Hybrid learning for teaching computer fundamentals to 700 first year undergraduate students in 7-weeks

This paper describes the pedagogy of how the 7-week course on computer fundamentals is introduced and taught to a class of 700 first year undergraduate students from the schools of business and computing. The computer fundamentals course itself covers theoretical topics such as the hardware and software of computers, information systems and programming basics as well as practical topics such as using office productivity software and basic programming. This course was conducted using a hybrid learning approach in which video lectures were used in conjunction with face-to-face practical work. The design, method, experience and recommendations from conducting this course will be presented. Feedback from 261 students regarding how the teaching had benefited their learning on average is 61% positive, 11% negative and the remaining were neutral.