Despite faculty skepticism: Lessons from a graduate-level seminar in a hybrid course environment

Abstract

A recent survey of 2,251 university faculty members revealed that only one in five agreed that online courses can achieve learning outcomes equivalent to those of in-person courses (Lederman and Jaschik 2013). In an effort to determine if online graduate courses can be effective, in this study we explore the extent to which qualities commonly found in graduate level seminars can be replicated in hybrid graduate-level courses. A course for students in a higher education graduate program titled “The American Community College” serves as the study case. The course was developed as a hybrid with synchronous, asynchronous, and in-person elements intended to foster highly interactive exchanges of information, deep analysis of subject matter, and advanced means of communicating one’s ideas: all elements of a successful graduate-level course. Web technologies including wikis, blogs, and podcasting provided creative and varied pedagogical tools, which could be fully realized only when students were immersed in the online learning environment. Data collected from students across two semesters and assessment of learning outcomes indicate the value and success of the approach and several advantages to in-person courses, generating a set of implications.