Engaging and Inspiring Hybrid and Online Student Group Projects

First, let me explain the difference between a hybrid student from a fully online student. According to Webster dictionary, hybrid is “something that is formed by combining two or more things”. What is the best way to get... [ view full abstract ]

First, let me explain the difference between a hybrid student from a fully online student. According to Webster dictionary, hybrid is “something that is formed by combining two or more things”. What is the best way to get hybrid students excited about working in a group project setting with online student? Is it just me, or do other Professors also struggle with in hybrid students not wanting to have fully online students placed into their groups? All criteria stays the same the only difference is having the same number of hybrid students equal to that of online students in a group. First let me outline how to engage students with being apart of a group project. Each student becomes the masters of their own design! We all know that group projects are just as strenuous on the Professor as they are on each student group. Some group projects may be mandated and simply out of the Professor’s control. A question that thousands of Professors ask themselves, how do we go about getting students engaged if we can’t even begin to engage one’s self? Throw into the mix of having hybrid students and fully online students in the same course and things can go amiss pretty quickly. What is it that scares hybrid students so much about working with a fully online student? The most popular answer that I get from in hybrid students is that they do not like working with a student that is not physically in class. Even though online students may be logged into each class session, some hybrid students still feel as if they are not really “in the course”. Having a group project in which hybrid students and online students have to work together may just bridge the gap between the unconscious minds believing that not seeing is well, not believing. Think back to when you were in college and you had to work in a group setting, do you remember one group in which everything ran smoothly? I can honestly say that I never had the pleasure of working in a group where I felt all work was allocated between all group members. As Professor’s we want our students to walk away first knowing the information. We also want students to be inspired by not only the subject matter but by what other valuable information they are able to learn from other classmates. Group projects do not have to be as horrendous and tedious as they have been in the past. In this paper, I will outline the important ways of how to engaging and inspire hybrid and fully online students. This paper will also show how group projects can bridge the gap between hybrid and fully online students.