Lessons Learned: Hybrid Learning Abroad
Higher education in the U.S. has been under tremendous pressure – even before the pandemic – with declining domestic enrollment, financial issues, increasing overhead costs, and competition. The pandemic put tremendous financial pressure on many institutions, especially those new to online education and resources, and it exposed how ill-equipped most institutions were.
In addition, international programs stopped over a matter of weeks due to lockdowns around the world. This had, and will continue to have, a major financial impact on many U.S. schools relying on international students. Experiences during the pandemic highlighted how important it is to invest in IT resources, support, and infrastructure and to rethink how to create courses to support online and hybrid learning environments. There will be fierce competition for international students to recapture the market share and offset deficits.
A combination of online hybrid modality and experiential learning can create a meaningful learning environment for international students. It can also include support like emergency contacts and social and cultural activities. It is about creating a sense of community through IT, which is not something new to today’s students. This talk will present several new ways to re-think international programs and how to deal with these challenges and opportunities by presenting an online hybrid modality and experiential learning model. It will focus on how to become more entrepreneurial about designing new international programs leveraging IT and flexible learning models that will continue to attract international students and offer more options to the US students. It is about innovating international education in difficult times.
Presenter
- Dennis Anderson, St. Francis College
- Noah Rost, Arizona State University
- Cary Nathenson, CIEE