Alternative Delivery Models

Wilkes has defined Online Synchronous as courses that meet at a specific time, but using a virtual platform such as Zoom, Virtual Classroom (Bongo), or Goole Meet to hold live classes instead of meeting in-person. Be sure to visit the Online Synchronous Tools area of the Resource Bank to learn how to use these tools and their many features. Many people tend to think of this approach as a next best way to deliver a traditional class, but there are important considerations around student engagement, technology, and the very real zoom fatigue when determining how to teach effectively in this format. Learn more about zoom fatigue here: https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/05/11/zoom-fatigue-is-real-heres-why-youre-feeling-it-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

Here are some great resources for learning more about synchronous teaching.

This booklet, Leading Groups Online, provides both context and a significant number of strategies and tips to help you make the most of leading live class sessions in an engaging manner and yet how to be mindful of the current situation. A must read during this time of crisis.

The Stanford Teaching Commons has many articles for strategies and tips on synchronous teaching.

Watch the OTTL webinar on Effective Synchronous Sessions to learn about the various tool in the Virtual Classroom (Bongo) tool in D2L as well as tips and strategies to support student engagement in this environment.

Synchronous Online Classes: 10 Tips for Engaging Students

Related topics

Struggling to manage the chat feature in your synchronous classes? Review this helpful article on Managing the Chat in Online Teaching: What We Can Learn From Live Streamers

So you have decided to try a blended approach for your classes. Blended or hybrid courses can encompass a variety of strategies and sometimes cause a lot of confusion in regards to definitions and structure. We have distilled these various strategies down to two main categories and then describe options that exist within them. First, let's define the terms so it is clear what we mean when we refer to Hybrid and HyFlex.

Hybrid courses at Wilkes mean that some part of the course will occur face-to-face (F2F) and some will occur online. The percentage split can vary widely and anything that has any amount of F2F instruction, even just one meeting, is defined as hybrid at Wilkes.

When considering a hybrid model for your course, the best way to determine what should be done F2F and what can be done online is to start with the learning outcomes of the course. Identify what learning outcomes are best met through each mode and focus on using the F2F for the highest impact activities or using labs or equipment that aren't available online. Some key questions to ask yourself when designing a hybrid course are:

• What do students need to know and be able to do as a result of completing your course?

• What learning activities and assessments will allow students to develop and then demonstrate the learning outcomes?

• Of these activities, what is better suited to online and what is best done in-person?

• How does the class size effect the kind of activities I can use in-person?

• How do I organize the material and activities to fit with the number of in-person class meetings I have? What adjustments will I need to make?

These are just a few things to consider as you work through designing a course for hybrid delivery. Be sure to review the resources below for more in-depth information and suggested activities.

Models of hybrid course design

Hybrid models of course design can be driven or designed from different perspectives and different needs. Sometimes it's program design to meet student demands or interests and sometimes it is more of an internal or institutional need, such as needing to maximize space utilization, that pushes a course or program toward a hybrid design. Here are a few different ways to think about hybrid course design and the potential driving factors.

A hybrid course with a face-to-face emphasis is one where during the in-person classes faculty spend the time lecturing and delivering content to students and then use the online portion to reinforce the content through asynchronous discussions, practice activities, group work or other collaborative assignments, and providing opportunities for interaction. Technology tools can play a key role in supporting interaction both student to student and student to content.

Alternatively, a course set up with the online portion as the driver, will emphasize providing students with the content they need in the online environment typically through recorded lectures, external videos and resources, etc. and then bring students together to apply that content usually through active learning techniques.

The flipped classroom approach is an example of an online driven hybrid course. In a flipped model, students view pre-recorded lecture material, read the assigned textbook chapters and review any other preparatory material you assign before coming together for the in-person meeting. Then, the face-to-face time is used for discussion and application of the content they reviewed. Students come prepared to work with the material by applying it and discussing it. You might take a few minutes of class (no more than 10 of a 50 minute class) to review the most important points of what they were to have reviewed and then you move into activities. You might solve problems, you might work through case studies in small groups and have them report out, you might do experiments/demonstrations, or anything that gets students engaged with the content. In-person time would not be spent lecturing as that is better accomplished on the student's own time and does not allow you to provide support to them where they really need it. In a flipped model, you make the most of the time together by supporting students reaching the outcomes and practicing what they are to learn.

A lab rotation is another model of hybrid design where students only come together in-person to do hands-on aspects of the course or lab activities that would be difficult to reproduce online. All the other content and interaction is delivered online and even some lab activities might be replaced by virtual ones. Similarly

HyFlex is a combination of terms and approaches, hybrid and flexible. This means that there is a hybrid aspect of some online and some F2F but that it is flexible meaning that students can select whether to attend in-person or participate synchronously via videoconferencing system or participate in a fully asynchronous format. While this model has actually been around for at least 15 years, it has gained considerable traction this year as institutions look for creative solutions to deliver curricula during these tumultuous times. However, it is a considerable undertaking to design a course for this model to ensure you are engaging the students in all the different participation modes and that the technology in your classroom can adequately support the delivery. The key thing to remember about the hyflex approach is that the goal is for no "learning deficit", which means that we don't want any group of students to be at a learning disadvantage because of the option they chose. This means that instructors need to thoroughly plan for how they will operationalize this model in their classes.

The resources below will provide you with more than enough information on how to do that and what you need to consider as you finalize your course plans and syllabi. Start by reading through this article describing 6 Models for Blended Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Course Delivery to get you thinking about how to envision different approaches.

This book, Hybrid-Flexible Course Design by Brian J. Beatty, is the leading resource for creating HyFlex courses and describes the process and design considerations to help faculty construct a HyFlex course. It is a must read if you are doing HyFlex or some variation of it, which are also described in the book.

Listen to this webinar from Quality Matters and Kent State University faculty on Building a HyFlex Course to Support Student Success

Here are a variety of other resources to learn more about HyFlex teaching.

• 7 Things You Should Know About the HyFlex Course Model

• Top Tips for Designing a HyFlex Course

• https://philonedtech.com/covid-19-planning-for-fall-2020-a-closer-look-at-hybrid-flexible-course-design/ - great explanation that includes an a set of activities that could be used (just a portion, link provided to full set)

• Visit the HyFlex Learning blog and skim through to find topics of interest on HyFlex teaching

• https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/01/24/blendflex-lets-students-toggle-between-online-or-face-face

If you like podcasts, here are a few on the subject.

• Podcast on BlendFlex https://cdl.ucf.edu/topcast-s06e71/

• https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/hyflex-learning/

• An interview with Brian Beatty on HyFlex Course Design

Here are a few useful resources about building a hybrid model class.

• This article on Getting Started with Designing a Hybrid Learning Course from Cornell University's Center for Teaching Innovation provides a good overview of things to consider, suggested activities and a comparison of hybrid to traditional learning.

• This is an excellent article that discusses Questions to Consider As You Prepare to Teach Your First Hybrid Course

• https://learning.northeastern.edu/hybrid-course-design/

• https://www.pearsoned.com/7-tips-from-research-for-effective-hybrid-teaching/