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Designing a Hybrid Breadth-first CS1 Course

Authors:
Cynthia Lester

Keywords: Hybrid learning; collaborative learning; learning content management system; undergraduate computer science

Abstract:
With the cost of education rising, more no-traditional students returning to school and employers looking for students with experience beyond the classroom, institutions are evaluating how to best deliver the educational experience to today's student. The Babson Survey Group reported that in 2011, there were more than 6 million students enrolled in online courses. The report also stated that approximately one-third of all higher education students now take at least one online course with this number projected to grow. However, in higher education there still remains a debate on the merits of online courses versus the traditional face-to-face classroom experience. In response to this debate, many institutions now offer three modes of instruction which include traditional face-to-face, online and hybrid. Hybrid courses can be described as a blended method of face-to-face and online. However, there are challenges to designing a hybrid course, especially in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas. The aim of this paper is to present the design for a hybrid course in an introduction to computer science course taught a two-year institution. The course is a breadth-first course taken by majors, as well as students who need a course to substitute for a mathematics course, required as part of the common core curriculum. The uniqueness of the work is tri-fold: 1) the environment in which the course is offered; 2) the student population enrolled in the course; and, 3) the nature of the delivery mode. The paper presents the design of the course which includes course content and learning outcomes; the teaching pedagogy; course organization and how the course will be evaluated.

Pages: 49 to 54

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2013

Publication date: February 24, 2013

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4367

ISBN: 978-1-61208-253-0

Location: Nice, France

Dates: from February 24, 2013 to March 1, 2013