A New Mode of Learning in Higher Education: The Partnership Hybrid Class

There are several major problems facing higher education today. These include skyrocketing tuition, administrative bloat, need to improve the quality of education, and the necessity of moving away from old-fashioned lecture approach and using technology to make education more relevant. This paper describes a new way of teaching a course which we shall refer to as a partnership hybrid. Partnership hybrids are tightly coordinated classes with the same course materials, same syllabus and course outline, same homework assignments, coordinated exams, etc. The advantage of this approach includes more resources for students, an active approach to education, and saved classroom space. It is is an intriguing way save money without sacrificing quality. A specific example of the use of this new mode of instruction is presented and future research possibilities are discussed.