Defining Flex
Clearly, a traditional blended learning approach was not going to meet our requirements. We decided that we needed a “bridge” to online; an approach to serving fully online students without abandoning our current classroom students.
Brian J. Beatty describing the beginning of his development of the HyFlex modality Links to an external site.
Flex course design can be traced back to the development of HyFlex, a portmanteau of hybrid and flexible, by Brian J. Beatty. Links to an external site. HyFlex is a way of designing your course to solve barriers to student success through the avenues of learner choice, access, flexibility and equivalency. As we discuss Flex course design in this learning module we will define those themes in context, but for now, Beatty defines these elements as:
- Learner Choice: Provide meaningful alternative participation modes and enable students to choose between participation modes daily, weekly, or topically.
- Equivalency: Provide learning activities in all participation modes which lead to equivalent learning outcomes.
- Reusability: Utilize artifacts from learning activities in each participation mode as “learning objects’ for all students.
- Accessibility: Equip students with technology skills and equitable access to all participation modes.
What this ends up looking like is a course that allows students to choose how they learn best at any time. A student in a HyFlex course can choose to attend an on-ground lecture one day, join remotely the next, or just complete their work asynchronously online, with the same quality of instruction in each equivalent experience. Instead of designing for a single mode of instruction, the instructor's role is expanded to manage all three of these experiences, ensuring students can navigate between the different options, seamlessly meeting course objectives regardless of choice.
between modalities to best meet their needs.
Because of how varied the implementation of Flex design principles, there isn't one universal way that it can be designed, so most colleges have a definition or requirements written into their faculty contracts. For example, our contract states:
...a “Flex” class is one in which a group of students enroll in a single class with one item number. Each student can then choose to complete coursework online or face-to-face. This choice by students is not an either-or choice, meaning they may switch between doing coursework online and attending face-to-face classes as they feel meets their needs. As stated in Article 5, Section 3, Paragraph M, Item 4 Links to an external site., flex classes must be scheduled as such before students begin enrolling, and the combining of a face-to-face class and an online class (with two different item numbers) is not considered Flex.
Master Contract 2020-2023, Glossary Pg 171 Links to an external site.
Aligning with Beatty's themes, we can see that learner choice is paramount in a Flex course. Note, however, the additional requirements at our institution requiring that a Flex course must be set as such before enrollment begins. This speaks to the amount of planning and design that is required to create a successful Flex course. Additionally, the act of managing the three different modalities that make up a Flex course comes with its own unique load on the instructor, which is why there is an additional stipend for designing and teaching a course in this way. For all of these reasons, an instructors who is interested in teaching in this modality should speak first with their dean to discuss demand, preparation, workload, and compensation.
Success When Teaching Flex
This module will walk you through the initial design considerations of a Flex course, but to ensure you Flex with success, you should already feel comfortable doing the following:
- Assess alignment of outcomes and objectives in your courses
- Organize an online course into a consistent structure
- Build an effective online course orientation
- Awareness of the importance of course transparency (i.e., TILT framework Links to an external site.)
- Articulate valuable feedback to students in your courses
- Display strong instructor presence within your courses
- Confidence in problem solving and adaptability within an online course
- Comfort using and troubleshooting educational technology and videoconferencing tools
All of these skills are hinting at the fact that you should have a completed online-asynchronous course before developing a Flex course. When discussing Flex with designers at other institutions, it was mentioned time and time again that adapting a Flex course from a strictly on-ground course doesn't have the same level of online infrastructure to support all learners in a Flex environment. Having developed courses and taught online also has the advantage of helping hone an instructor's ability to troubleshoot tech, which is a core component of managing the different modalities that make up Flex.
Need a reminder or a place to start? Feel free to take a look at our Canvas Survival Guide as a reference for ensuring you are comfortable with some of the above competencies.
Resources
Beatty, B. J. (2019). Values and Principles of Hybrid-Flexible Course Design. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/hyflex/hyflex_values Links to an external site.
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