A few weeks back I had the pleasure of attending a Center for Teaching workshop in which Linda Enghagen, Professor in the Hospitality and Tourism Management department, presented “In Pursuit of Intellectual Honesty via a Hybrid Course Model.” People use the term “hybrid course” to refer to a variety of things classes that meet partially online and partially face-to-face. Hybrid courses have become increasing popular in higher education for two reasons: they offer convenience and the potential to structure learning activities in a new way. Professor Enghagen discussed her experience teaching a 60-student general education class that meets partially online. It was her belief that hybrid courses have an intrinsic pedagogical potential to promote “intellectual honesty” in students.
Professor Enghagen described her course as meeting twice a week with an additional third session’s worth of work completed online in lieu of a break out discussion section. The online components of the course are carried out in SPARK. Students use SPARK to submit written assignments and post to a discussion board. Professor Enghagen said “the hybrid frame work forces [students] to work independently … I want them writing more; each student writes several paragraphs a week.”
Professor Enghagen connects what she refers to as “intellectual honesty” to critical thinking and reflective practice. She described intellectual honesty as differentiating between what you know and what you don’t know, what you think and how you feel, between informed judgment and personal opinion. “Education is about the creating and disseminating knowledge, you can’t create and disseminate without intellectual honesty” she said.
The smooth running of online activities for a hybrid course are key to the success of the course. Professor Enghagen shared several lessons she had learned over the semesters:
- Clear and easy-to-follow instructions are critical, as well as an easy-to-read schedule
- Consistency in deadlines (Professor Enghagen uses Sunday at midnight as the deadline for all assignments).
- Refer to online activities in class (reinforces what is important).
- Set expectations for instructor activities online and then meet them: (“I check SPARK during the week, I rarely do stuff on weekends. I don’t want them to think I’m going to respond to something Sunday morning at 10, I respond Monday through Friday.”)
- Set up a good discussion area. Consider the goals of the course, the goals for the online discussion, and go from there. Also consider what format it will take (critique, debate, playing a role etc.) Don’t respond to students too quickly, let them own the discussion. Wrap up the discussion when appropriate: summarize the main ideas.
She concluded that online activities are critical to fostering student thinking through writing: “it is not just working – they write more – they think more.” Professor Enghagen presented a compelling argument for the power of hybrid courses to promote critical thinking and intellectual honesty, and her principles for managing both the online and in person components of her class build upon several pedagogical principles we can all appreciate and learn from.