MOOCs
(massive open online courses) and blended or hybrid learning (combining online
and in-class instruction) have gotten a lot of attention recently in higher
education, with both earning mixed ratings for academic effectiveness.
At George
Washington University, another version of online course is receiving much better
reviews. An associate professor of archaeology created a four-week online
course as a precursor to a fieldwork program in Kenya. The online course
replaces a 150-page, custom-published manual that students were supposed to
study before they set off for Africa.
The problem
was, the students rarely looked at the manual until they got to Kenya and were
in the middle of field studies. The required online course “features videos
from previous trips to Kenya and key information that the manual covered, but
presents it in a way that’s more accessible for the students,” according to The GW Hatchet, the school’s independent
newspaper.
The
university couldn’t require students to take a traditional face-to-face class
to prepare for the program because some enrollees were based in other
countries. However, the online class is available to all students, regardless
of location, and ensures they start the program armed with the necessary basic
concepts to conduct fieldwork.
The videos
incorporated into the course also help students to grasp the unfamiliar
conditions in which they’ll be working and living in Kenya, something the old
print manual couldn’t really convey.
