Hybrid Course Post

My first hybrid course here at UW-Madison was General Business 303, Business Statistics. The homework, lectures and quizzes were online and there was discussion once a week with in-class activities, and four exams on campus. I liked this course as a hybrid class because I often struggle with math-based classes, so having the option to watch lectures or rewind sections I didn’t quite understand was extremely helpful to me. The discussions were an added bonus because my TA was really helpful, so everything I could not figure out online, we could talk through in person. The way in which this course was different from LIS 201 was that all the material and each student’s work was exactly the same. There was no creative leeway, which is my favorite part about LIS 201. I enjoy seeing other students’ work and how their ideas differ from mine.

In searching for hybrid courses online, a UW Madison English class stood out at the top of my search results. It meets on a few weekends and the rest is independent study online. One school that has a strong selection of hybrid courses is UW-Milwaukee. They have options ranging from Nursing to Business to Religion, all with both an online and in person component. I would be interested in trying these types of classes because I really enjoyed the hybrid nature of LIS 201.

I thought the connections between the online portion of class and the discussion sections were a great way to look at each topic from several different perspectives. I like that we had to do a blog post based off our own research before doing the readings, then meeting in discussion to talk about what we found. I always enjoyed our in-class conversations and found myself becoming more interested in the course material and recognizing class ideas outside of class more and more every week. One thing I would have liked better would be if lectures were just a bit more connected to the work we were doing. Professor Downey’s lectures were extremely interesting, but I personally would have liked more discussion of the readings or assignments.

This course was really helpful in my online endeavors. I definitely feel more comfortable using a blog or wiki, and I learned a few new research tips as well. One thing I did notice was that some of my work could have been a bit better had there not been such a heavy workload every week. Some of the blog posts were put on the back burner to focus on readings or papers, and if I had more time to focus on them, they would have been a great learning experience. Overall, LIS 201 was a helpful and interesting course.