If the in-class portion of a hybrid course is about small group exercises and synthesis of the online portion of the courses, then new skills are required for the instructor. it is relatively easy to be the sage on the stage. We’ve been well trained for this role and seen it in practices most of our academic career. It seems that we are learning and discussing the technology required to be successful with the online portion of the course. I’m wondering if there is more that we should be doing, discussing, and learning about the in-class portion of the class. There must be best practices based upon research about facilitating small groups in a classroom setting. Can someone post this type of info– best practices in terms of size, internal student team processes, reporting out best practices, grading/scoring best practices, etc?
great question about how to facilitate small group discussions. i completed a basic search through google and there was a lot of information. also had a look at the educause.edu site and seems like there might be some more reputable information there:
http://www.educause.edu/library/search?keys=facilitating%20small%20group%20discussions&filters=
Hope the link works. will spend some more time looking and share if i find anything as i am interested in the same thing. i’ve found using a TA/group leader each week to help lead the discussion has worked well. typically the student has been responsible for creating questions etc and then leading discussion – i can then rotate between the groups and join in the conversation when appropriate.
Simon, thanks for the Educause link–it works. Be sure to check out http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/discussionboard.pdf as well.
This looks really helpful. I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks!
There used to be someone tied to Academic Success (can’t remember his name) who actually came to one of our GTA meetings and trained all of us on how to conduct small group discussions, assigning roles to the group, etc. Used to have some publications that we had access to as well. Not sure if any of that still exists, but you may want to consider checking with the Academic Success Center to see what kind of information they have at hand.
I will check and post what I find. Thanks!
Following up on this thread and an offline conversation Marla and I have been having about MOOCs, I wanted to share this recent article with you all:
College is Dead. Long Live College!
October 18, 2012 – Time
http://nation.time.com/2012/10/18/college-is-dead-long-live-college/print/
It paints an interesting picture of how students might value both online and in-person interactions. I haven’t tried taking a MOOC yet myself – do any of you have experiences with this format as a student?
— Sara, OSU-Cascades Librarian