Hybrid Courses

Honestly many of the courses I'm in this semester have some sort of hybrid approach, this one being very obvious, but lesser hybrid courses include my calculus class as well as my linguistic class. While both include written homework the is turned in each week, both also use online sources like Moodle and learn@uw for weekly online homework to be completed as well.

Regarding my personal experience with a hybrid designed course such as this, I'd have to conclude that while sometimes very frustrating, it's also extremely beneficial to the tech days we live in now. Preceding this course, I had never used or created a blog or wiki and so at times it was very confusing to upload, link, or constrain features especially without somebody to guide me through it at least once. However, after a couple of weeks I began to get the hang of things and become more comfortable with the online assignments we had each week. I think it's really important to have knowledge within these environments as I truly believe they will only continue to grow. As many readings have suggested, if you don't adapt you'll fall behind. So, while it's been a struggle and at times it's been even more of a nuisance at others I think it's really helped me expand from my comfort zone of solely paper-assingments. I think for this class, the hybrid coursework was very much needed as it brought the material of the class full-circle. But, I think for certain classes, caution should be approached when altering to a hybrid course as, at least in my eyes, technology should be appreciated but not overindulged.

Overall, some readings from the course packet as well as outside readings that I've encountered for this class have honestly been extremely relevant to the society we as humans live in today and it's been really interesting to learn more about technology which is so heavily prevalent in our lives. Certain readings were long and in my opinion, mundane and boring but for the most part, especially in the second half of the semester the readings were very easy to relate to and thus intriguing and beneficial.

Hybrid Courses

My search of hybrid courses reflected in finding a course in the nursing school which is focused on building skills and knowledge that is required to design and implement nursing interferences at advanced levels. Relevant concepts, theories, and research to support the development and implementation of nursing interventions for advanced practice are explored. After reading the course description, I came to the conclusion that, although interesting, this course is very different than the experiences had in LIS 201.

Our class utilized technology and the online aspect to enhance our face-to-face meetings. These other hybrid courses and online components seem to detract from the present lectures with peers and professors. Although very progressive and technologically savvy, I don't think that it is the best route to go, especially with the nursing realm.

My understanding of technology was certainly enhanced throughout the course, but I don't think that it was the best way of learning for me throughout the semester. I found it much more beneficial to be present in every lecture and discussion section to talk about the ideas with my peers. Face-to-face interaction seems to be more "hands on" and that is the environment that I thrive in.

Personally, I think it would be beneficial for educators and universities to steer clear from this automated society. The generation we live in is already automated enough that technology will be learned about eventually on our own. To enforce it through a class is almost enforcing this idea of robotics. I don't think that I would like to see this type of thing progress any further. I stated this in my Ignite presentation, and I identified with it in Professor Downey's example of Wal-E. I would hate for that society to become our reality. 

Hybrid Course

Overall I really enjoyed the hybrid course design. I thought the blog posts were a creative way to supplement lecture. They did not replace any in class time, but rather gave additional information to talk about and discuss in discussion. I think it is important that online work does not replace lecture time, or discussion topics. We discussed this at length in the material of this course as many people think the internet directly takes away from other things. I like that this class made sure not to make that mistake and instead only provoked other conversation from our blog posts.

I also think something like our class blog was interesting because that is what we are learning about, but this would be useful no matter what the subject is. It is simply another way to engage students and acts as a good way to ensure people are keeping up with lecture, or the readings.

While I clearly did like the blog, I did enjoy the discussion and lecture much better. I think you get more of a back and forth in discussion that it is very difficult to achieve on commenting on each others blog posts, but again the blog posts did provide ideas that students can take to discussion to discuss.

My favorite part of this course has been exploring issues that are very relevant to our lives, but that schools normally don't focus on. Everyone has heard about the problems and innovations that result from technology, but we rarely get to look at them as deeply as we did in this class and I really enjoyed that.

Hybrid Courses

The example I found online was that of the UW-Madison business school MHR 300 class. In this class students attend lectures, discussions, and do all of the normal school things, but on top of that they are also required to watch a lecture supplement before class each week, write blog posts about current business world events, and collaborate with students to work on a group project, which requires many forms of technology. Finally, the use of dropbox(similar to box) is very big in this class and that is where all online assignments get turned into.

My opinion of Hybrid courses is I think they are spectacular. I really like the idea of using blogs and other forms of technology to get students to interact outside of class. I also like the idea of using them to help students connect their in class teachings with the real world. One of the biggest questions, in my opinion, that students have is why is this relevant? By leveraging technology teachers have the ability to prove the relevance to students, which makes learning that much more intriguing for the students.

In the debate of online, or in person interactions I will always take the side of in person interactions. I am very worried that in person reactions could become the lost language of our generation. In my opinion it is a lot easier to make an impact and impress someone by showing them how well you can interact in person than it is to show them that you have a good online presence. Online allows a person to edit things, where as  in person comes straight from the heart.

Finally, I really enjoyed this class. I felt the lectures were very interesting and relevant to real world problems and solutions. I also liked the fact that we were forced to try and experiment with new technologies because I believe that it will be very beneficial to everyone in the near future even if they do not feel like it is at the current moment in time.

Hybrid Course

I really enjoyed the way in which this class was set up with in-person aspects as well as elements that required the use of Internet. I felt as though we were able to experience, in way, what we were learning, while we were learning it. The Internet is such a huge part of all of our lives as college students and also as people having grown up in a generation with the creation of all of the technology that we have today.
I feel as though I learned equally as much from the in-person portions of the class as I did with the online portions. My favorite aspect was probably the blog. I really liked the activities that we had to do and then blog about, and I also like the format of the blog, and the more relaxed nature of it. Although it is still a class assignment, there was less pressure while writing on the blog as there is with turning in a normal assignment. I also like using the Internet as a way to submit assignments because it eliminated the need to print everything.
I think that the course materials that we learned about were extremely interesting and gave me a new perspective on my life in terms of my use of the Internet and technology. From learning about the creation of the iPhone and the poor environmental effects, to teens' over use of technology and how that is affecting their socialization, the content of the course was incredibly relatable to my life, and opened my eyes to the effects that everything we use has on the world.
I think the fact that this course has online components makes the content and everything even more effective than it would have been with out the blog and wiki aspect.

Hybrid Courses

I found another example of hybrid courses in the UW-Madison school of engineering. According to the article I read, more engineering courses are trying to become hybrid courses in part due to budget cuts. The format of the courses seems very similar to ours, with an emphasis on doing more learning outside of class and not focusing on lectures. Personally, I really enjoyed the format of the class, mostly because it allows me to do things at my own pace and gives me flexibility for when I can complete my assignments. I think there are some disadvantages of doing more learning outside of class, because it can be harder to focus, but for the most part I preferred it to traditional courses. It was cool to get some background information of classmates online before the course, but I think in general I learned more about people by being in person and interacting with them. I think the course as a whole taught me a lot about things that are going on in my daily life that I had never considered. Especially when we got to the end of the course and talked about online experiences it was very interesting to learn about, and made me question whether I used technology too often.

Course Evaluation

The first result when I looked up hybrid courses was the website for UW – Milwaukee’s program. They listed the reasoning behind employing hybrid courses in their curriculum. They say doing so gives them new teaching opportunities, engages students, and increases student learning. These are all very similar to the reasons gave for this course being hybrid.  

I think hybrid courses are a nice change with the way classes are typically conducted. It taught me how to run online searches for materials relevant to the class I was in. I was better able to understand the material and how it relates to lecture with real life applications. However, I do not think this would have the same effect in other classes not related to the information society. Classes like science and history would have a less meaningful way of incorporating the online aspects in the way LIS manages to.  

My course experience

The first thing that popped up when I searched hybrid or blended courses was a site for UW Milwaukee. It characterized these courses by web-based learning activities to complement face-to-face work, reduced seat time, though not eliminated altogether, and web-based and face-to-face components designed to interact pedagogically to take advantage of the best features of each. One way that this is different from LIS201 is that an example is a course that has online, recorded lectures.

In my personal opinion, I thought that I was a more effective student in the physical world. there was a disconnect between the online portions and the in-person portions of the class. I don't feel like I got to know my peers in this class very well because everyone had two different identities and it was very difficult to keep straight, and I got to know them best by face to face interaction. However, I do have a better understanding and am more comfortable with online resources, but I believe that UW instructors should proceed with caution.

I do think that online course components work differently in a course that wasn't all about the information society. The online components in this course were used as another means to learn new material. In other courses, in math for example, online components are used to reinforce material as opposed to teach new material. The transition to online content will definitely be interesting to watch how courses change over the next few years, and is something to look out for.

Hybrid Course

When searching for other examples of hybrid courses, I came across UWM which listed a few of there hybrid coures. I did notice that while reading some of UWM's class descriptions of these hybrid courses, they were similar to our LIS201 class in a sense that it was a lot of online work involving discussions and editing. However what I found a little different in some of the descriptions was that some of UWM' courses take the discussions that were formed online (through their blog posts) and continued them in the classroom. Although we do talk about the posts about the authors of the articles, I don't believe we incorporate our online pages with our discussion sections as much as UWM courses do.

I felt as though I was a more effective student because I was able to express myself physically and virtually. I believe my classmates were able to see the way I really act on a day to day basis because they experienced both my physical and online presence. With that, I believe that I was able to learn a lot about my classmates for the same reason. I physically was able to experience their "in-classroom presence", along with how they act online. I also feel a lot more comfortable with wikis and blogging. This course incorporated the blog and wiki a lot, making me so much more comfortable with this type of interaction.

The course lectures and readings definitely brought a better perspective to my own online experiences. I believe that now I hold myself a different and more mature way on the internet (when pertaining to posts and such). Gaining all of this knowledge on the information society has helped me not only better navigate the internet, but also communicate with others in a more sophisticated way. This course has helped me with face-to-face interactions along with interacting with others online, which I really enjoyed because it was a lot different course than other courses I've taken at the university.

Hybrid Course

The University of Milwaukee has a page explaining the hybrid courses that they offer.  Overall, many of their hybrid courses dealt with technological topics.  For example, they offer a hybrid course about online advertisement/shopping.  They all seem to utilize a similar discussion panel format like LIS, offering face-to-face discussion which is complimented by online discussion. This allows students to participate without having to be in class.

I think that this hybrid course model is effective in taking advantage of current technology to facilitate class interaction, but this takes away from the face-to-face interaction that adds value to the class.  I think I would have had more meaningful interactions with the class if we had more in person interaction.  With that being said, this format obviously has a multitude of positive aspects to offer.

I thought the course lectures were extremely interesting, but I do not think they added much to the class content.  I also thought the second part of the class that dealt with more of today's technology was much more interesting.  Learning the history behind the information society was necessary to get a good background on the topic, but the most interesting topics were about recent technology.

My Online Experience

Next semester I am taking Stats 371, except it is the online version. It is different from this class because it has no lectures, but there are optional discussion sections. We received and email from the professor explaining how the class would be structured. Instead of lectures, the material would be self-taught with  lecture supplements. I am excited for my stats class, and I feel like all of the online learning for this course will prepare me for it.

I think that the online portions were very beneficial to this class. It helped give real world examples of the information society, and it helped with my understanding of the material. Before this class, I have never blogged. Now, I might start blogging in my free time. Since online participation was required, it helped me be more active on our blog. Instead of just posting our opinions and leaving it at that, we had to comment on another blog post, which meant we ultimately had to read other opinions. Sometimes, this challenged my opinion, and it helped me see things from different viewpoints. I think online portions should be considered for classes, but not all. There are some courses that could benefit from online participation, but it would be very dependent on the course and also the material being presented in the course.

When I first signed up for this class, I was not sure what it would cover. As far as the course material, I liked that we learned about a variety of topics. I think I would have enjoyed the readings more if they weren't so lengthy. Once I got myself to sit down and finish an article, I realized that they aren't so bad after you get into them. The blog posts made me stay active within the course, and they helped me better understand the material. I really enjoyed the lectures. I liked that they weren't stuffed with material. I did not take notes because I found it better for me personally to listen and comprehend the martial being presented, rather than quickly trying to write everything down.

Reflection

I became aware of hybrid/blended class when I was a junior in high school. My school was turning a lot of classes into online or hybrid classes. I never signed up for these courses because I did not trust myself to spend the time outside of school to do the work. I knew once I got home, I would want to focus on sports or relaxing so I figured if I had to be at school, there was no point of these courses.

I think hybrid courses are a better option for students in college because we are not required to spend 8 hours a day in school which means we have more time outside of class to work on assignments. For the most part, I enjoyed the hybrid approach to LIS 201. I learned a lot about the many different varieties of online resources and I feel a lot more comfortable using them in the future. I thought the use of online material helped connect to the readings and lecture to really understand the full impact of technology in the information society. The readings and online activities helped get an overall picture of the positives as well as the negatives of the advancement of technology. After taking this course, I realized how important it is to meet face to face. Since discussion sections only meet once a week, it took a while for me to match names to faces. I knew everybody’s names from the blog posts but I wasn’t sure who was who in the class for a while.

I tried finding other hybrid classes through UW-Madison, but the only one I know of is Business Law and that is because I have to take it next semester. I did a Google search of blended/hybrid courses and there seems to be a wide variety of universities offering these courses.

I think universities should take caution in implementing hybrid/blending courses. I think for they are really beneficial for a technology and information class but I don’t know if I would sign up for a math or science class in this format.

Reflection of the Hybrid Class

When I searched the hybrid courses on Google, I found a lot of different types of colleges and universities offering the hybridity that LIS 201 offered. However what really differentiates LIS 201 from these other classes is the blogging and different medias that we were able to use. I really think that the online portion and the discussion really went well together. However, some of the things covered in lectures seemed somewhat disconnected from the discussion subjects. I really think the important portion of the class is the discussion. I learned a lot more from the discussion than any other part of the class.

After taking this course I am much more comfortable with my online presence and ability to navigate different online resources such as blogs and wikis. I think that online components are really helpful for students in the sense that they really connect to the lifestyle of the students.

I found a scale of usefulness in the information presented in the different readings. Some of them really pertained to my everyday life and connections made in discussion and some of them really seemed not all that useful in connecting to the material. I think that the online portion of the class really was useful due to the nature of the class. I don't know how useful some of the things we did online would be if the course was about something completely unrelated to the networking world.

Reflection on Class

When I searched other classes that were hybrid like LIS 201, it was difficult to find since classes that were all online tended to show up. I did see that a class I need to take, MHR 300 involves a lot of work online, and I think that this class will help being prepared for it. It is not so much blog posts though, but more like the wiki.

I think that throughout this course, the in-class and face-to-face portion was more helpful and gave me more insight to each individual than the online portion did. The blog posts were so structured that everyone's looked pretty much the same, whereas in discussion, it was easier to understand each person's views and thoughts on a certain subject than a written post. I do, though, feel more comfortable using online sites such as the wiki and blogs as I have never used either before this course. I think that while online course work could be helpful for some classes such as LIS since the material connects to it, it may not be beneficial to all classes because I think more learning occurs in person.

The lectures and readings made me understand the online world we live in more and made me see where it all came from and where it is taking us. I do think that the online work was necessary for this course, though it would not be for other classes not all about the online world of information.

Go Big Red

I went to the EC opportunity last night in the Vilas building. It was a lecture like style presentation from many different students about a range of different topics.I will give you some details to the lecture that I found most interesting. 


One of the topics that I found most influential and interesting was the presentation on bullying. This student began his presentation with a very emotional story about a college kid that took his own life because of bullying. Beginning his speech like this worked as a very powerful attention grabber, as well as related the problem to his audience, mostly college kids. The presentations main point highlighted the fact that our current anti-bullying programs have very little effectiveness. Our school system has taken up a zero tolerance policy when dealing with bullying, and though this is a good idea in theory, the speaker argued that this overly harsh punishment creates repeat offenders. Instead of punishing and isolating these bullys from society, the speaker found it more effective to attempt to rehabilitate the bullys. In many cases, bullys have a deeper issue that instigates their aggressive behavior. Whether it be trouble at home or trying to cover up their insecurities, bullys often have a contributing factor in their attempt to degrade others. Instead of isolating the bullys from society, the rehabilitation efforts would be more effective if there was an attempt to reintegrate the bully into society. 


I thought this speaker took an interesting angle at the problem. He had very little sympathy for the victims of bullying. He addressed this lack of sympathy saying that the problem needs to be addressed at its core. In order for bullying to be stopped, schools need to reevaluate the ways they deal with punishing bully's. Overall I thought this presentation offered an original approach to a problem that is very prevalent throughout society. 

Go Big Read Extra Credit Event

Go big read

I attended the go big read even on Wednesday, December 3 at 6 pm. The book they were discussing is “I am Malala”. To start the seminar, a professor of some Com A classes started giving a presentation discussing the important background information about this book. Malala was a young girl made known for when she was on a school bus the Taliban pulled over. The Taliban then shot her in the head, which she recovered from. She now travels around speaking and teaching others about her experiences and how they shaped her life. She also wanted to fight the war against poor education for younger children. The professor then introduced several students who got up to give a speech about a problem they find important in life and how it can be overcome.

First speaker’s topic is Water Scarcity. This is caused by growth of the world’s population and the misuse of water. She suggested that the government starts recycling and regulating the water houses can use. Recycled water can then be used for almost the exact same uses as before. Recycling water helps preserve the finite amount of water we have on this earth.

Second speaker’s topic is anti-bullying. A student at Rutgers committed suicide after a video of him engaging in sexual acts with a man surfaced and he was incessantly bullied because of it. Studies have shown those who were bullied had weaker immune systems, anxiety, and social anxiety. Studies also found that school anti-bullying rallies and meetings had little to no effect on bullying. The most common anti-bullying tactic schools enforce is one of zero tolerance, which has proven to be non-effective.

Third speaker’s topic is rail transport. Trains used to have a major role in our lives. She wants to argue for the increase of train systems will be beneficial to the country. First, she discusses the effects of greenhouse gases and global warming. Our current transportation system is a huge contributor to greenhouse gases. Modern trains can move 2 tons of materials on 1 gallon of fuel and release much less greenhouse gas. Trains have not been implemented in society because of political barriers and the general public’s poor reaction to them, despite their ability to decrease global climate change. She suggests we start taking trains more places.

Fourth speaker’s topic is sleep deprivation. Gave example of getting poor amounts of sleep before an exam and failed it. He compared that to when he got a vey good amount of sleep before an exam and aced it. Over time we have been getting less and less sleep as a society, which we need to change. Being sleep deprived disrupts our learning by impairing our frontal lobe functionality. All of this can be avoided if you schedule your time with a planner.

Fifth speaker’s topic is discrimination against those with mental disorders. Many people say “that’s retarded” without thinking of the consequences. Every person in the world could have been born with a mental deficiency. People claim they mean no harm when they say this word, but it is offensive to many people. The speaker’s uncle was born with cerebral palsy and has faced very difficult challenges through no fault of his own. We can solve this problem through “inclusion programs”. The speaker worked at an inclusion program this summer. This program teaches children that everyone’s disabilities are not something that makes them different, but something that binds them together. She simply asks us watch our mouths. 

Toxicity in Technology

Over break, I  had brought up my concerns about the automated society that is becoming more and more prevalent due to the new technology that is being produced. I noticed it most dominantly in my dad and his attachment to his iPhone. It's really funny because I feel as if the roles between the two of us have switched roles. As I was in middle school and high school he HATED how attached I was to my devices because he couldn't hold a conversation with me. I now understand how he felt because as soon as I try and have a conversation with him, I look over and he's squinting at his facebook news feed on his iPhone.

Something else I had brought up was on black Friday. We were watching the news, and on it, we saw stampedes happening over a flat screen HD TV. I looked at my dad and said, "it's sad because in other countries that stampede would be over a loaf of bread,  not a TV." Unfortunately, he doesn't have a world view like I do, and his response was, "at least the economy will boost because of it."

Overall, I think the generational gap between technology will always be present. When I asked him about his job, since he works construction, he said the most beneficial technological device that he utlizes was his bluetooth for when he's driving a truck down the road. He can still maintain communication with his crew, but also remain safe while navigating the roads in a large construction truck. The technology that has been created doesn't really benefit him in large ways in the occupational realm, but as stated above, it clearly benefits his social realm of life.

Computer

Over break I talked with my dad about the most important technology that he uses for his job, and he said either his computer or phone. He is a lawyer, and he does a lot of writing documents and giving speeches. I suppose back before computers existed everyone did these things by hand, but with the help of computers these tasks can be done much easier and efficiently now. His phone is also super important and necessary for his job. He makes so many conference calls, and has the luxury of doing work away from his office, but that means that he has to constantly be in contact with his clients in case they need something from him, or vise versa. He also uses his laptop when he is working at home as well.

The use of laptops and phones seems like a necessity today, but I suppose that before these technologies existed people were still able to do jobs such as those done by a lawyer. These technologies are more so convenient. However, in our world today, because of everyone's reliance on technology and the ability to get and have information at any time, they have almost become sort of a necessity.

CMM

              When I asked my stepfather about an information technology that he used in the workplace he mentioned the use of an automated measuring system called CMM. This Coordinated Measuring Machine (CMM) aided his job of measuring blueprint dimensions for different metal casts. This technology allowed him, and his colleagues the ability to accurately measure and communicate dimensions much quicker and with greater precision than the calipers they previously used.

            After explaining how this machine changed his work setting he explained that when this was introduced at his factory it was a completely new technology. The use of these machines required a week of training at another facility in Illinois. He also mentioned that this technology was something that you learn to use more efficiently every time you use it, much like shortcuts in a word document.

            This technology revolutionized his job, as it didn’t lead to any job losses while also increasing the output of the factory. The efficiency of the machine was able to measure up to 30 separate pieces in the time it would take a single person to measure 5 items manually. By increasing accuracy and efficiency, the CMM was the most important information technology in the industrial setting.