A HyFlex class provides students with the choice and flexibility of participating with the course in person or remotely. The remote option may be offered synchronously or asynchronously. At UB, this means students may be able to choose among coming to campus for an in-person experience, viewing the course lecture live via videoconferencing, or working through the course materials at a convenient time for them.
A Hybrid-Flexible or Hyflex course is a student-centered model of class delivery that can integrate in-class instruction, online synchronous video sessions and asynchronous content delivery. As an instructor, you deliver the class as you would in a regular classroom, but students may attend in person, participate in the class through video conferencing or watch a recording of the class session.
This model provides the most flexibility for students, but from the instructor’s perspective it can be challenging because you need to pay attention to and plan for multiple audiences. Effectively teaching with this model requires much more planning than teaching to a regular class or even to an online-only class.
When you are preparing to teach a HyFlex course you need to plan as if you were teaching an online course and you need to plan for how you will manage your in-class learning activities so that they are engaging for people in the room and connected synchronously.
When designing course materials and planning learning activities, make sure you’re taking into account any accessibility needs your students may have.
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 Learning Management System Support website offers tutorials and training to help you start building your online course.
Developing a comprehensive course site is an important part of teaching effectively using the HyFlex model. This will be the primary means you use to provide information and resources to your students and to communicate with them.
Many publishers offer additional content beyond the textbook (e.g. Pearson). Many of these resources require an additional cost from students.
Become familiar with the specific technology in your classroom
Prepare a technology back up plan and share that with your students so they know what your expectations are in case there are issues with the technology.
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:
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.
Communication
Good communication is critically important when teaching HyFlex, this includes:
Conduct a Test Run
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.
Preparation
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.
Student Questions
When taking student questions;
Chat Moderation
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
Recording Sessions
When recording your sessions and making them available to students:
When conducting discussions in a HyFlex format you need to plan your discussion activities to engage both your present students and those connecting remotely.
Recommendation: You will need TAs to help facilitate large classes.
The University at Buffalo Office of the Registrar's policy on tracking course participation in all courses. In order to ensure compliance with financial aid regulations, the University at Buffalo must confirm eligibility requirements for each student at various times throughout the semester. When determining the proper grade to assign, faculty should consider whether and when students participated in any academically-related activities. For more information on how to grade participation, visit the Office of the Registrar's Participation Tracking page.
At the time of grade entry, faculty will be required to provide participation information for all students to whom they are assigning an F grade.
For more information, visit the Office of the Registrar's F-Grading Participation Tracking page.
For help with learning how to use the technology in your classroom or for support on how to use Panopto or Zoom contact the UBIT helpdesk or visit their support site, UB Information Technology.
If you need Instructional Support or UB Learns Support, please conact the Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation via the following links (UB login required):