Barriers and challenges of hybrid instruction

While there are many advantages of using a blended approach for a course, there are also barriers of which faculty should be aware of before starting in order to be well-informed about the approach on which they are about to begin.  Some of these barriers can be avoided by talking with an instructional designer.

Barriers for faculty

• Implementing blended learning requires additional faculty time and effort (Kaleta, et, al., 2007; Lee and Im, 2006; Lefor and Hedberg, 2006).
• Many faculty members incur the additional workload cost because they see the benefits of blended learning for student learning (Starenko et al.,2007).
• Faculty members need to be comfortable with risk-taking: adopting or adapting technologies and pedagogies.
• Faculty members need support from their department, school, campus, and tenure committees.

Barriers for students

• Students can have difficulty learning on their own and not be able to immediately ask questions if they are unsure about the material (Kennedy and Newcombe, 2011).
• Students need to understand what will happen in and out of the classroom when they select a “blended” course.
• Students have typical barriers related to cost, time, location, available learning & teaching preference.