Teaching HyFlex

Resources: Pedagogies and practices

The following list contains helpful readings, research and technical details about video-conferencing including HyFlex (hybrid + flexible) learning format which includes video conferencing campus to campus.

Management Components
  1. Noise
    • consider protocols for who talks and when, how to signal when done, leaving some space for lag time, ensuring quality of speaking and enunciation, possibly keeping a speaker’s list/talking stick, ensuring everyone is aware of microphone location, doing some testing before a class, moving chairs/tables for optimal volume/noise, asking people to refrain from tapping pens, moving papers which contributes to background noise, giving cues when okay to move/make noise etc.
  2. Visual
    • consider the layout and location of people in all rooms so that visually everyone can see each other, practice a few layout options at beginning of term to ensure camera is positioned correctly, tape out area on floor where and how far you can walk/move to still be in visual of the camera, think about how well things appear on camera, clothing and types of colours and stripes show up well/not well on camera etc.
  3. Technology
    • take training, and become fully fluent in the buttons, power, and technology items (screens, operating pad etc) for the video conferencing to work, never turn off the system as it just goes to sleep and should never be turned off, have comfort in moving around the technology, knowing what to do and not to do, adjusting teaching to technology limitations
  4. Content
    • practice what will happen before your class in terms of how to share content digitally (e.g., a PowerPoint slidedeck or website) and also how to share content non-digitally (e.g., holding up something to show the students in the class and on the screen), consider things like font size of your slides (20-24 pt), good contrast on your slides (dark text on light background), don’t use underlining or italics, keep text to a few lines on a slide, use images etc.
  5. Learners
    • managing learners means ensuring you know where they are, who is attending each day, are they coming or going, leaving the room, out of view of the camera, how you’ll create groups or learning experiences with the learner numbers across all campuses
Teaching and Learning components
  1. Communications
    • consider how you are communicating to students before, during and after classes, are you sending an email or announcement in Brightspace and posting content a day or two prior to the class to give students time to read, download and consume before the in-class activities, are you pushing content and delivery of content to pre-class expectations and using the live class for application and activities, consider using well-organized discussion times that have protocols for who speaks and when, time for reflective thinking, times for campus-only discussions (and turning off the mics to have quiet in each campus), etc.
  2. Community Building
    • consider how you are building community in your class, how to do integrate students from the other campuses where you, the instructor, are not situated, how do you build cohesion amongst the students right from the beginning of each class, think about small activities for students to do to practice speaking and learning across the screens etc.
  3. Engagement
    • think about all the ways to make your class more than just sitting and listening to content and discussions, what other engaging ways can you build into your class that has students actively busy, engaged, thinking, planning, responding, presenting all the time so that the challenges of the distance and noise/visuals are overcome with very active students building responses, doing presentations, sharing their work, discussing with peers, responding back possibly digitally after class via Brightspace etc.

 

Resources: TeAcHING and LEARNING-Related for HyFlex
  • Hybrid/HyFlex Teaching & Learning
    • including What is HyFlex?, Getting Started with HyFlex Course Design, HyFlex Class Set-Up, HyFlex Strategies and Supporting Roles in the HyFlex Class
    • Centre for Teaching and Learning, Columbia University

 

resources: Technology-Related for HyFlex