OTAN News
Learning More About HyFlex
At the just-concluded COABE 2022 National Conference, there were a number of sessions that focused on instructors organizing HyFlex instruction and classrooms. Although HyFlex has been around since the 2000s, it has seen a surge in interest during the last year as educators coming out of COVID-19 consider new ways to organize instruction that blends in-person and online learning environments. What distinguishes HyFlex from other blended or hybrid learning models is the addition of flexibility (hence, HyFlex) in terms of how students can access the course; students can join the course in-person or online, joining online can be either synchronously or asynchronously, and students can join whichever learning environment they prefer at any point in the course.
Many of the HyFlex sessions referenced a book from Brian Beatty, a professor at San Francisco State University, titled Hybrid-Flexible Course Design: Implementing Student-Directed Hybrid Classes (available as a free Online Educational Resource on the Edtech Books website). Beatty's book is a great starting point for understanding the fundamentals of HyFlex and how to begin implementing HyFlex in our adult education programs. The book is divided into three units:
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Unit I: Hybrid-Flexible Course Design to Support Student-Directed Learning Paths – This unit explains the rationale for offering HyFlex courses and programs, answering important questions related to "why."
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Unit II: Implementation and Adoption of Hybrid-Flexible Instruction – This unit explains how to build and deploy HyFlex courses with specific focused discussions on the varied experiences and perspectives of major stakeholders: faculty, students, administration, and institution.
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Unit III: Hybrid-Flexible Implementations Around the World – This unit provides specific case reports from institutions and faculty who have direct experience implementing HyFlex courses in their own unique context.
We also invite you to watch our OTAN Tech Talk from last fall on the HyFlex model being implemented in one adult education program: Simultaneous Instruction Using the HyFlex Model