During Class

Review the “Start Here” Module

Dedicate part of the first class of the course to reviewing the aspects of the “Start Here” module with your students. This can support community building between F2F and online students.

Establish Routines

Establish routines within the course to allow for student planning and organization. For instance, the instructor may ask students to read a chapter and respond to a prompt once a week on the discussion board.

Acclimatize Students to Procedures

During the first few weeks of the course, consistently and gently remind students of the course processes, procedures, and expectations to help them acclimatize to the learning environment.

Manage the Learning Spaces

Managing the learning space during flexible delivery can be complex because you must manage both the physical as well as virtual spaces. What does this mean?

Physical Space

You will need to consider the experience of in-person students and virtual students – What do they hear or not hear? What do they see or not see? What options do they have for participation? What are the physical constraints on you as faculty because of the technology (e.g. distance to podium for mic access, distance to flex screen to see the chat, facing the puck mics to ensure you are heard, repeating responses from students to ensure they are heard, etc.)?

The classroom whiteboard presents a challenge for flexible and HyFlex learning, as the camera makes using the whiteboard problematic. The distance from the camera to the whiteboard makes it hard for students to read anything on the board, and zooming the camera takes time away from the lesson and can feel disorienting. Digital whiteboards, like those in MS Teams or Zoom, can be useful, but you may need to practice writing with a mouse before class if you don’t have a touch-screen computer. Students can contribute to a Padlet if you want them to collaborate on a whiteboard.

Virtual Space

How can you track the chat for student responses? How will virtual students participate (e.g. virtual hands raised, chat, mice)? Is the content being shared properly through the synchronous platform?

Plan to Be Adaptable

Flexible delivery requires instructors to be adaptable and malleable in three specific domains:

1. Managing the uncertainty of attendance, and the effect this may have on planning
2. Managing the increased cognitive load of delivering in a flexible environment
3. Managing the increased technical challenges that come with flexible delivery technologies.

Consider Attendance Patterns

Since students choose their mode of participation during any given session, instructors will not know how many students will be attending each session virtually or F2F. This can be challenging because:

• Planned activities may require a minimum number of F2F students or remote students
• Students who attend F2F may not bring devices with which to engage remote students
• Remote students may have greater access to digital interactive technologies than F2F

An instructor must be ready to alter and adapt their plans "on-the-fly". This is why it is so important to design your course first for your online students.

In Class Logistics - Prepare for Cognitive Load

In flexible delivery the instructor will have to monitor and engage F2F students, remote students who use their cameras to interact (using the hand up icon or physically putting up their hand), and remote students who use the chat to interact. This will mean that the instructor’s attention will be divided in three. Ask yourself: what changes to my teaching style and methods do I need to make to support student learning in this mode and to manage the extra cognitive load that is part of this delivery mode?

The following are some tips to help manage the cognitive load:

• Record the lesson and add closed captioning. This will benefit students who cannot attend the live class, but also enable students who did attend class to revisit challenging topics or information they may have missed during the lesson.
• Pause before each activity and set up the technology – for example, zoom the camera into the correct areas to support remote student learning.
• Continuously connect with remote students to ensure their experience is equal to F2F students - for example, when projecting/sharing your screen ask the remote students for a “thumbs” up if they can see the content; or ask remote students if they can hear you before engaging in a lesson, etc.
• Ask a student to be the chat monitor - they can monitor and repeat all comments and questions that come through on the chat.
• Build specific and purposeful pauses into the lesson – this can help the instructor refer to the chat and repeat the questions and comments from the chat for the benefit of all students. It is also a great way to support student consolidation of information.
• Build time into your lesson planning to deal with technical issues – instructors may not be able to “get through” as much content in a flexible lesson because time must be allocated to troubleshooting technology, pausing to solicit responses from both sets of students, etc.

Building a routine and developing proficiency with the new behaviors required of instructors in flexible learning takes time; be patient with yourself and solicit feedback often from your students about their experiences.

In Class Logistics - Prepare for Technical Challenges

Flexible instruction requires specialized equipment. This equipment includes cameras, microphones, display screens, LCD Projectors, and software such as an online synchronous platform. Instructors need to be able to not only use the equipment available, they should also be able to troubleshoot for their students (to some extent). Knowing that technology can fail, instructors need to be adaptable and malleable in these cases. The following are some tips to help support this challenging aspect of flexible delivery:

• Have a plan in place regarding the potential of failing technology – include contingencies in your orientation package for students that outlines what steps need to be taken if streaming is interrupted and discuss these plans with the class in your orientation days and periodically throughout the course.
• Practice setting up your computer – the more you can practice and make mistakes the more opportunity you have to seek out assistance in how to troubleshoot these errors making you more prepared for any eventuality.
• Create a “cheat sheet” for yourself – Creating a simple recipe-like cheat sheet can make you feel confident that you can tackle any issue that arises.
• Seek out professional development – look to the CTL for any professional development on synchronous platforms and using educational technology.
• Know the number to call for support from IT – when you are lost it is best to ask for assistance from the professionals because technology really does fail at times.