Satasha L. Green, Ph.D., dean of NYIT’s School of Education, is a strong proponent of online learning that promotes critical thinking.

Blended Courses on the Rise

A U.S. Department of Education meta-analysis that examined dozens of studies on the effectiveness of traditional, online, and blended courses concluded that well-designed online or blended courses can promote better learning than traditional courses, and that blended courses are optimal. But Glazer, editor of Blended Learning: Across the Disciplines, Across the Academy (New Pedagogies and Practices for Teaching in Higher Education), acknowledges that some educators find it challenging to make the transition to the new formats.

“For many faculty members, it’s a new way of thinking about teaching and learning,” she says. “They’re often creating completely new materials. They have to make sure online and on-ground components are well integrated, and they need to make sure students see their professors in both places and realize both aspects of the course are essential.”

School of Education Dean Satasha L. Green, Ph.D., disputes a notion held by some detractors that online courses water down a curriculum.

“You can still have a rigorous program and students come out as critical learners and thinkers and not just able to regurgitate information that has been lectured to them,” she says.

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