HyFlex Recommended Practices

The Goals of HyFlex Teaching

HyFlex is a mode of teaching meant to facilitate students’ learning whether they are present in-person or joining remotely. Instructors should reflect on their specific circumstances, the context of the students that may be registering in their course, and their teaching goals when considering how to design and structure their HyFlex courses. Instructors considering a HyFlex approach should do so with the following goals in mind:

Facilitating interactions between students.
Creating an equitable experience for both online and in-person students.
Facilitating the connection between students and the instructor.
Encouraging active participation and discussion.
Supporting greater accessibility and student flexibility.
Ensuring access to select courses for students unable to attend face to face courses.

With these considerations in mind, we’ve outlined several recommendations for HyFlex teaching.

Recommendations for HyFlex Teaching and Learning

: As HyFlex will most likely be a new modality for many students, keep things simple with the technology.

Use online course materials when possible.

Make all assessments online to ensure that everyone can equally participate.
: Reflect on the technology you will need to use for your course and plan accordingly. TLS is here to support you with educational workshops and training and individual consultations.

Familiarize yourself with the HyFlex space and technology by booking a room orientation.

Instructors should be comfortable facilitating web-conferencing meetings (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams).

Have a clearly defined plan for engaging with students in the online meeting, and communicate this plan to students.

For example, having online learners raise virtual hands or use chat, using breakout rooms for small group discussions, etc.
: Considering your course learning objectives, the diversity of your students and the classroom setup in mind, create a clearly defined plan on how you will conduct your class sessions and engage with students.

Have a recurring meeting link set up for class on your Brightspace course page.

Consider using a student volunteer or teaching assistant to help monitor the chat, to let you know when online learners have questions or comments, and to reduce your cognitive load during the live sessions.

For courses that contain a student presentation component, try to standardize presentation delivery choices (online submissions, recorded, etc.) to create an equitable experience between in class and online students.
: In HyFlex, all students who register for the class are in the same section and should be engaged whether they choose to attend class in person or online.

Use a coordinated system to ensure both online and in-class students have opportunities to participate (e.g., alternate taking comments from in person and online learners).

Facilitate interactions between face-to-face and online learners who wish to engage in back-and-forth discussions.

Use in class activities (e.g., Poll Everywhere, reflection questions) to regularly and simultaneously engage different groups of learners in any location.
: With HyFlex’s reliance on technology comes the opportunity for errors or technological glitches. You know this and so do your students – preparation is essential for knowing how to adjust when something inevitably goes amiss.

Allocate 10-15 minutes of your class time for the end in case you experience any challenges with technology or other unforeseen circumstances.

Consider recording your class sessions for accessibility and equity reasons (e.g., international students, childcare/eldercare concerns, illness, etc.).

To avoid lag while streaming an online video during class, instructors can provide a link to the video in the chat for online students.
: As this will be some of your students’ first experience with HyFlex learning, it is important to explain the relationship between the classroom and online spaces as early as possible.

Communicate your expectations for both in-person and online participation in the syllabus and be explicit about the technology students will be required to have access to for full participation in the course.

For example, since students have the flexibility to choose how they will attend each session, they will require a device and stable internet connection to switch between these modalities throughout the term.

Encourage students to perform regular updates on their web conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) throughout the term.
: During your first class, spend time introducing students to the HyFlex modality and explain the class structure.

Describe how you want to interact with students, and the appropriate channels they should use to interact with you during and outside of class.

Demonstrate how to navigate the class page and content, either with a quick ‘video tour’ of your course page, or by providing them with guidance documents.
: In-person classes provide opportunities for students to engage in casual and informal conversations with instructors either before or after class. By helping to create the space for these unscripted moments, you can allow students to make connections and build rapport with educators.

Consider starting the online meeting early or staying on a few minutes after the end to have informal conversations with students and create space for student questions.

Teaching assistants can assist with moderating communication between in-person and online learners.

Brightspace’s online discussion forums are a great tool for engaging learners in different modalities in the live session – you may also consider beginning a discussion in the live session that bridges into a discussion topic to be answered after the live session.

For small group tasks, online learners could engage in breakout rooms while those in class engage in a larger group discussion facilitated by instructor.