In spring semester 2008, the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois will be restructuring one of its most popular courses, Severe and Hazardous Weather, to be taught in a blended learning or hybrid format. A blended learning course utilizes the combination of face-to-face lecture and online learning. Students will meet once per week for face-to-face lecture and spend the remaining class time engaged in the online component of the class. The online portion of the course aims to provide highly interactive exploration of the complex controls and processes of severe weather phenomenon and their societal impact. The motivation for a change in format from straight lecture to blended learning is to encourage student-centered learning. While online learning has become common across disciplines, few courses are truly of such a hybrid format. This presentation focuses on the process and challenges of preparing a blended learning course.

We encountered three areas of course development in the blended learning format that differ from traditional courses in higher education: planning the curriculum content, development of the online experience, and determining appropriate assessment tools to gauge student learning. We will summarize our experiences in navigating these three aspects of course planning as well as exhibit the web design of our online learning modules and materials including simulations, Java and Flash applications, podcasts, vodcasts and other various online learning tools.