Purpose: UT is moving into hybrid instruction, and the primary need is to create a high quality experience that guards the brand UT has worked to develop over the years.
Results: This ongoing project is making tremendous ground in moving UT toward a more robust hybrid system. Hybrid courses are being offered in different programs and during new times than ever before, and some programs are designed from the ground up specifically to be hybrid.
Description:Hybrid Instruction is carefully and intentionally being implemented at The University of Tampa, and I play a prominent role in many areas of this implementation. UT has only had hybrid instruction in limited format and only for a few years now, and a robust system is being developed around the establishment of hybrid at the institution. The process currently includes a 3 stage training and review process, each of which I am heavily involved with.
Stage 1: Quality Matters Course
UT currently utilizes Quality Matters training to expose instructors to the concepts of alignment and expose them to faculty at other institutions. This stage is outsourced, but could be brought in-house with the dedication of resources. My role is to reinforce these concepts in the next stage, and to provide in-house versions for adjunct instructors.
Stage 2: New Teaching Institute (NTI)
The NTI instructional course provides faculty with instructional and course design knowledge, and promotes a collaborative community of competent hybrid instructors at UT. Over the last year, I have helped establish the vision, mission, and 3 pillar objectives for NTI, encouraged and obtained some revisions of the Blackboard Course Shell Template (in pursuit of something more like this), and have pushed for a course redesign that focuses explicitly on the three pillar objectives. The course has been restructured and focused on these three pillar objectives, with the first run of the new course in January 2016. We have also extended the offering to adjunct instructors, with the first, more compact, session occurring May 2016.
Stage 3: Hybrid Course Review Committee (HCRC) Review
I have been heavily involved in all aspects of the committee work related to the HCRC, and have been influential in a number of elements such as establishing the course review system, revising the Rubric from 37+ items down to 16 items (reducing the review time by 75%), establishing the technical aspects of performing reviews in Blackboard, and working to establish the official hybrid policy for The University of Tampa Faculty Handbook. I am also involved in establishing policy, practice, and solutions related to a number of remaining questions related to hybrid (e.g., the role of adjuncts, approving the course/instructor combination, design guides/shell, etc.).
