Hybrid Learning

One of the more interesting aspects of education these days, more specifically, in college courses, at least for me since i never experienced any hybrid course in high school. Although there was the use of online resources, never a full-on online component to a course. During these past couple of weeks and now reflecting on Drexel life and applying it to the analysis of today's culture in "Everything Bad is Good For You ", i have found hybrid courses to be an ideal example for how today's culture is making us smarter. Hybrid courses just as Johnson referred to in his book, stimulate different parts of the brain than a course, void of online components has. This can be compared to Johnson's comparison of the benefits of reading and playing video games. The reading a book can be isolating, passive, and understimulating in comparison to video games which cause the player to interact and "probe" the virtual environment. Similarly hyrbrid courses allow for more interaction from a student than a normal course which can, justlike reading, tend to be a but more passive and isolating (go home study turn in work) besides peer editing and discussions in class, and maybe a study group, a normal course is more "direct" in it's approach to learning. A hybrid course, for exampe allows the students to become for invovled with their course. Constantly, besides assingments and important dates being dictated to them, they must frist learn how to navigate the enviroments to sometimes find some of these things, because all information isnt always given in class. Hyrbid course make the student depend on their online and computer savyness. The benefits of a hybrid course are as follows: interaction (not just with other students but with an online environment) responsibility (staying on top of things so as not to miss important information that may not be given in class) and developement of new skills. That being said, classes without an online component, have alot of the same benefits but not with the same stimulations that the online components of a hybrid course provide.