Brief Description: Class meets F2F and streams online simultaneously for students unable to attend F2F. Often referred to as HyFlex, Converged Learning, Blended-Synchronous, Multi-Options, among others.
Faculty Role & Experience:
- Deliver course simultaneously to F2F and remote learners
- All class sessions are held on campus; faculty must be present for each class just as in F2F classes.
- Faculty determine on-campus rotation for students.
- Teach in an enhanced classroom or use a streaming remote kit. Enhanced classrooms will have a monitor at the podium, enabling the instructor access to laptop screen and 2nd screen.
Student Role & Experience:
- Attendance on campus is expected
- Complete course activities as scheduled
- Need access to a strong WiFi and a computer with mic and camera for video-conferencing (e.g., Zoom). Need WIFI? Request a FREE WIFI card by filling out this form.
- Rotate between on-campus and remote attendance as scheduled by the instructor; approximately 50% of classes attended on campus.
History: HawkLIVE draws on what most people know today as HYFLEX, a hybrid-flexible cross-mode instructional delivery model that was developed in 2005 at San Francisco State University for a MA program in Instructional Technology to support both online and traditional students attending classes simultaneously. Faculty at other universities have designed similar programs under different names. Research on the effectiveness and experience of teaching and learning in these hybrid models has proliferated, most recently focusing on the capacity of the model to effectively engage students across the two modalities and to identify most effective practices and configurations.
Planning and Set-Up Considerations
- Think about how will you strive to equally engage remote and F2F populations.
- Consider how you will help students in identifying and addressing problems they experience with the modality and their perhaps varied experience with attending class.
- Adopt a “what if” mindset: what will you do if technology fails, if students are unable to attend, if the campus closes, etc.
- Technological/Space Considerations
- Audibility is top priority, yet challenged by face coverings, quieter participants, and the need to have voices picked up by mics. Possible solutions:
- Close captioning via Google Slide or Google Meet, or another tool
- Ask remote students to signal when they cannot hear so that speakers can repeat themselves.
- Make sure that you can be heard by positioning yourself well, experimenting with face coverings, and speaking from your diaphragm (stand tall!), not your throat. Speaking louder doesn’t mean yelling. See this: “COVID Communication Skills: Speaking Through A Mask.” (May 12, 2020)
- Audibility is top priority, yet challenged by face coverings, quieter participants, and the need to have voices picked up by mics. Possible solutions:
External Links:
- “Fall Scenario #13: A HyFlex Model.” Edward Maloney and Joshua Kim. May 10, 2020, Inside Higher Ed. Summary of the modality, with pros and cons for fall 2020.
- Can HyFlex Options Support Students in the Midst of Uncertainty? Educause. Brian Beatty, May 26, 2020,
- San Franciso State faculty interview videos on their hybrid-flexible experiences
- Pat Donaghue (better), and Jeff Brain, Instructional Technology graduate courses
- 90 second (pre-COVID) promo video on “Pierce Fit,” a hybrid-flexible model created for Pierce College in Philadelphia.
- Brian Beatty, who coined the term Hyflex, wrote Hybrid-Flexible Course Design. The book is useful overall. Recommend:
- Chapter 1.4: Designing a Hybrid-Flexible Course: Creating an Effective Learning Environment for all Students (lengthy, with course designer focus but some good points)
- Chapter 2.1: Implementation and Adoption of Hybrid-Flexible Instruction (describes faculty experiences, noting common challenges and successes)
- The open-access book, Blended Synchronous Learning Handbook (2014) details 7 case studies in Australia, including research findings and practical advice for pre-covid HawkLIVE teaching. The 7 case studies include very different teaching models, including many that will be relevant to Montclair faculty, though specific technologies are different. Case studies (brief explanation, images, video of real class)
- Introductory Statistics class (brief explanation, video of real class).
- Sexology class (discussion-based, inclusive of remote and F2F students)
- Anatomy class (review of anatomy, inclusive of remote and F2F students)
- San Antonio Business College HYFLEX student handbook — pre-COVID guide, this school has been using HYFLEX for about seven years and has worked out a simple and clear guide for students. Note there are differences in their model and our HawkLIVE model. San Antonio Business College HYFLEX faculty handbook
Updated 07.21.22 SR