The first step to preparing to teach in a HyFlex class is to develop your course site as if you were teaching a fully online class. The University at Buffalo Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) has a detailed website about Online Teaching. You may also want to contact your departmental instructional support staff for guidance and school specific resources.

Developing a comprehensive course site in Blackboard/UB Learns is an important part of teaching effectively using the HyFlex model. This will be the primary means you use to communicate, and provide information and resources to your students.  

When preparing to teach your class you need to pay attention to both pedagogical and technology considerations.

Become familiar with the specific technology in your classroom

• Different rooms will have different levels of technology; ranging from you having to supply your own laptop and webcam; to rooms that have full video, audio, and recording capabilities built-in
• Log in and set up your UB Zoom and UB Panopto accounts for automatic recording and storing of course presentations. See: Video on Zoom/Panopto UB Learns integration
• Attend one of the UBIT training sessions or view training videos explaining how the technology in your classroom functions (Link to training website)
• If possible, do a test run in your assigned technology classroom prior to the first class to ensure you’re comfortable with how everything
  

Prepare a technology back up plan and share it with your students so they know what to do in case the technology malfunctions

• Use this sample Planning for Technology Issues document as a guide.

Teaching to a classroom full of in-person students while connected simultaneously to other students, through video conferencing, is challenging! To be successful you need to plan ahead:

• Start by thinking about the learning outcomes for your class and choose activities that will align with your outcomes. You will need to consider if the activities differ based upon whether the students are present or connecting remotely and decide how you will make sure that all your students can participate effectively. 
  • This Comparison of Seated, Remote, and Online Courses can help you identify the differences in each modality.
  • Plan and choose activities in a way that will allow you to reach the multiple audiences in your class.
  • Vanderbilt University has a good blog post that describes activities you can use to promote Active Learning in Hybrid and Physically Distanced Classrooms
• Plan and identify the timing for each learning activity and how to engage both your remote and in-class students.
  • View an Example of HyFlex sessions for 50 and 75 minute Class Sessions to get an idea of how to outline your class activities to target both remote and in-class students.
• If you are just planning on lecturing or presenting large amounts of materials, consider recording these and making them available ahead of time through your course site. This “flipped classroom” style can save class time for more interactive activities while enabling more time to respond to questions about the content.
• If you are planning on using small group activities, consider how you will have the students work in these groups together when some students are in the classroom and others are online.
• If you typically use the chalk/white board during your class, make sure your camera captures it clearly for the remote audience, or explore using a document camera or another device with a stylus to capture writing and formulas
• If you typically do in-class quizzes or tests consider using the assessment tools in Blackboard/UB Learns.

Once you have finished planning how to teach your course and conducting a “test run,” you’re ready to deliver the class. The student “look and feel” will vary depending upon which modalities you are planning on offering.

• Good communication is critically important when teaching HyFlex, this includes: 
  • Posting information in your syllabus about attendance options and requirements.
  • Providing easily printed, concise schedules with important due dates and deliverables to help keep your students on track.
  • Posting materials and messaging that you typically would hand out in class to your course site.
  • Timely posting links to your session recordings in the course site.
• Again, if possible run a test session prior to the first class so you are familiar with the technology and how it works in your specific classroom. If you don’t pre-test, you risk eating up the entire first class just working through technology issues.
• Get to class early and try to have all of the technology up and running at least five minutes before the class is scheduled to start.
• If you are using multiple devices during the class, or you have students connecting to the videoconference while in the room, make sure that there is only one active microphone and one active set of speakers (not including headphones) to prevent feedback. 
• Remind students that they must “mute” after asking questions.
• When taking student questions;
  • Make sure to repeat in-class questions to enable remote students to hear them.
  • Even if your classroom is equipped with audience microphones, it’s a good practice to repeat seated questions until both seated and remote students understand how the technology functions.
  • Likewise, check to make sure seated students can hear remote student questions/comments and repeat as necessary. 
• Have a TA, or designate a student in the room who has a laptop, to monitor chats for questions as you are conducting the class
• When recording your sessions and making them available to students:
  • Inform students that the sessions will be recorded and allow them the option to turn off their cameras if connecting remotely, or to select seats  in the classroom which will not typically be captured on camera.
  • Use Panopto to store your videos, Zoom recordings are only available for 100 days, and may disappear before the end of the semester
  • If you are recording and planning to use your sessions in future semesters don’t reference specific dates, instead refer students to the course site where those deadlines are posted and updated each semester.

Articles and Books about the HyFlex model

• Hybrid-Flexible Course Design: Implementing student-directed hybrid classes Brian J. Beatty

          This is an open educational textbook that describes the HyFlex Model

• 7 Things you should know about the Hyflex Model - Educause

          2 page fact sheet on what Hyflex is, where it is going, and what the implications are for Higher Ed.

Resources covering specific teaching strategies

• Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching

          This is a good resource for thinking through issues of getting started with HyFlex teaching.  Their main website also provides good resources.

• University at Miami Guide to Hybrid teaching

This has some excellent resources on how to structure your learning activities to reach both your seated and remote students. Just note they use the term Hybrid as opposed to HyFlex, but we are describing the same type of delivery.

• GCC - Hyflex Course Development Guide

This is a longer document that walks you through the entire process of developing a HyFlex course. It has some helpful tables and charts outlining differences in activities depending on how students are attending the class. It also has some good worksheets to help faculty outline their learning objectives and how to align those with learning objectives and assessments.

Video Resources

• Introducing HyFlex Course Design
• What is Hyflex Teaching and When Should we use it?
• Hyflex Teaching

Even More Resources