Structuring Online & Hybrid College Courses.

Structuring Online & Hybrid College Courses
By
         Janet Michello, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Social Science
LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York.

 

 

The world of education is rapidly changing as we move onward in the digital world. From pre-school to graduate school more instruction utilizes multimedia and digital resources and relies less on the printed word.  Toddlers are playing games on iPads, kindergarteners are drawing and creating stories using laptops, middle school students are conducting online computer research, and college students are producing and submitting digital stories instead of research papers. Advantages of the increase in educational technology include education becoming more accessible, affordable, adaptable, and equitable (Bai & Smith, 2010). We have Ebooks and libraries that offer varied digitalized material and even a library with no books! The first bookless library recently opened at Florida Polytechnic University in central Florida. One of the attributes of such a library is that students can research and select material independently which often is easier and more productive than seeking assistance at a library’s help desk.