A brief explanation of teaching learning modalities at Garrett:
- In-Person: A 100% real-time course taking place on campus or at other locations, with set meeting times during semesters, J-terms, or summer terms, in which instructor(s) and learners are in the same learning environment. This includes domestic and travel seminars, and weekend intensives.
- Travel: A subset of in-person courses, courses that involve travel outside of the Chicago-area (eg., Proctor Conference, Holy Land, Rome, etc) will be flagged as Travel courses to distinguish them from courses meeting primarily in other locations
- Hybrid: A course with blended in-person and online components designed by the instructor, in which students must meet in-person and/or online during the meeting times and modality preset for the course. The online component may be synchronous or asynchronous. All students must engage the same modality set by the instructor.
- Blended Synchronous: A course offered as in-person and synchronous online at the same time; in-class and remote learners engage in the same learning environment. Students may choose which modality to participate in from week to week. Instructors will track the modalities and notify the registrar’s office at the end of the term.
- Online - Synchronous: Fully online course in which all learners participate in preset meeting times as live sessions.
- Online - Asynchronous: Fully online course in which learners complete preset course work fully online with no set meeting times. There would be no required live sessions.
- Online – Mix of Synchronous and Asynchronous (or “Bichronous”): A fully online course that combines synchronous and asynchronous engagement for all students. Students must follow the modality as predetermined by the course.
- HyFlex: A course that is designed for both synchronous (in-person and online) and asynchronous online engagement, and students may choose how to participate from session to session.
Note: There will courses designed such that in-person and online learners meet synchronously, but they may not switch modality without prior approval of the instructor.
Additional Important Notes:
- As of summer 2021, Federal policy considers a course with any online component, regardless of the percentage, to be an online course.
- International students in the US with F-1 visas are limited to one (1) online course/semester. International students who remain in their home countries do not have such restrictions.
- Our strategic plan commits us to ensuring that all master’s students can complete their degrees both in person and fully online.
- Per ATS, PhD students may do up to 50% of their coursework “remotely.” This includes any courses taken online as well as courses taken at other schools (as we currently require for most of our programs).
--updated 3/15/2023