Blended/hybrid course design in Active Learning Cloud at South Dakota State University

Abstract

Learning effectiveness is always the central activity in higher education. Teaching delivery modes from face-to-face to online and to blended/hybrid phases reflect the progress and evolution of research and practices in teaching pedagogies. Course design for blended/hybrid learning including redesign of learning contents, student engagement, and learning assessment are discussed in the paper. South Dakota State University is developing an Active Learning Cloud Program, a teaching-learning networked system, which makes blended/hybrid course redesign possible and effective. A case study of a mechanical engineering course redesign is presented and discussed. Learning effectiveness is compared with its traditional and online course delivery. It indicates that blended/hybrid learning provides a better ideology for the choice of teaching learning methods with varieties of e-learning tools in online and in-class dual learning environment.