Originally posted on September 13, 2011 by Brian Beatty
In the early days of HyFlex, “good enough” was good enough. It seems the bar has been raised with my own students and even in my own expectations, which is, I believe, a good and natural thing.
What used to be good enough? Basically, providing a functional way for both online students and F2F students to meet learning objectives was all that I needed to provide. Most students were so grateful for a way to complete course requirements without having to be on campus for every class meeting that they were willing to take on the responsibility for engaging with the content and others as much as they needed to learn. If I could provide good content (text, readings, other expert resources), application activities they could access and complete, and some form of interaction with peers and the instructor, that was “good enough.”
I have one class of 20 graduate students studying the field and practice of Distance Education with a focus on Online Learning. We are using a HyFlex course format (of course) and they are providing plenty of feedback, both in person and indirectly through their own weekly reflection posts. Many of these students have already completed one or more HyFlex courses and now they have the chance to study and explore the issues around online teaching and learning, including a variety of hybrid approaches. Essentially they are telling me that my “good enough” isn’t really good enough anymore. They want better technical quality, more online interaction, better integration of online and F2F experiences, and more meaningful online activities. Good for them! They are getting the message of the course and starting to think like ID professionals. And for me? Perhaps they are providing the challenge I need to push my own implementation of HyFlex to the next level.
I’ll write more about specific improvements I’ve implemented as the semester progresses.