Travel Adds Special Touch to Hybrid Courses

Students in a summer 2008 hybrid course titled “Berlin: Culture in a City Divided” will not merely read about and engage in online discussions on the German city that epitomizes Cold War struggles: They will spend a week in Berlin and experience firsthand its fascinating complexity.

In general, university hybrid courses combine face-to-face classroom study with an online component. As the previous example indicates, however, face time for hybrid courses at Webster University means students and instructors come together at a location that tops off the learning experience.

It’s what might be expected from a university with more than 100 campuses worldwide and whose mission includes promoting international perspectives.

Dr. Paula Hanssen, Assistant Professor of German, is the instructor for “Berlin: Culture in a City Divided.” The course is open to students in any field but is especially relevant for students of German or international relations/international studies. Its study tour dates are June 6-15, with online coursework taking place from May 28 to July 4.

From left, "Cultural Capitals" students Lindsey Schifko, Claire Bettale, Jessie Elliot, and Laura Ortballs on a bridge over the Seine River in Paris.

Hanssen said Webster’s hybrid classes, which require research and a culminating online project, offer academic rigor as well as the opportunity to travel. She is
a firm believer in their academic value.

According to Hanssen, hybrid courses’ travel component is often more manageable for students—in terms of time as
well as money—than other
study abroad trips. She added that the short duration of hybrid courses’ study tours gives working students a chance to study abroad, too.

Hanssen has collaborated with Dr. Roy Tamashiro, Professor of Education in the School of Education’s Department of Multidisciplinary Studies, on two hybrid courses: “Vienna: Culture in the Classroom ” (2005) and “Globalization: Austria & Slovakia” (2007).

As is true of other hybrid courses, these courses were crosslisted in several disciplines, making them accessible to a variety of students. Webster’s worldwide network of campuses also contributed to the international makeup of the ““Globalization: Austria & Slovakia” course. That class included a Swedish student from the London campus and a Bulgarian student from the Vienna campus.

Tamashiro said hybrid courses can have a powerful effect on students.

Roy Tamashiro and Paula Hanssen (center, kneeling) with students in Vienna

“The combination of travel and studies, along with the guidance we give them, allows for significant change,” he said. “It changes the way they think, how they think about themselves, and how they think about the world.”

Students spoke highly of Hanssen’s 2007 “Cultural Capitals” class, during which they spent four days each in Paris and Vienna. The study tour took place during last year’s spring break; the course’s online component was from Feb. 26 to Mar. 30, 2007

“It’s so much easier to do research and write papers on the topic of cities and culture after the student has experienced these places firsthand, and I think it’s wonderful that Webster allows for that opportunity,” said Claire Bettale, currently a senior in social science.

Lindsey Schifko, a graduate student at the University of Memphis and a senior in art history at the time of the trip, said the course’s online component was a good preparation for the study tour to Paris and Vienna. Another learning technique she appreciated was each student’s research on a relevant person or place, which was presented during the European trip.

Schifko also enjoyed observing and comparing the two cities in terms of culture and history.

“Strolling the giant avenues, resting in cafes, visiting the marvelous palaces, and listening to classical music…this trip was a complete immersion into places that we’ve only had the chance to read about or see on television,” she said.

Schifko said she wished she could have spent an entire week in Paris as well as Vienna, but she was still enthusiastic about her European experience and said it greatly enhanced her studies.

Hanssen said hybrid courses’ study tours not only foster learning, but they also test students’ preconceived notions about a culture.

“The required travel gives students the challenge of going into a completely new environment and negotiating their expectations against the immediacy of the new culture surrounding them,” she said.

For more information on upcoming hybrid courses:

• “Berlin: Culture in a City Divided” (Summer 2008), contact Dr. Paula Hanssen, 314-968-7054 or hanssen@webster.edu
• "Global Issues in China" (Summer 2008), contact Dr. Roy Tamashiro, 314-968-7098 or tamashiro@webster.edu