Institute/Session Summary:

Purpose:

Attendees will be given an inside view of the Odessa College (OC) Hybrid Developmental English course that was recently designed and implemented in January, 2007 at OC. This presentation will offer insightful tips and best practices to those who design and teach developmental courses and/or provide academic support services and programs to students in developmental courses. Retention of online learners is rooted in intelligent course design and appropriate, meaningful academic support, with both of these factors being extremely important when considering hybrid developmental course design and execution. This presentation will essentially pick up where the session (Developmental Education Goes Hybrid) Shelley Beard and Bruce Gamble conducted at the 2006 conference in Austin concluded. Their presentation introduced the concept of the hybrid developmental course. The Odessa College model has taken the hybrid developmental course concept to a new level of effectiveness by addressing the global needs of the developmental learner enrolled in hybrid courses. This model will teach the attendees how hybrid courses can be developed with academic support built right into them using familiar educational tools and resources in a new and innovative way.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees shall receive the following:

• Knowledge of the nature, purpose and benefits of an enhanced hybrid developmental course
• Knowledge and understanding of the OC Hybrid Developmental English course model
• The recipe for duplicating the OC model at their respective institutions
• List of myths that students tend to have regarding hybrid developmental courses
• Knowledge of the challenges faced by students enrolled in a hybrid developmental course and how to address these in the developmental hybrid course design and execution
• Knowledge of the essential persons needed to make this model work in their institutions and the information necessary to make the “sell” to get their colleagues on board with such a project
• 30 Days access to the Blackboard web component for the OC hybrid course

Content Outline and Plans to Engage Audience:

1. Introduction: Definition and Purpose of the Hybrid Developmental Course
2. Challenges and Solutions: The Challenges We Anticipated and Identified, and How We Addressed Them in the Course Design and Execution
   A. Some myths held by our developmental students about hybrid courses which we both identified and addressed
   B. Technological Limitations of Developmental Students
   C. Self-Motivation and Procrastination
   D. Need for Supplemental Instruction
   E. Role of tutoring
       1. Adaptations to traditional tutoring services to accommodate needs of students in a hybrid developmental course
3. Study Skills Guidance and Training: Web Course Presence and Support
4. Why a Hybrid Course? Student and Institutional Benefits V. Ready, Set, Cooperate: An Overview of the Collaboration Between Academic Departments, Instructors, Learning Centers and Tutors Needed to Make This Model Work
5. The Specifics: Taking a Look at the OC Model. A. Attendees will be walked through the various features of the Blackboard web component in the session. Thirty days of access to the course to be given to attendees of this session so that they may get a closer look at the model on their own time

The presenters will be speaking to the attendees and using PowerPoint for much of the session. Also, the presenters will be taking the attendees through the web portion of the hybrid course in Blackboard and showing them how the web component is designed screen by screen. This session will be interactive in that questions and audience input will be welcomed by the presenters. The audience will be given numerous handouts created by the presenters. These handouts will be provided in a packet which will include a list of myths students hold regarding hybrid developmental courses, the project preparedness checklist, print out of the PowerPoint session, and other pertinent information that shall be added in preparation of the presentation. The packet will provide much more in depth information for the attendees to ponder at a later time than can possibly be covered in one hour. Also, attendees will receive a URL, username, and password that will be valid for thirty days after the conference so they may go back and explore the web portion of the hybrid model on their own time to glean more information from the OC model than one hour could possibly afford.

This presentation will require the use of a computer with PowerPoint, Internet access, an overhead projector, and screen. The presenters will provide all packets compliments of the Odessa College Student Learning Center.

Significance to the Field and Relevance to CRLA Members:

Through collaboration and cooperation, this enhanced hybrid course can be developed and implemented at any institution as it has been at Odessa College. The OC hybrid model is unique in that it is a successful blend of traditional teaching methods, web-based instruction, supplemental instruction, and tutoring. Most institutions are now developing and offering more and more web courses as they vie for the business of online learners. This makes it important that we, as educators, tutors, and administrators, strive to create effective and meaningful learning opportunities for our developmental students who choose to enroll in hybrid courses. Most institutions already have the ingredients required to duplicate this model, and the information in this presentation is significant because it will demonstrate how these ingredients can be combined to create an effective hybrid course. This presentation is relevant to CRLA members because many of the members will be instrumental i n providing meaningful academic support to online learners as instructors, study skills specialists, retention specialists, and tutors at their respective institutions. Finally, the future of higher education is web based instruction and academic support, making this model an important part of the necessary effort we must make in this field to adapt to the shift from the traditional classroom environment to the virtual one.

Presenter1 Name: Angela Tombs
Presenter1 Institution: Odessa College
Presenter1 Bio: Angela Tombs is the Director of the Student Learning Center at Odessa College.  She is also the developer and instructor of the hybrid developmental English course currently being offered at Odessa College.  In addition to managing the operations of the Student Learning Center, she teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the Odessa College English and Foreign Languages Department.  Angela is also an adjunct professor of Criminology for the University of Texas System Telecampus, for which she develops and teaches web courses in Criminal Justice.