The SEHD Digital Teaching and Learning Committee started in 2020, at a time when we were feeling a critical need to explore, highlight and disseminate strategies that worked well for online and remote formats. From the start, it’s been a collaborative group of like-minded individuals who see digital learning and tech not as the goal, but as a means to enact a pedagogy that aligns with our personal values.
This blog is an invitation. An invitation to think with us about those tools and techniques, yes, but more importantly about enacting great pedagogy. We’re calling on you to share your innovations and struggles, to ask your questions to the larger community. The first post, below, is about the challenges of hybrid flexible (hyflex) learning. While it offers some suggestions, it is not an instruction manual. It is an invitation.
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Stretched by the "New Normal":
An invitation to discuss and collaborate
We’ve been talking about flexible hybrid (“hyflex”) course formats since long before the pandemic. For me, the only thing new about hyflex is that it has become the new normal. For one “hybrid” course this spring, I’ll have students in-person in Denver, along with students zooming in from remote sites. On any given night, I’ll have a student email to say they are sick, and I expect those students to stay home. If they’re feeling well enough to join, they join as an individual on zoom. If not, I record the session. I try to take students at their word, while tracking and addressing any concerns about professional engagement.
I’ve invested a lot of time and energy, trying to make this work, and still find it to be incredibly challenging. We thought this topic would be a good starting place for our committee’s invitation to learning. The following is a breakdown of two areas I’m considering when I’m trying to make the hyflex format align to my values and pedagogy.
Area 1: Visuals (cameras and screen sharing)
Pedagogy and values: I value inclusivity. Students should feel connected to a community of learning, regardless of how they access the course.
Issues and challenges: The cameras in most classrooms allow students to watch class, but may not allow them to feel connected. Even when the classroom activity is a presentation or lecture, the camera angle doesn’t necessarily promote a feeling of connection with the speaker(s).
Considerations and strategies: Consider being intentional about the visuals for both remote and in-person students. There are several options, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
A. Using the camera system in the room: This is often our default, using the room’s computer and projector, sharing the screen for remote participants. Learning how to adjust the camera may help achieve our values of inclusion.
B. Using a separate device (tablet, phone, or laptop): A tablet or laptop is far easier to manipulate, and may provide remote learners a view that fosters connection. A student can be put in charge of the separate device, helping get the camera right.
Using both A and B allows for a nice range of views (on zoom, folks can “pin” the view that fits the moment), but is tricky (see notes on audio, below).
If using slides, consider sharing the whole deck (linked on canvas or in the chat) for students to access separately, so they can feel connected to the discussion. Note also that some faculty are innovating with better technology, including cameras that track the speaker or recognize gestures—let’s hear from folks who have had success with this tech!
Area 2: Audio (microphones and speakers)
Pedagogy and values: I value discourse—equitable discourse is at the center of one of the courses I teach.
Issues and challenges: Enabling good discourse in a hyflex format is incredibly challenging. The microphone and speaker setup in a typical classroom is fine for traditional classroom discourse (sometimes called IRE), but not great for the kind of discourse I’m asking my students to enact in the preK-12 classroom.
Considerations and strategies: Consider intentionally setting up the microphone and speaker to match your intended outcomes and pedagogy (recognizing we all have limited bandwidth). Each of the following arrangements has advantages and disadvantages to consider.
- Room audio (usually a single microphone by the room’s computer): This may be best when the person speaking is always at the front. You may need a reminder to repeat questions that are out of range of the microphone.
- Audio on a phone, tablet or laptop: Joining audio from an additional device, managed by a student, is a simple option. If only one or two students are joining remotely, and it allows you to flexibly group the remote student.
NOTE: As you are well aware, you must choose ONE device in the room for the audio. The other device must have the speaker AND the microphone muted.
- Remote microphones (such as the SWIVL system available to check out): This system is similar to using a tablet or phone, except with far better audio (you wear a microphone on a lanyard). This is one of the best options for recording class. The system does not work well for projecting the voices of remote participants to a larger group, so you may need someone to elevate their questions and contributions.
- Speaker/microphone combo sets (such as the Sennhaiser speakers in some classroom, also available for checkout): If you use a set of combination-speaker/microphones, consider being intentional about how or when to place them around the room. Take the speakers and microphones to the front when the attention is at the front (otherwise side conversations and table noise will make it hard for those who are remote). Move them around when there is whole-group discussion with questions coming from around the room.
As with visuals, I know that some faculty have innovated with audio— let’s hear from them (perhaps via future posts or with hypothesis discussion?).
Next steps
Where do we go from here? If enough people are interested, we can meet for a hyflex lunch, with options to meet in one of the classrooms or in your own kitchen. This is an invitation to dive in to these issues from big (e.g. inclusivity) to small (e.g. how do I connect those speakers to the computer?!). Send me an email, come sit in on the start of my class and watch me struggle, or use hypothesis to comment on this blog to start a discussion.