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Like many avid exercisers, when it became clear in May 2020 that COVID-19 would keep me out of the gym for months to come, I explored getting a Peloton bike. Well, my excitement was short-lived: At 4′11″, I simply could not comfortably reach the handlebars. If they had been adjustable, if I could have pulled them closer by one inch — just one inch — the bike would have worked perfectly for me. 

Summary

In this piece, I make a case for why schools should lean into the hybrid and online course infrastructure that they have built during the pandemic. Hybrid and online courses and programs provide schools several advantages:

1. Increased flexibility, for both long-term and short-term student circumstances
2. Enhanced residential learning, by incorporating personalized course data, ongoing assessments, and richer media types
3. Better returns on investments already made, through continued emergency preparedness and differentiated education offerings for price-conscious audiences

Have you ever heard the joke about the IT leader who lost her job because she purchased off-the-shelf software? No? Me neither. How about the one about users hating their job after their company purchased off-the-shelf software? Unfortunately, I’ve heard that one a lot, and it’s not a joke. 

Extension Engine’s Online Learning Response Team (OLRT) takes a custom approach to help your institution move online quickly to address near-term needs, without losing sight of longer-term goals. Benefits include:

As the COVID-19 global health crisis continues and many universities are now delivering the remainder of their semester’s lessons remotely, educators must grapple with the issue of providing students feedback using a combination of traditional and non-traditional methods.