HyFlex Pedagogy

HyFlex (Hybrid Flexible) is a pedagogy and teaching modality that allows students a high degree of flexibility — the content is available in a physical classroom, synchronously via web conference during class meetings, and in a recorded asynchronous format. Originally conceived by Brian Beatty and his colleagues at San Francisco State University, the HyFlex model provides students more flexibility while maintaining high quality instruction for all students.

In HyFlex format, students choose among three modes to engage with their instructor, peers, and the content:

Lincoln statue in UIS winter stocking cap

As we wrap up the fall term and prepare to begin intersession, we would like to wish you all a wonderful winter break. We are thankful for all you do to make UIS a great place to learn and work!

Happy winter break!

The COLRS Team: Michele, Carrie, Taylor, Scott, and Emily

note pad with words "key takeaway" written on it

At the start of term, we spend a lot of energy planning the first interactions of a course and setting our students up for successful learning – introductions, building community, and understanding outcomes and expectations. Our choices at the end of the term are just as important. Summarizing, reflection, and making connections to the bigger picture are critical for long-term transfer of learning, or applying learning from one situation to a completely different context.  

High engagement practice: Discussion prompt design

Variety is the spice of online discussions

We’ve likely all been there – setting up our discussions for the semester and stuck in an instructional rut: “Respond to this article and reply to two peers.” After several weeks, it can feel a bit boring, even to us as instructors. While a consistent course organization and predictable due dates do promote student success in online courses, we should feel confident in mixing up the format of assignments to add some variety.

lightboard videos

A lightboard is a specialized teaching and presentation tool used primarily in educational and instructional settings. It is designed to help educators and presenters create engaging and visually appealing content while facing their audience and writing on a board.

concept map with the words graphic organizer

Reading is a skill that we assume most of our students have, but the truth of the matter is that they often need support to ensure they’re reading critically and not passively.

Purpose for reading

In order to offer supports for students when it comes to their reading task, we first need to identify the purpose for reading. In order to do so, we can ask ourselves several questions before we assign a reading task:

Subscribe to Center for Online Learning, Research, & Service