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.
I agree that class interaction is facilitated by technology and online involvement, but it also hinders face to face interaction. I feel like in my other classes I know my classmates better and feel more connected with them. This course was interesting, but I felt that there was a disconnect between information presented in person and information presented online. This was definitely a unique course!
ReplyDeleteWe are on the same page with the content of the class relating to the material presented through the online work. I thought the online work was much more relatable and more fun to do. Though it was very time consuming, it did add a much more relevant element to the class.
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely with what you said about the second half of the semester being much more interesting. Thinking back to the first half of the semester, although some background information was important, the majority of it was really tedious to read/learn about. The more recent material was so much more relevant and interesting to learn. Going off of what Emily said in a comment before this, i also felt that there was a disconnect between some of the online blogging assignments and in course material. Some were interesting and enhanced the course like googling ourselves and disconnecting and such but the one with like the Memex as well as a few others were a little irrelevant. Overall though I enjoyed this class and thought the online blogs were beneficial!
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