|
In many schools, the Fall 2022 term is now almost complete; final exams and projects, and papers are still left to complete (and grade) for most. Recent course mode patterns have been largely consistent for Spring 2023: 1) students are asking for more online sections so they can either avoid commuting or manage their complex lives better and 2) administrators want to bring more and more classes back fully on campus (with little or no flexibility). In many schools, the schedule reflects the administration's perspective more than the students. What will students do? If enrollments continue to go down despite pleas to return to fully on-campus courses and programs, will this change for Fall 23? Will schools that have been better at listening to students' requests offer more well-designed flexible offerings? One would hope so.
What about your institution? Are your faculty and students ready for Spring 2023 in terms of course modes and readiness for HyFlex, if it is available?
HyFlex in the News
Several recent news articles associated with HyFlex teaching and learning:
1. Quality Matters Report: Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) - "Chief Online Officers predict that by 2025, programs that mix on-campus and online learning experiences would become the norm for undergraduate students, graduate students, and adult learners." Notably, 60% of the COO's surveyed reported the use of multi-modal courses (such as HyFlex) at their institution. Download the report from the QM site (they'll ask for contact info) - https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/resource-center/articles-resources/CHLOE-7-report-2022
2. California State University Northridge increases student choice with HyFlex courses. [News report] https://sundial.csun.edu/171445/news/different-class-options-increase-student-choice/. Bonus link to CSUN HyFlex explanation of their approach to HyFlex: https://www.csun.edu/it/hyflex
3. Santa Fe Community College plans HyFlex classes for Spring 2023. [news report] https://ladailypost.com/sfcc-spring-2023-registration-opens-nov-8/
4. The Future of Hybrid International Education. This article from FE News (UK) describes how HyFlex courses and programs support international students connecting to learning from anywhere in the world. https://www.fenews.co.uk/exclusive/the-future-of-hybrid-international-education/
5. Manila Central University introduces HyFlex courses in its return to face-to-face learning opportunities. [News report] https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/11/05/mcu-reinforces-holistic-learning-intros-initial-local-hyflex-setup/
6. The University of the Philippines holds "HyFlex" event to discuss the gradual return to more in-person learning. [news report] https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/10/27/campus-press/up-scientists-admin-experts-tell-how-to-prepare-for-f2f-classes/1863909
7. Private schools (K12) in the Philippines continuing with blended learning (including HyFlex). [News report] https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1690874/most-private-schools-sticking-to-blended-learning. Notable, this article links to another article discussing how the Philippine national Department of Education is considering allowing blended learning instruction as a permanent mode of instruction in all schools.
8. HyFlex Learning Technologist Wanted - King's College, London, UK. We haven't seen many full-time positions specifically for HyFlex designers, but here is one newly posted: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/listing/318548/teaching-fellow-learning-technologist-flexible-learning-/
Research Bibliography Updates
Recently we added about a dozen more research entries to the HyFlex Learning Community Research Bibliography, all published in 2022. These include articles about teaching a pharmacy capstone course in HyFlex (Buatois and colleagues), designing online discussions for HyFlex courses (Chen), a look at engagement in HyFlex courses during the pandemic (Nelson and colleagues), and a look forward to resilience in the post-pandemic higher education world (Radwan). Altogether, the number of entries in our [admittedly partial] bibliography is 157 (21 from 2022 so far, 35 from 2021, 11 from 2020, and 90 from earlier years.
Is there any published research on the effectiveness of HyFlex? Yes! Visit https://www.hyflexlearning.org/bibliography/ to start exploring on your own. If you know of other research missing from our list, please let us know: https://www.hyflexlearning.org/suggestbiblio/
Gathering (Webinar) Next Week: Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Topic: Preparing Faculty for HyFlex
HyFlex Course Design Workshop January 9-13, 2023 - Open for Registration
Our first HyFlex Course Design workshop for 2023 is happening January 9-13, 2023. This fully online workshop is hosted on our own LMS site and consists of five optional 90-minute synchronous sessions (M-F, 1/9-1/13), supported by online resources and asynchronous discussion activities each day. Fully asynchronous participation is also supported. Participants can earn up to two HyFlex Learning badges for workshop activities and the completion of all assignments.
For a full description and the opportunity to enroll, visit https://www.hyflexlearning.org/workshops/ If you'd like information on how to register groups, pay for registration other than with a credit card, or arrange a cohort workshop for your own faculty and designers, please contact us at hyflexlearning@gmail.com. |
