Delivery Formats: In-Person, Hybrid, Remote, Online

… complex ideas are being discussed, so students can ask questions and get immediate answers.

… students would benefit from a sense of community and routine.

… collaboration (between students or the instructor) is frequent or required.

This delivery method serves only students who can make it to a physical campus.

This delivery method doesn’t usually serve the needs of students who are interested in the convenience of some learning technologies.

… students are able to learn material on their own, and would benefit from meeting to consolidate or apply learning.

… students need some flexibility to learn on their own or can’t make it to campus regularly.

… students need to learn digital skills as part of the course.

… space on campus is limited.

Instructors need to ensure that workload is similar to conventional in-person courses.

Instructors need to understand and know how to use various technologies, ensuring proper design and navigation.

Students need access to and familiarity with technology.

asynchronous activities + weekly in-person meetings, as a large group or as smaller seminar groups; to make this format most effective, weekly in-person meetings should be small, possibly the size of a seminar or lab; seminars or labs should run up to 2 hours

asynchronous activities + occasional (but regular) in-person meetings (once every two or three weeks); to make this format effective, occasional in-person meeting should be relatively small, possibly the size of a seminar or lab; seminar or lab should run up to 2 hours

… instructors are familiar with learning technologies.

… students would benefit from a sense of community and routine.

… students are already skilled at online learning.

… students need some flexibility to learn on their own or can’t make it to campus regularly.

… courses need to pivot quickly from in-person formats.

… space on campus is limited.

… instructors are familiar with learning technologies.

… instructors are able to engage students in video-, audio-, or text-based formats.

… instructors have marking support (to give timely feedback on assessments, especially since this is a key method of instructor-student communication).

… students self-direct and self-regulate well.

… students need some flexibility to learn on their own or can’t make it to campus regularly.

… space on campus is limited.

Engagement is difficult with large asynchronous classes; sometimes students feel disconnected from the instructor and from other students.

Workload needs to be monitored closely; the tendency is to assign more work than expected or required.