Trying out my green thumb on Hybrid Course Design

Time to get the gardening gloves out, the water pale, the fertilizer, gardening tools and shears out because Spring is here. Starting as an amateur gardener, I tried out my “green thumb” several years back. I inherited a large patch of rose bushes that were planted by a previous owner. Some of the rose bushes were very mature with thick stalks and beautiful large blooms, while other bushes were younger bushes that had not reached their full maturity but had plenty of room to grow. My hardest learning lesson of improving my “green thumb” was how to properly prune these rose bushes. The first year I did no pruning…which I soon learned my lesson that no pruning results in a wilted petal mess and the mature bushes took over the smaller ones as well as the side of my house. They became overbearing nonetheless. The second year I pruned too much and sadly had less blooms that year. The bushes looked butchered and undernourished. The following years, it was still trial and error, but I managed to find a pruning system that worked when I realized that each bush should be pruned a little differently to maximize the futility of that bush and to not let one bush be overpowering or overpowered in the rose garden. After several attempts, a beautiful healthy rose garden appeared. This same pruning approach will be used when designing my hybrid course. I will apply my green thumb as a “curator of content” who uses a system of pruning that provides enough content, explanation and resources for my students to access, but helps train students to take charge of their own growth and learning. New information, resources and activities will be added to the mix of already present material in a balanced way as to not overpower or under power the significance of each. A key objective of DHE 400, my newly designed hybrid course is for students to develop professional skills needed to be successful in the job market and secure competitive good fit internship and employment opportunities. The goal is to not just “tell” students how to be successful and be the “sage on the stage” but instead to foster their growth through a balance of content, resources, professional development exercises provided in a hybrid learning environment so that students can develop into beautiful unique blooms on their own.