HyFlex Courses: Sociology 452: Mexican Migration

Benefit: I was teamed up with an undergraduate student as a Zoom assistant. They know the program and can help me try different things and work through problems. It's been really, really helpful. In some respects it’s moral support so if something happens, you have somebody you can lean on. 

Challenges: In terms of audio technology, communication between the teacher, the students who are remote, and students who are in-person is, of course, a difficult barrier to overcome. We haven't quite worked it out. A couple of times when in-person students responded, I had to convey this information to the people on Zoom because they couldn't hear them. We have some microphones in the class, but nobody wants to touch anything. 

Advice: I think you've just got to have a sense of humor about it, and be very flexible with your students. Let them know that this kind of stuff is going to happen and that when it does happen, that they've got to let me know and say, Hey, your sound quality is really bad.

How it's helping students: In some respects you can imagine that it might actually be a better environment and increase participation, because some students might feel more comfortable talking to you through a computer than in person. They might be more likely to show up in class if it’s in a Zoom meeting and they could just turn their computer on. 

How it's helping my instruction: In terms of delivering the material, you have the capacity to record it through Zoom, and you can store it for later for people who perhaps miss the class. So I think that's a good outcome for the student. I'm trying to look at it as a beneficial thing to help me teach, because it might connect you with people who might have sat in the back of the classroom and not participated, who wanted to participate but perhaps felt intimidated.  

Hyflex Blooper: Week 3, I was going off to class, and I thought well, thank goodness I know how to use Zoom now, I'm going to go in there and everything's going to be great. I went in there and I turned it on and started teaching, and there were a number of issues, related to the microphone, to the speaker, to the chat function that I had to figure out, and it basically was a disaster. And I thought it was kind of funny that three weeks into it, after really not having any major problems, here I was struggling with pretty basic technologies that I'd already used.

HyFlex Courses: Dance 172: Ballet I, 270: Contemporary I, and 272: Ballet II

Benefit: The HyFlex option gives students access that they normally wouldn't have, and I think the structure gives access to students who don't thrive learning through Zoom. Another great thing is a sense of normalcy. Students who come to a dance class are looking for ritual, and they're looking for self care. They're looking for breaks from the monotony of sitting on a computer. They're looking for a sense of community, and moving with other people rhythmically is a really great way to find that.

Challenge: Audio is an unending nightmare for me. I'm attending to a very, very large space where people have 12 foot bubbles around them. And I have to keep far enough away from the camera, so my full body can be seen in the shot at all times. It's a big puzzle that I'm still working on.

Advice: I am settling with the fact that I cannot do business as usual. And I've been integrating the Common Reading program into all of my courses. So we are dedicating time to reflecting on the 1619 project podcast, and its relationship to dance. Because our circumstances are so extraordinary, there's more dedication to re-evaluating the structures of power within dance and how we perpetuate those and how we disrupt them.

How it's helping students: This is related to access. If something happens in life where one cannot either be in person or attending synchronously via zoom, all of the courses are recorded automatically into the cloud. So they have an agency to access these classes whenever they can.

How it's helping my instruction: The importance of inclusion has been highlighted for me by the pandemic, as well this practice of being present. I have hopes and dreams as part of the learning community, and I can hold kind of those hopes and dreams but also be present with what is happening right now, and lean into that, instead of getting down on what that is.

HyFlex Blooper: I cannot tell you how many times we are joined by a loved one. And I welcome it, it's the most endearing thing to see a sibling sort of pop in and and do as they please. They don't stay necessarily for the whole course, but they are regularly showing up, and that just is so incredible to me.

HyFlex Courses: Humanities 300: Themes in the Bible

Benefit: The biggest benefit is that students have a choice. For those who want to be in class and feel they do better work in class, HyFlex is great benefit. The majority of my students are on Zoom but for those few who show up for every class, they really like it. 

Challenge: There's a lot of moving parts to leading a class on Zoom and in-person at the same time. The most challenging piece is the interface among Zoom, PowerPoint, and the Creston system. That said, we have had great IT support in the classroom.

Advice:  I don't really have specific tips for professors other than to encourage those that feel comfortable being on campus to give it a try. Know that if you decide to teach a HyFlex course, you will have plenty of support from other instructors, Zoom assistants, IT support, and the TEP office.

How it's helping students: When students are physically present--sitting in class and taking notes—they are not distracted by their phones, other programs on their computers, roommates, etc.  So, for those students, the HyFlex course is really helpful to their learning and overall performance.

How it's helping my instruction:  I get so exhausted lecturing and trying to encourage some kind of discussion when class is on Zoom only. I’m sitting; I can’t move around; I can’t use hand gestures. The difference of being back in a classroom, where I'm standing instead of sitting, where people are actually physically in the room, energizes me. I’m probably more engaging and the students respond to that – even those on Zoom. 

Hyflex Blooper: Every class I do some breakout room and almost every class I do a poll. One time I wanted to do a poll that had a surprise question, but I wasn’t sure that I had actually gotten the correct poll attached to the Zoom session. As class was starting and students were on-line, I asked my Zoom Assistant whether the poll was there. I meant, “Can you see the poll?” He thought I wanted to know what the first “surprise” question was, and so he read it aloud. So much for the surprise! 

HyFlex Courses: Chemistry 454/554: Advanced Electrochemistry

Benefit: Once you start delivering remotely, you really can’t go back. It is clear we need to embrace remote and online learning to reach broader audiences, particularly in our specialist courses. It has taken a lot of time and work to get it functional but there are so many benefits to “flipping the classroom.” I plan to substantially expand our electrochemistry teaching to incorporate folks from around the world even after COVID is over.

Challenge: Learning remotely is a challenge in itself. I purchased a bunch of microphones for the audio interactions between students, each student even has their own bucket of markers, and I have a high quality camera that can zoom into their writing so everything is safe. Hyflex teaching has allowed me to meet the students that show up to class and we build that human connection. Then it’s neat when I can recognize them on the camera the next day and have that lasting connection.

Advice: It takes time and effort, but evidence shows that flipping the classroom is really a more productive way to teach. When you record your lectures beforehand and have students view them in their own time, you have the entire class period for deeper discussion.

How it's helping students: I am very glad to be able to do some in person teaching with the students. Especially when we have MS students here for 6 months in an intensive electrochemistry technology course. There is a psychological benefit to seeing your instructor in person and connecting, especially if the material is difficult. It is also much easier for students to do in class board work (each student with thier own board) and for me to interact more effectively.

How it's helping my instruction: I see all of this as a learning experience for me and I’m very grateful that the university is giving us the opportunity to teach this way. It has allowed us to break that barrier of remote and in-person teaching in a safe way that doesn’t contribute to the spread of the virus.

Hyflex Blooper: For the first week I couldn't figure out how to flip my writing on the camera so all of my written words were either coming out backwards or upside down.