Blended and Online Learning
Blended or "hybrid" learning courses take advantage of both online and traditional classroom environments.
Typically, Blended Learning versions of courses meet face-to-face once or twice a week and online once a week. Blended Learning courses have the same goals and are worth the same credit as their traditional counterparts while harnessing the potential of online resources. These courses seek to provide students with dynamic learning opportunities coupled with increased flexibility.
Fully online courses offer students the maximum amount of flexibility as there are no face-to-face meeting days. Nevertheless, Online Professional Writing Program (PWP) courses also have the same goals and are worth the same credit as their traditional and Blended Learning counterparts. Since online courses are structured asynchronously (meaning you don't meet with your classmates at designated times), students in online PWP course have more responsibility for keeping up with the content and deadlines of the course.
AWP and PWP Blended and Online Learning Courses
The schedules for Blended Learning sections of AWP and PWP combine one (and in some cases two) in-class days per week with online components. Depending on the Instructor, these online components will be completed synchronously, asynchronously, or a combination of both. In some cases, an online day is assigned for Blended Learning courses, during which you are unable to double-book other courses.
For fully online courses, there is no designated class meeting time or classroom.
When searching for Blended and Online Learning sections of courses in Testudo, generally you will find them at the bottom of the page, regardless of time.
Current AWP and PWP courses offered in Blended and Online Learning format include:
AWP Blended Learning Course Offerings
ENGL101: Introduction to Academic Writing
PWP Blended and Online Learning Course Offerings
ENGL390: Science Writing
ENGL391: Advanced Composition
ENGL393: Technical Writing
ENGL394: Business Writing
ENGL395: Writing for Health Professions
Resources for Students
At some point in your academic career you have likely already encountered a course with some online component. Indeed, it is difficult to find classes that don't utilize course management software or online resources in some way. In Blended or fully online courses, these resources are much more important to the basic functioning of the class. Likewise, your success in these types of classes depends on how well you are able to maneuver within the online environment provided by the Instructor.
Your ability to encounter new material, meet deadlines, and accomplish other online work is especially important to Blended and Online Learning versions of AWP and PWP courses at the University of Maryland. In these workshop-style writing courses, you will be asked to compose a variety of document types, each with a different goal, and often with a unique audience depending on the topic. Since many phases of the writing process, starting at invention and leading all the way to your final draft, will take place outside of the classroom, you need to equip yourself with the best tools and habits to perform as well as you might in a traditional course.
While some students will find Blended and Online Learning versions of AWP and PWP courses conducive to their personal learning styles, others might find it at least initially difficult and/or disorienting. Regardless, we have provided some resources below that might help you succeed in all course formats, in the Academic and Professional Writing Programs and beyond:
Located at 1205 Tawes Hal
EDCP 108B - Learning Strategies (1 Credit)
Offered through the University of Maryland Counseling Center Learning Assistance Service
Critical Reading & Writing: Individual Appointments
Offered through the University of Maryland Counseling Center Learning Assistance Service
Offered through the University of Maryland Counseling Center Learning Assistance Service
Located at 1117 Cole Student Activities Building
From the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Resources For Instructors
Blended Learning Pedagogical Resources
With more and more schools embracing Blended and fully online programs, numerous useful resources continue to emerge that help to clarify the rationale behind these approaches and the best practices Instructors are attempting to integrate into their courses. Below, find some useful resources from a variety of different schools and institutes:
- University of Central Florida Blended Learning Toolkit
- Flexible Learning Institute at Charles Sturt University
- Associated Colleges of the South: Resources for Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
- Next Generation Learning - Bryn Mawr
- Northern Arizona University Blended Learning
- EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative
- Clayton Christensen Institute: Blended Learning Universe
Professional Organizations/Conferences
For Writing Instructors:
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
- Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)
- Conference on English Education (CEE)
- Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)
- Society for Technical Communication (STC)
- Association for Business Communication (ABC)
For a comprehensive list of relevant blended/hybrid/online teaching organizations, find the following table compiled by The Blended Learning Toolkit offered by the University of Central Florida here.
Campus Resources