Getting Started

After two years of a very sporadic stop-and-go approach to building a hybrid course, I was fortunate to be offered two release hours to work on it. This blog will track the progress I make (or don't!) and include all the Aha! moments as well as the Doh! insights.

A couple of years ago, I started teaching Advanced Grammar 1 to EAP students. In the course of the first two semesters, I discovered that there were really no textbooks that addressed the needs of the class. Unlike most grammar courses, Level 5 focuses less on learning structures and more on using structures already studied. The idea was to have students apply what they had studied (and sometimes learned :) ) to academic endeavors, most especially writing. So... I started creating my own materials. At the end of two more terms, I had created an entire course and realized this was a great opportunity to place an EAP course online, or at the very least place it as a hybrid course. Materials in hand, I took off for the Collaboration Studio.

On Day 1, I drafted a plan of attack. I was surprised to discover that just putting together the first two weeks of lesson plans for a hybrid-course semester would take until January. This timeline would include four  phases: 1.) deciding what lessons to include and the method of delivery for each; 2.) creating the lessons for online delivery 3.) designing the online course shell; 4.) having everything peer reviewed and applying changes as needed

Whew. Looked like a lot of time would go into this. On Day 2, I started working with my syllabus, and by the end of the day, I had drawn up a plan for all the lessons for Weeks and 1 and 2. I was two weeks ahead of schedule. Good news.