I had never heard
of “hybrid/blended” courses until taking this course. When I Google searched hybrid courses, I was
surprised to see how many universities have these types of classes. Although
their heavy emphasis on web interaction didn’t immediately sound very appealing
to me, after reading more about them, I could see how they would be great for
certain people. A lot of the hybrid
classes I found varied in structure, but I believe they are generally pretty
accommodating to working professionals and people with limiting schedules. Without as much face-to-face class occurring
a specific time and location, the educational classes allow for much more
flexibility. I would say the hybrid
classes differ from our course in that there are online lectures and that more
communication occurs online. Both LIS
201 and the hybrid courses provide students the opportunity to build their
online communication skills, which is very important in today’s society. At the beginning of the semester, I was a
little overwhelmed by the amount of online assignments, but with experience, it
became much easier to manage everything.
I’m happy I chose this class to fulfill my Comm-B requirement because it
forced me to try new types of writing across various formats and to practice my
speaking skills. I thought there was a
good balance between online and in person involvement required in the
class. I liked that we had a blog and
the wiki for our discussion section so that we could look at our classmates’
work and leave comments on our own time. Through the online medium, we had as much time
as we wanted and could use whatever resources we wanted in order to write
posts, peer edit, and comment on other people’s posts. However, I also appreciated the in-person
portions of class because every week, we came to lecture and discussion with a
lot of questions. It was much easier for
the professor and TAs to explain concepts and projects in person than to answer
many individual emails. For me, it feels
important to actually attend class because then it’s less likely for me to fall
behind and get lost in the material.
Overall, I liked the structure and purpose of this class. I put a lot of
work into it, and I think I got a lot out of it. Most of my other classes don’t focus on
integrating new technology and new programs into the material we are learning,
and I think the articles and projects all worked together cohesively. I’m glad I learned more about the “Information
Society” because it plays a big role in my life as a student and looking to the
future, it’s clear that technology and the Internet will continue to grow.
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