UNDERSTANDING LAUREATE'S EUROPEAN HYBRIDITY INITIATIVE

摘要

Laureate is the world's leading for-profit education provider with a network of close to 90 institutions around the globe, representing over 1,000,000 students. In 2015, Laureate embarked on a network wide initiative to achieve 25% hybridity by 2019. This goal entails the delivery of 25% of total contact hours in an online format at each institution. This represents a significant transformative mandate for all Laureate institutions. The goal originates in the broader recognition that education is rapidly changing, driven by new learner requirements and the evolution of learning technologies which are entering the classroom. These trends also imply the need for a significant rethinking of classroom pedagogy. In Europe the majority of Laureate's 15 institutions exemplify a traditional teaching and learning profile, hence the organization's hybridity goal represents a major transformational challenge. From a research perspective, Laureate's hybridity goals represents a unique opportunity to study the methods, impact, challenges and successes of online teaching and learning as these evolve across autonomous institutions, connected by a broader organizational imperative.