my sixth semester of the blended version, I can say that the blended version does accentuate the strengths and minimize some — if not all — of the liabilities of each delivery format.

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