Rethinking Online Space: Encouraging Student Immersion for Online and Hybrid Courses

Abstract

Active learning and student-centered courses have been important goals for education research because they appear to provide better, more effective learning environments for students. This article provides ways to bring a student-centered perspective to online and hybrid courses. By using rhetoric and composition theories that inform critical pedagogical stances, the author calls for incorporating online writing spaces for students across the disciplines. Because writing and thinking are connected, the author advocates that online and hybrid courses ask students to (re)present their understanding of course content online in order to have students move away from passive learning. These online spaces, similar to e-portfolios, are semester-long projects that allow students more chances for reflecting on the course material through media with which contemporary students are already familiar. Additionally, the online spaces in which students compose form an online learning community for individuals to showcase their work and, more importantly, their understanding of the course material. The article concludes by showing readers that students showcasing their work online makes the medium (the Internet) their message.