The Incredible Flexible Hyflex! The Best Practices of the Ultra-Flexible Hyflex Course

Concurrent Session 1

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Planning learning pathways for face-to-face synchronous, remote synchronous, and asynchronous students can be tricky. We will explore the learning map from course objective to gradebook with an in-depth how-to. Highlighted are the advantages and disadvantages of the modality, best practices, and a look inside a live Hyflex course.Planning learning pathways for face-to-face synchronous, remote synchronous, and asynchronous students can be tricky. We will explore the learning map from course objective to gradebook with an in-depth how-to. Highlighted are the advantages and disadvantages of the modality, best practices, and a look inside a live Hyflex course.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Timothy Loatman, Collegis Education

Former faculty member in communication and college administrator. Currently applying those skills in the teaching and learning discipline of online learning.

Co-presenter: Rebecca Anderson, Collegis Education

Extended Abstract

The pandemic has forced us into adopting hybrid modalities in all areas of everyday life. In fact, the success behind transforming into a hybrid society has many questioning the value of ever returning completely to in-person interactions. Students have quickly adopted the convenience of online and hybrid options. At the same time, many are quite satisfied with attending classes from their dorm room while enjoying all the social benefits of a campus.

To be successful in this new world, institutions must take a student-centric approach while recognizing the changing preferences of their students and deliver the flexibility they want and need.

The Hyflex Learning Experience

HyFlex is a course design model that combines the common terms “hybrid” and “flexible”. Originally designed by Dr. Brian Beatty for his graduate courses at San Francisco State University, the primary feature of the HyFlex model is that students have choices. Students determine how they participate in the class and engage with the material in a mode that works best for them throughout the course and from session to session.

With the HyFlex Model, learners can choose one of three learning paths:

  1. Face-to-face synchronous classroom sessions, which may be supplemented by resources or activities in the learning management system (LMS).
  2. Student joins classroom sessions synchronously via a conference tool (e.g., WebEx, Zoom, Teams); resources or activities in the LMS may also supplement this path.
  3. Student participates asynchronously in the class via recorded video and content and learning experiences in the learning management system (LMS).

 

With the HyFlex Model, class meetings and materials are made available so that learners can access them in-person or online during or after the class sessions have met. This delivery mode aims to offer learners the maximum amount of choices possible and allow participants to change and adapt their learning path from one class meeting to another. Regardless of the learning path chosen, all learners will achieve the same learning objectives.

Advantages of Hyflex

  1. Hyflex allows students to choose the modality they would like day by day. As Colleges look to capture more markets, they will need to respond to the demands of students (“Online Leaders to Prioritize Online Flexibility Post Pandemic” – Chronicle of Higher Ed). Now, post-pandemic, most students have had some experience with remote learning … and they like it. 
  2. Hyflex scheduling allows schools to schedule just one section of a course rather than multiple sections. For example, University X would no longer have to schedule a Residential section of Psychology 100 AND an online section of Psychology 100. They can experience the instructional efficiency of filling Hyflex sections.
  3. Hyflex allows schools to avoid instructional interruption. Virtually all schools experienced some interruption during the pandemic. Currently, schools with Hyflex courses can continue during any external events: weather events, security events, or even another pandemic would be minimally intrusive on learning since schools could advise teachers and students to be remote “as needed.” 

This presentation will discuss best practices when building a Hyflex course and look inside a live class so attendees can see how it is constructed and how it operates.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a fundamental understanding of when Hyflex is beneficial, as well as the steps to take when building, including tips and tricks for the best Hyflex experience.