The Hybrid Online Model: Good Practice

E-learning provides nontraditional adult students, who are juggling full-time employment and family responsibilities, an opportunity to leverage the new technologies of the Internet to achieve the skills they need to stay competitive in an increasingly digital job market.

Abstract

18 The growth in online education in American colleges and universities continues at an astounding rate. The International Data Corporation predicts that by 2005, 90 percent of all higher education institutions will have e-learning programs.1 E-learning is a subset of distance learning that uses audio, video, and computer delivery modes. Distance learning, which can be described as any learning setting where faculty and students are physically separated, encompasses a broad category that spans a range from low-tech correspondence courses through high-tech delivery options. E-learning provides nontraditional adult students, who are juggling full-time employment and family responsibilities, an opportunity to leverage the new technologies of the Internet to achieve the skills they need to stay competitive in an increasingly digital job market. Colleges and universities are responding to pressures from a range of forces to move into the delivery of courses via online methods. Many institutions find it difficult to enter the distance learning arena because of resource constraints or restrictive mission statements. This critical connection to mission has been emphasized by accrediting organizations that evaluate the relevance of the distance learning program to the institution’s mission during the accreditation review.2 Baldwin-Wallace College, a small liberal arts college in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, developed and implemented a successful hybrid online model that serves institutional needs and also follows the paradigm of “The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education”3 developed almost 20 years ago, updated specifically to target the new communication and information technologies being used in higher education.4 The hybrid online model employs the best characteristics of online education and the interactivity that typically characterizes face-to-face classroom instruction.