Memnun Seven, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing, did just that by choosing a flexible course design. In spring 2021, her undergraduate class was one of the few taught in person and, because the enrollment of the course (66 students) exceeded the 40-person classroom capacity limit, she adopted a “hybrid” or “flipped” form of instruction. Her approach to the planning, design, and teaching of this course illustrates ways that instructors can effectively implement flexible learning opportunities.

 

 

 

How did you initially plan for this course?

When I was informed that the class would be hybrid, I knew that there would be some students who would not be able to come to every class. Even before the semester began, I knew some students might have difficulty coming to class during the pandemic. I also knew I had to make sure that the course would be 100% available to students who might need to attend remotely. I ended up telling students that they would need to attend class sessions synchronously even if they did not come in person. I also spent more time than usual getting ready for this class—I prepared short videos for some of the content, adopted an e-textbook, reworked some of the assignments, re-organized the class activities to emphasize more interaction, and adjusted my attendance policies.

How did you handle attendance?

The course was scheduled to meet once per week. I divided the students into two groups so that I could meet in person alternately with each group. On the week students were not scheduled to be physically in class they were expected to attend remotely. The classroom capacity was 40 and many of my students really wanted to come to class in person. I wanted that, too, so I allowed students to sign up in advance for the extra seven seats if they wanted the option to attend an in-person class. Typically, about 35 students attended each class session. This really wasn’t confusing and I was happy to have as many students attend class as possible.

How did you organize your class time?

I try to keep things balanced between the in-person and remote students. I began class, for maybe the first five or ten minutes, by asking students how their week was going and what good news they’d like to share. I tried to alternate calling on the remote and in-person students. They really like speaking about their lives.

It is important for me to help students be connected and engaged. It doesn’t work if I lecture for the entire class period. Usually, I lecture for the first part of the class session—to give students an overview of the material and and then I have them work in groups during the remainder of the class time. I use a lot of case studies; the in-person students work in pairs (because of the COVID distancing requirements) and the remote students work together in break out rooms. All the groups report back to the whole class.

Have there been any challenges balancing the interactions between the remote and in-person students?

The face-to-face students can see a remote student if they are speaking (through Zoom) and the remote students can see the classroom but not really their individual classmates. I think it would be nice if they could see each other better so they could be more connected, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do this. When they report out from their groups, I have the in-person students use the microphone so that their remote classmates are able to hear them clearly. Sometimes I may also restate the questions or comments of the in-person students so that everyone is able to follow. All of the class sessions are recorded in Echo and the students can review these recordings as well.

How do you monitor if everyone, both your remote and your in-person students, have questions or comments?

In-person students just raise their hands. The remote students can post questions in chat but often they just say “professor I have a question”; they usually don’t use the hand raise feature, and that’s fine with me. There is a teaching assistant assigned to this class, and she helps me with the chat; if she can answer the student chat question she just does that but if I miss a question in the chat she’ll let me know. She’s not able to attend the class in person but she is able to help during class and with grading and assignments. For the first two weeks of the semester, I wished I had had someone in the classroom to help, but then things settled in and I was more confident.

During the lecture parts of class, I often use polling to help students stay engaged and also to check in to see if there are any misunderstandings. I’ve also been using exit tickets for each class session. For the exit tickets, I might ask students what topics they want to learn more about or what class materials were more challenging. My teaching assistant summarizes the exit ticket responses for me and I use those summaries to adjust the material I present in the next class session and integrate the topics the students are more interested in.

Have you thought about using this hybrid teaching approach in the future – even after the pandemic?

It seems to be working for me and my students, and for this class. Some of my students really wanted to be in the classroom this spring so they could connect and engage with other students but for other students it was okay for them to join remotely. Everyone was still able to do well on their assignments and exams. I might teach this class in a hybrid format again in the future so I can give students the option and increase their access to education. As long as the students are happy and learning and meeting the requirements of the course, I don’t think it matters if some students choose not be in the classroom. It’s not the same to teach remotely and even when we do our best, having students in the classroom makes a difference. It could work for this class, but I don’t think it would work for all of the classes we teach in my department.

Are there any others thoughts you’d like to share with faculty who might want to try this way of teaching?

Communication with students is the key. I send announcements each week summarizing what we’ve learned and telling them what we will be learning next. It’s easy for students to get confused and communication is very important.

Getting ready for this class was a bit harder than a typical face-to-face class because I had to record lectures before the semester started to be ready and I had to learn some new technology. The extra planning resulted in a higher-than-normal teaching load in terms of preparation. But a couple of weeks into the semester, everything seemed to go smoothly and the teaching load became more normal.

What was your favorite part of teaching this course?

I was so glad to see the students face to face. It gives me energy and they were really so happy to be able to attend class in person.