Diversity is the SPICE of LIFE in Hybrid Education

After a nice hiatus (aka-vacation), I'm back in the saddle of the HE-DPT Program! I'd like to take a moment to thank my fabulous faculty, associated faculty, and staff for not just keeping things on track while I was gone, but really revving things up and making great teaching/learning happen! Here's what's been happening while I was away:

• Dr. Page has been "chatting away" with the students in the Professional Issues in PT class! Phone chats are, as it turns out, a low-tech but VERY effective way to have meaningful discussions with small groups of students. Her insights include: have the chats AFTER the assignments have been turned in, keep the groups small (~ 4 people), and give them the freedom to direct the conversation! Also, if your goal is NOT related to the skill of searching online databases, minimize the searching time for assignments so that they can get to the meat of the assignment sooner.  Her take: students are ENGAGED in the material!
• Dr. Shaw has been using a VARIETY of instructional strategies (voicethread, powerpoint, discussions, quizzes) to keep the students active in the Essentials of Exercise Physiology class. Similar to Dr. P, she noticed that students are very active on the discussion boards and have meaningful discussions. Quiz grades have been improving as students realize that you need to read the text(s) to answer the questions! For those of you reading this who are not in the academic world, it might be surprising to you that reading assignments are considered by many students as "merely a suggestion."  One of the great aspects of a hybrid program is that, without the comfort of powerpoint slides each day, students take more responsibility for their learning by actually buying and then reading the text. Dr. Shaw, like many of us, provides powerpoint slides in the electronic classroom, it's just that the slides cover the basics rather than the entire text. Students, if you are out there, we are so proud of you!
• Dr. Riba has been busy blogging and having her students blog their progress in palpation skills. The blog, set up in the Blogger website but with privacy settings, allow students an excellent forum to post pictures or videos of themselves palpating while simultaneously reflecting on their learning. The blog format allows sharing (via invitation) and commenting by the instructor and peers. Very cool stuff! Dr. R's input: don't assume that setting the blog up is easy, perhaps instruct while on campus to minimize the technology frustration.
• Dr. Morris has been busy making "short but sweet" tegrity videos on the pharmacology topics. His strategy this semester is to have many shorter tegrity videos (lectures) rather than several long sessions. We look forward to hearing his input on which method he prefers!

As I sat and listened to this great group of faculty share what they've done, I've had my own "AHA" moments that I'd like to share! First, there are many ways to effectively engage students in a hybrid program. The diversity in approaches are keeping students engaged, interested, and active in their learning. I love the fact that each faculty has approached the hybrid classroom in a way that suits them, their material, and the learning objectives. Second, when you consider the concepts of learning styles and multiple intelligences, this program addresses a plethora of learning modalities (hearing, talking, doing, touching...) and skills (logic, linguistic, intrapersonal...). To me, this is good news for both faculty and students. Third, one cannot over-emphasize the need for faculty to share and learn from one another. I am lucky to work with a dynamic group of faculty who value this learning community. Likewise, I cannot over-emphasize the need for students to stay organized. It takes much less organization to know what classroom to show up to each day than it does to keep track of assignments, postings, chat times, etc.

Lessons learned: diversity is the spice of life, team learning is PRICELESS!