The world has changed–and the fact is that all of our lives have been disrupted. And right now one of the most affected sectors is education, as students take finals on their kitchen tables or graduate from their living rooms, and teachers wrap up the semester with virtual goodbyes.
As the school year comes to an end, educators are looking at how our classrooms have changed over the past few months and the various possibilities of what the future of learning will hold.
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And while my school, like many, has not made its final decision on how learning will take place in the fall, I’ve taken an opportunity to look back at the successes with online learning to understand how my class will forever be changed, for the better.
My biggest takeaway: Hybrid instruction is here to stay.
Traditionally, hybrid learning is defined as the combination of face-to-face and online delivery of course materials. The disruption of COVID-19 meant that all the face-to-face interactions for my classes took place online. However, I find that offering a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction has been key to the success of my virtual classroom.
Phil Cox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California, where he teaches Biochemistry, General Chemistry, and Chemistry for the Health Sciences.
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