{"id":2766,"date":"2016-09-01T16:48:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T16:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=2766"},"modified":"2023-06-08T19:47:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T19:47:13","slug":"online-hybrid-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2016\/09\/01\/online-hybrid-learning","title":{"rendered":"Students paramount in e-learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\tBy Douglas Esser \n\tThe number of courses blended with some part online has grown from zero in 2011 to 106 in 2016, says Mary Bold, who became the University’s chief e-learning strategist last year. Working in the information technologies department, she bridges technology and academics to build support for online tools. From her 20 years’ experience, she says online education levels the playing field for students and promotes deeper learning.<\/p>\n \n\tIt levels the playing field by making higher education available to more students who might have trouble meeting a classroom schedule because of work, family responsibilities or disabilities.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen she was an online instructor, Bold had one student who regularly posted at 4 a.m. She thought he was just an early riser but later learned he was a hospital patient. And 4 a.m. was the time nurses let him use the computer at the nurses’ station.<\/p>\n \n\t“Everyone has an equal footing in the online space,” Bold says.<\/p>\n \n\tBeyond that, online classes require a commitment that results in deeper learning, she says.<\/p>\n \n\t“If you are in an online setting and you want to be a passive student you will not pass the course,” Bold says.<\/p>\n \n\tThe ideas that e-learning values diverse students and requires responsibility are confirmed by Cassidy Weatherbee, a student working to graduate in 2018 with a double major in media and communication studies and interactive media design. She’s glad to find e-learning classes available at 56勛圖厙 Bothell after her experience in high school. She hated it.<\/p>\n \n\tUntil she discovered Insight School of Washington<\/a>, a tuition-free online public school that she used to finish her last two years.<\/p>\n \n\t“Because I was so responsible for it, I started caring about it more and started to like school for the first time,” Weatherbee says. “I liked being able to get up when I wanted and do school when I knew the best times for me.”<\/p>\n \n\tAt 56勛圖厙 Bothell last year she took BIS 315 Understanding Statistics, a 50-50 hybrid.<\/p>\n \n\t“It’s not necessarily harder; it’s just a different kind of effort, because you’re in charge of it. If you do not commit to it you will not do well,” Weatherbee says. “You have to put in a lot of self-motivation, so it builds that.”<\/p>\n
\n\tSome 56勛圖厙 students who work, have families or different learning styles need more flexibility in their schedules. The answer for many is e-learning courses. They combine class time with online instruction, typically in a 50-50 mix that improves access by meeting students where they are.<\/p><\/figure>\n