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working out as institutions and practitioners try to figure out whether to do HyFlex in the
postpandemic era and how to do it well. The following recommendations are for faculty
interested in teaching HyFlex. These recommendations (see Appendix D) are
based on the
insights I gained from interviewing participants in this study and are filtered through the lens of
my positionality as an instructional design and technology professional and through my
intersectional
identity as a minoritized, first-generation, able-bodied, cis male student:
•
Work with fellow faculty and other stakeholders to create/adopt an official definition
of what HyFlex means at your institution.
•
Work with institutional leadership to create a code for HyFlex courses in the catalog.
•
Seek out and participate in HyFlex-specific professional development.
•
Serve as a resource for other faculty once you have HyFlex experience. Do not
volunteer to teach HyFlex if you are averse to technology or to HyFlex.
•
Choose authentic assessments you will enjoy grading (e.g., things that require
students to “do” the discipline and align to your course’s learning outcomes).
•
Choose assessments and activities that bring the learning paths together in
collaboration and socialization.
•
Become net and media savvy. There is no such thing as too much computer literacy.
•
Have a contingency plan for when
things do not go as planned, especially with
technology.
•
Strive to create a course that promotes critical consciousness.
•
Consider culturally relevant, responsive, and sustaining pedagogies.
•
Include a module on digital literacy for your students at the beginning of the course.
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•
Point students to digital literacy and other supports available for HyFlex/online
students.
•
Strive to create reusable content and involve your students in the creation of some of
that content.
•
Your students access your course
with a variety of devices; use UDL and avoid
operating system-dependent or device-dependent information communication
technologies.
•
Be proactive about designing your course with accessibility in mind. Retrofitting a
course is a lot more costly and sets back the students who need it while they wait for
the retrofitting to take place.
