UWM

Of course! Some students prefer only online classes while others choose the combination of both online and in-person courses. Either will provide a quality, student-centered experience. Most students looking to save time and or who prefer a more flexible learning and study environment prefer online classes and programs.

“Blended” or “hybrid” are what we call courses that combine face-to-face classroom instruction with online learning. A significant portion of the class’s activities takes place online, and time spent on instruction that traditionally occurs in the classroom is reduced, but not eliminated. This allows you much more flexible scheduling, while maintaining the face-to-face contact with the instructor and classmates that is typical of a more traditional course. The division of online and classroom instruction for each blended course will vary depending on the course content and the instructor’s preference.

Your instructor will provide details regarding what class work will be required in class and what work will be required when online. Online course materials and learning activities vary from class to class but may include online discussions, small group work, games, simulations, self-testing exercises, audio- or video-lectures, and tutorials. Blended courses are designed for students who:

• are interested in active and participatory learning, both in the classroom and online.
• are busy with work or family and want to replace some travel and on-campus time with online study.
• wish to retain the value of in-person contact with the instructor and other students, instead of undertaking a solely distance education experience.

Students at UWM overwhelmingly report positive experiences, citing the following reasons:

• Students have greater flexibility, freedom and convenience by working part or all of the time online from home due to decreased commuting and parking hassles.
• Students often develop or enhance skills in time management, critical thinking and problem solving.
• Students have more time to reflect and refer to relevant course and other research materials when working and writing online than when responding in class.
• Students typically have 24/7 access to online course materials.
• Students usually receive more feedback, and more frequent feedback, from their instructors.
• Students who may feel shy in a large classroom often enjoy the online environment and may feel more comfortable asking questions.

Students in blended courses also describe these benefits:

• Students are likely to interact more with the instructor and fellow students since there are numerous opportunities to do so both in class and online.
• Students can participate more in class discussions when they can choose the environment — online or face-to-face — in which they feel more comfortable.

Most online and blended courses use discussion forums to engage and sustain a community of active learners outside of the classroom. Here are some tips to keep in mind when contributing to discussion forums.

Time management

• Check the discussion on a regular basis. You should plan to log in to your course website several times a week, not just once or twice.
• We recommend you schedule your time in advance each week to log in and do course work for at least two to three hours. This will help keep you from falling behind.

Assignments

• Make sure that you read and reread your assignment — print it out for safety’s sake — to ensure that you have completed all aspects of the assignment. It’s very easy to overlook something in an online assignment.

Communicating

• If you’re posting to a discussion forum, read any earlier postings first to find out if you are on track and to find out what others have said. It’s not cheating to learn from others’ insights!
• If you’re responding to someone else’s posting, make sure that you hit the “Reply” button so that the response will be linked by discussion thread to the original posting. Also make sure that the “Subject” header of your posting is the same as the actual content of your response. If it isn’t, the discussion may have wandered off topic or your response may be inappropriate.

Online etiquette

• It’s typically a good idea to address the person you’re responding to by name, just as if you were speaking to them face-to-face. It’s also a good idea to sign your posting. This will make your online discussion more personal, and remind you to be polite!
• It’s OK to disagree with someone, as long as you give good reasons for doing so. Remember that people are perfectly entitled to debate both sides of a course idea or topic, and that reasoned argument is an important part of a university education. Your response should never, ever attack someone personally. You can disagree with someone, and they with you, while still remaining respectful.
• Use care when interacting online since you don’t have the ability to gauge a person’s reaction or feelings as you do in a face-to-face conversation. In particular, humor should always be used very carefully and where needed, labeled as such.

Backups

• When you post, it’s always safer to write your posting first using a word processing program, and save it as a separate file on your computer. That way you can never lose your work if you are posting directly to the course website and your connection fails for some reason.

Writing style

• When you post online, you should always use relatively short paragraphs, each one two or three sentences only. This will make your writing much easier to read.
• No SHOUTING! Capitalize words only to highlight a point or for titles.

Citations and formats

• Identify your sources if you use quotes, references or resources. Your work must always be distinctively your own writing, unless you have indicated otherwise.
• Most online discussion forums now have the ability to allow you to post while retaining formatting such as bullets, italics, bold text, etc. The more professional your work appears, the more highly it will be regarded (and graded).

Online and blended courses typically place significantly less emphasis on lecturing and exams.

• This means that you must be prepared to do different kinds of work than you would do in a traditional face-to-face course. The work required may be more creative, may require more thought than simply memorizing material for testing purposes, and may ask you to demonstrate your understanding of the course ideas and concepts by applying them to real-world situations.
• You may expect to be involved in small-group collaborative work online. Teamwork is common in blended courses, and if you feel that you work better in isolation from others, you may not find the blended format suitable.