Designing the HyFlex World

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Designing the HyFlex World

• Dr. Brian Beatty
• Instructional Technologies
• San Francisco State University
• AECT 2006

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Hybrid, Flexible Courses for All Students

• Hybrid a mix of face to face and online
  activities
• Flexible students can choose their method of
  participation weekly
• All courses within the ITEC program (potentially)
• Why is this important?

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ITEC_at_SF State

• 150 graduate students pursuing Masters degree
• Courses
• Approx. 24 courses
• Class size ranges from 8-20
• Time slots 4-7, 7-10 PM
• All students and instructors commute from 2 to
  60 miles

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Traveling to campus for class can be
inconvenient, difficult or absolutely impossible!
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Who are SFSU students?
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ITEC Students

• Most work full time
• Teachers and Library / Media Specialists
• Educational Software Developers
• Trainers
• Instructional Designers
• Many in career transition
• Many with families at home

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Itec_at_sfsu Helping people in education, business
and communities learn Teaching and Learning
with technology is our business!
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What is a HyFlex course?
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HyFlex Course Principles

• Learner Choice Provide meaningful alternative
  participation modes and enable students to choose
  between participation modes weekly (or
  topically).
• Equivalency Provide equivalent learning
  activities in all participation modes.
• Reusability Utilize artifacts from learning
  activities in each participation mode as
  learning objects for all students.
• Accessibility Equip students with technology
  skills and access to all participation modes.
  

Note these are universal principles - generally
applicable to all HyFlex courses.
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Sample Week
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Standard Class Session
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Online Participation
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Sample Media Files

• Instructor Audio Listen
• Presentation with Instructor Audio View
  media\801_wk10_usability.mp4
• Student Group Discussion Slides with Audio -
  View media\wk2_history_itec801.mov

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Technology !_at_!

• Online delivery system (we use Moodle)
• Content Development/Presentation
• PPT, Word, Acrobat, Camtasia, Dreamweaver,
  Audition, Podifier
• Streaming video connection
• Client content (plugins and players)
• Web browser, PPT Viewer, MP3 player, podcast
  player (iTunes), Quicktime, Acrobat Reader
• Internet connection

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Creating Your HyFlex World

• Identify learning goals
• Develop instructional objectives
• Create (or gather) content
• Select instructional activities (SIO tool)
• Create (and communicate) clear instructions
• Prepare learning supports

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Questions

• How is this different than what we are already
  doing?
• How much more work is this for the instructor?
• for the students?
• How do students respond?
• Do students take advantage of the flexibility?

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Student Comments in-class

• I found the time interacting with the professor
  and classmates to be extremely helpful. I don't
  think that you can replace the value of this time
  with online instruction.
• I enjoyed attending class name to interact
  with my classmates, especially for the peer
  review and case study activities. Class time was
  when questions got answered or clarification was
  given. Even though we could read the info in the
  textbook or handouts, the in-class sessions
  seemed to be when the information ultimately got
  cemented for me.

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Student Comments online

• Very useful convenient when scheduling
  conflicts occurred - but added value was the fact
  that you were still listening to the face-to-face
  interactions from the class.
• Attending class online was a valuable alternative
  for me when I was otherwise unable to attend in
  person. I appreciated having access to materials
  online that simulated the in-class experience.
• I liked the flexibility and not having to commute
  to the school campus.

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Student Comments online

• A lot of writing! The online sessions were
  rigorous, that's for sure. It was almost "easier"
  to attend class. But on the flip side, all the
  online material for class name, especially the
  recorded live lectures, was very useful. There
  weren't any exercises or resources that didn't
  add to the learning.
• Make sure an audio file compatible with the ipod
  is available every week. This was one of the most
  valuable offerings on ilearn. Lectures could be
  listened to over and over again. I must have
  listened to the instructional objectives lecture
  five times to and from work that week. It was
  great for review and clarification of things I
  missed during the lecture.

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Survey Results (1)

• Face to face instruction was useful
• Strongly Agree - 85
• Agree 15
• Online instruction was useful
• Strongly Agree 43
• Agree 57

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Survey Results (2)

• Preference for face to face only
• Neither Agree nor Disagree - 28  
• Disagree - 57
• Strongly Disagree - 14
• Preference for online only
• Disagree - 43
• Strongly Disagree - 57

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Survey Results (3)

• I prefer to choose my own blend of online and
  face to face learning experiences.
• Strongly Agree 29
• Agree 57
• Disagree 14

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Research?

• Do students learn more effectively? Do students
  prefer to create their own blend of learning
  activities?
• Does a HyFlex course require more effort from the
  instructor? (How much more? Where is extra effort
  expended?)
• Does a HyFlex course require more effort from
  students?
• Which courses, instructors, and students
  (content, learning goals, values, etc.) are
  candidates for HyFlex design?

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HyFlex _at_ SF State

• This semester 5 courses in ITEC Masters program
• Informally assessing student preferences,
  instructor load, technical support requirements
• Recruiting additional instructors on campus
• Spring 2006 7 courses in ITEC program, others?
• Formal assessment of participation patterns and
  student performance, instructor load

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Contact

• Dr. Brian Beatty
• bjbeatty_at_sfsu.edu
• HyFlex Design (DRAFT)
• http//itec.sfsu.edu/hyflex/hyflex.pdf
• HyFlex Presentation
• http//itec.sfsu.edu/hyflex/hyflex.ppt