Question:
- What is HyFlex and how can faculty prepare for HyFlex instruction?
Answer:
What is HyFlex?
HyFlex is a student-centered approach to offering a class in more than one modality. Faculty typically are present in the classroom for every scheduled class session, but students can choose to attend flexibly, in person or remotely, as best meets their needs each week.
Is HyFlex the same as hybrid?
Not for the purposes of this article. Here HyFlex refers particularly to the idea that a student may chose any given week to attend class in person or remotely via some web-conferencing application such as Zoom. Ensuring equivalent learning activities and outcomes each week for either modality presents specific challenges for faculty and the resources herein are meant to address those challenges. Faculty should consult with their department and academic program coordinator to decide or confirm what delivery method applies to a given course. Metro State’s current, general definitions of delivery methods may provide some guidance.
What classrooms are ready for HyFlex?
Not every classroom at Metro State can be used for HyFlex. Flexible teaching classrooms have room-wide mics, cameras, and multiple displays to ensure equivalent experiences between in-person and remote students. Rooms noted in Zoom capable rooms as “Flexible teaching classrooms” will be assigned to courses scheduled as HyFlex. Other Zoom capable classrooms should not be considered adequate for HyFlex classes though they may have some of the capabilities. If you plan to teach HyFlex, consult your academic program coordinator to make sure the course is coded correctly and that an appropriate room is scheduled.
How can faculty prepare to teach HyFlex?
There are technological and pedagogical considerations. This article addresses primarily technological concerns. Where it refers to pedagogical concerns, it is not meant as a guide but rather a reminder and a reference to where else you can get help with such questions.
Can faculty adapt an existing online or hybrid course for HyFlex?
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Yes, but with emphasis on the need to adapt. For that matter, faculty can start with an existing face-to-face class, but it might be easier to start with a class where many materials and assessments are already online.
Plan your course and prepare your materials:
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First, give yourself enough time. Consider meeting with an instructional designer as early as possible for help developing a timeline and plan for designing or adapting the course, or for reviewing a course you have prepared.
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If one starts with a synchronous online course, most course activities and assessments will also work for face-to-face students with fewer adjustments aside from technology considerations. If adapting an asynchronous course or an in-person synchronous course, a careful review of objectives, assessments, and activities is warranted. Adjust activities or develop alternatives to make sure that in-person and online students will have equivalent experiences. Dr. Brian Beatty in Hybrid Flexible Course Design provides worksheet examples for analyzing course learning objectives (fig. 1.4.2), planning student learning activities (fig. 1.4.3), and assessing outcomes (fig. 1.4.4) that may be helpful with this planning process.
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Other examples of HyFlex preparation worksheets among the many available online from institutions ranging from community college to R1 include:
Set up your course in D2L Brightspace:
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Use D2L Brightspace to deliver the same assessments to all students regardless of where they are attending class on a given night. Content, quizzes, and written assignments can all be delivered, managed, and evaluated online. Request a blank site in D2L for developing your course if that would be helpful.
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Once set up, a D2L Brightspace site designed for HyFlex will in many cases work well for any modality. An original principle of HyFlex was reusability: a built-out course and materials for HyFlex can be used for other modalities, though it’s always a good idea to consult an instructional designer for a course review.
Prepare for course delivery:
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Consider your teaching style. Choose the technology that works for you and the activities you want to use during class. Do you plan to show videos, use break-out rooms or polls? What active learning activities do you plan to use for in-person students? Have you thought of a way to provide the equivalent experience for remote students? Do you have a way for remote and in-person students to work together?
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Consult an academic technologist if you have questions about what technology or software is available to support your teaching plan.
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Before the first day of class, request a demonstration of the room’s technology. Practice with it. Do you need to switch cameras? Adjust angles? Are there presets? Can you get the microphone to work? Can you get the computer audio to work? In other words, try out the things you will do during class.
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When you schedule your class Zoom meeting, make sure it is set up the way you want. Do you want students to sign in first for attendance purposes? Do you want a waiting room enabled? Or do you want as few barriers as possible? If you don’t know how to check or change these settings, get help.
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Consider a dry run with a colleague where you practice the tasks you expect to do during class, such as starting a meeting, starting a recording, and sharing your screen.
Pre-class checklist:
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Make sure course materials such as slides, lecture notes, pre-assessments are available in D2L before class.
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Show up early. Turn on and connect the devices you plan to use such as the instructor station computer, projectors, or your laptop.
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Check camera orientation to match your plan for the session.
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Sign in to your video conferencing meeting (Zoom or Teams for example). Check the waiting room if you have it enabled.
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Open D2L Brightspace and any other applications you plan to share. Share your application windows or screens as appropriate.
Tips for during class:
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As students arrive in person, assign a student to be the chat liaison and let you know about any technical issues with the virtual meeting. This role can be rotated and come with extra participation points or be volunteer.
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Check in with online and in-person students, acknowledging individuals by name.
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Start the recording if you plan to record the lecture.
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Alternate between in-person and remote students when asking for feedback. Be explicit about telling the remote students to unmute or add questions to the chat when checking in.
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Repeat student questions to make sure remote students hear it, though hearing it again benefits all students.
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Remember to stop the recording at the end of the class session, especially if any students want to chat after class. If a remote student wants to chat after class, consider ending the class session and having them join you in your personal Zoom meeting room instead.
Technology Tools in Support of HyFlex, online, and active learning:
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D2L Brightspace – Share course materials, videos, quizzes, submission folders, grades and more for all students.
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Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor – enhance the integrity of tests given remotely through D2L Brightspace.
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Zoom – host your class session for remote learnings. Record the session for all students to use as reference. Record mini lectures or respond to muddiest points and post in D2L before class.
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Share your screen, whether materials form D2L or the Zoom whiteboard.
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Use breakout rooms for think-pair-share and other active learning and discussion activities.
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Use the chat feature to engage with remote participants, collecting questions and feedback.
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Use the polling feature for active learning.
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Kaltura MediaSpace – Zoom meetings recorded to the cloud are automatically saved in Kaltura Mediaspace. The integration with D2L makes it easy to add and share videos with your class.
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Teams – Use as an alternative to Zoom for hosting class sessions with many of the same features. Or create a Team and add your students to it. Use it for collaboration around documents and discussion.
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Microsoft 365 – Inside of Teams or not, use Word and other apps online for collaborative notetaking, polling with Forms, and student assignments.
Help and Training
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Contact an instructional designer for help with course design and review and other pedagogical questions.
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Talk to your library liaison for help identifying films, articles, and OER resources to support your objectives.
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Get help or individualized training with D2L, Zoom, and other academic technology by phone, email, Zoom—whatever works for you. Contact an instructional technologist via service.center@metrostate.edu, 651-793-1240, or the service portal.
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Participate in a workshop or other training:
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Frequent webinars, short courses, and learning communities are offered by NED, Minnesota State Network for Education Development: