The future of higher education is a hybrid campus

Starting from the popularity of the new crown epidemic, all walks of life have been temporarily adjusted to adapt to new real life. However, with the advent of the post -epidemic era, obviously, many temporary changes will inevitably become the normal state of the future.

For higher education, the large -scale transformation of remote learning has changed many schools almost overnight. Although the higher education industry is glad to see many elements of traditional campus experience is gradually returning to normal, in the long run, online teaching may become a teaching model for long -term retention in colleges and universities. In the past two years, the reason why online teaching has become a mature subversion model has quickly become a conventional teaching mode, and the epidemic is undoubtedly the catalyst.

From the fall of 2020 to the fall of 2021, the total number of undergraduates in the United States has declined significantly. The decline in data triggers a question: What measures need to be taken to ensure that the small liberal arts colleges in the United States seize the opportunity, embrace the learning solutions for change and innovation to increase the number of students?

What students want

Leaders of higher education need to find innovative ways to show the value of the school and attract students. Let's think about what students really want? What they want is not just a degree, but to ensure that they can obtain high -paying and rewarded professionals. Related survey data show that 62%of students believe that they can provide "courses and certificates suitable for new economic industries" and universities related to high -demand majors and education related to employment capabilities, which will be more attractive to them. And this is also in line with the requirements of employers. The company hopes that the college graduates they hire have a wide range of skill foundations and can adapt to the changing employment environment.

At the same time, students are also looking forward to having a typical university experience for four years. They want to participate in face -to -face learning and social activities on campus, including sports, entertainment, rally, graduation ceremony, library late at night, and so on. The interaction and participation between students and teachers makes it undeniable the value of traditional face -to -face teaching. As practical learning becomes more and more important in today's employment market, we will find that offline learning based on experience is more suitable for teachers and students interaction, and classroom materials may be more suitable for online delivery.

Compared to pure online teaching or face -to -face teaching, the mixing of these two teaching methods can develop the potential of students and provide students with the education they want. Students will consider new era needs when choosing a school. They are seeking a mixed learning environment, can share content and experience in it, build more interpersonal relationships, and get a lot of job opportunities.

Hugging a mixed campus

Earlier, many people held doubts about online education and believed that online education was an experience with no personality and no humanity. But in recent years, after seeing the success of Adrian College, I am convinced that the future of colleges and universities is not simply face -to -face or online teaching, but the clever fusion of these two teaching models.

This concept was influenced by avant -garde thinkers such as Jeff Selingo, Clayton Christensen, and other avant -garde thinkers. The main idea is: effectively combining online and face -to -face teaching, which can improve the degree quality and flexibility of various learners, reduce attendance costs, and at the same time allow students to better do a good job of real working environment that they will face after graduation. Prepare. In essence, the mixed campus model is a powerful learning model supported by faculty and staff, and a student -centric learning model. The mixed campus adopts the best practice of traditional higher education and enhances it through modern technology.

Mixed campus acting

Since the epidemic, although the concept of hybrid education seems a bit novel, it has always been the conventional practice of the University of Central Florida (UCF) in the past 20 years. The university uses a "Mixed Mode", which meets once a week by teachers and students, and the rest is processed by remote online. Today, 90%of the 59,000 students in UCF have participated in the mixed mode courses and gave the highest score in a satisfactory survey for this learning method.

Another example is the "Duet" project of South New Hampshire University (SNHU). The project combines online education, personal career guidance and academic space to help the adults simplify the university experience in a fast and economical way. "Non -traditional" students can obtain certification degrees through this project that are customized for their busy life. SNHU provides continuous training and flexible and affordable degree courses through the DUET project, allowing students to set the timetable by themselves and learn more practical skills needed in today's working environment.

Keep existing results and innovate in the future

Mixed campus is immersive and experiential. Students want to get a sufficient university experience. They want to be professional -oriented majors, and want to combine campus learning with online learning flexibly. The future is not nothing or one another. Our goal is to provide students with a university experience of both the United States -obtaining the ideal university experience without affecting cutting -edge academic courses.

To this end, we need to find some effective methods to retain the best part of the traditional university experience; at the same time, constructively think about how to redesign the learning method with cross -disciplinary skills. The future mixed campus will meet the maximum interests of students and ensure that colleges and universities will always maintain vitality. Hybrid learning will dominate the future of higher education

Quality Matters and Eduventures have recently released the report of "Chloe7: The Struggle of Online Education". The report is based on the trend of online learning, students and teachers' support for online learning, and online learning quality. Overview the current status of higher education online learning, and analyzed the views of online learning future development.

Most survey participants have recognized that online learning has become an important part of higher education. They believe that as various schools continue to integrate them into existing courses, the importance of online learning is increasing.

The survey data shows that more than 99%of the survey participants predict that by 2025, the typical student experience of their school will include at least some online learning elements.

According to COO forecasts, at that time, only few students will study in physical classrooms (4%of traditional undergraduates, 1%adult education undergraduate and graduate students) or completely online learning (2%of traditional undergraduates, 9%9% Adult education undergraduates and 17%of graduate students).

In contrast, most students at all levels will combine the field and online experience in the course and project through various mixed forms. Although the extent to which online teaching will become normal, the predictions of COOs are not consistent, but it is obvious that by 2025, the mixed mode will lead university teaching.

The report believes that it is important to have appropriate infrastructure, employees and resources to support online learning, and rely on policies, training, services and quality assurance measures to ensure the success of teachers and students in the mixed environment. More than half of the interviewed COO believes that to meet the needs of hybrid learning, schools need to re -adjust their strategic and priority matters.

The report recommends raising teachers and students' awareness and openness of mixed teaching. Online learning is a broad concept, which covers online data, courses, projects, etc. Students hope to have more online choices and greater flexibility, but this does not mean that they want to reject the attractiveness of traditional campuses. In other words, embracing the form of mixed, diversified, and evolution is the direction of higher education.

Author: Jeffrey Dok (President of Adrian College)

Source: Campus Technology, Quality Matters

Compilation and responsibility: Xiang Yang

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