Consistency & Equivalency

Prior to teaching flex, I wish I would've understood that this format does require more work from the instructor, but also that the work is absolutely worth it. As an instructor, you're teaching both an online and in-person section of the same course, essentially, and students can change their mode of attendance weekly or by topic, according to their needs or preferences. It can be a really overwhelming format at first, but the benefits for the students are undeniable.

Janelle Cordero, English Faculty, SCC.

When it comes to designing and building a Flex course, two foundational concepts to consider are Consistency and Equivalency.

A Flex course can usually be thought of as three concurrent modalities: Synchronous In-Person, Synchronous Online, and Asynchronous Online, with learners being able to seamlessly move between modalities.

Synchronous In-Person	Synchronous Online	Asynchronous Online
Learners and instructors meet in the same physical location (like a classroom) at the same time. The instructor directs how class time is spent, and engages directly with learners.	Learners and instructors meet in a virtual environment (like Zoom) at the same time. The instructor directs how class time is spent, and engages directly with learners.	Course content and activities are hosted in an online learning management system (like Canvas).  The instructor designs and organizes the course content and activities. Learners engage with the content and activities on their own time and at their own pace.

For every piece of content, every activity or assignment, and every interaction planned in a Flex course, you'll need to decide if it can be delivered with consistency or with equivalency.

Consistency in Flex

It's preferable — when possible — to provide course elements that are consistent across all modalities.

For most course materials in a Flex environment, the most straightforward way to ensure consistency is to simply host those materials in Canvas as asynchronous-online assignments or resources. 

Since we advocate starting with a completed online-asynchronous course when developing a Flex course, much of the course and curriculum design workload will already be done. It also simplifies your grading workflow and workload when all student work is submitted and graded in the same location!

Equivalency in Flex

In cases where total consistency is not possible between modalities, you will instead need to ensure equivalency. Beatty defines equivalency in Flex environments as "Providing learning activities in all participation modes which lead to equivalent learning outcomes." He continues, 

All alternative participation modes should lead to equivalent learning. Providing an alternative approach to students which leads to inferior learning “by design” is poor instructional practice and is probably unethical.

Equivalency does not imply equality, however. An online learning experience (i.e., asynchronous discussion) may turn out to be much less socially interactive than a classroom based discussion activity. In each case, however, students should be challenged to reflect upon learning content, contribute their developing ideas to the discussion, and interact with the ideas of their peers. Providing equivalent learning experiences in various modes which lead to equivalent learning outcomes may be one of the greatest challenges in the HyFlex approach. 

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.

When thinking about differentiation and equivalent learning experiences, keep in mind the following principles:

• Predictability in how synchronous sessions are spent. Students should be able to determine what will happen in live classes ahead of time, and decide which class format they want to engage in each class period. This underscores the importance of transparency in your course design. To learn more about transparency, see the TILT Framework Links to an external site..
  
  
• Predictability in how grades are earned. Students should not be given more or fewer graded assignments based on which class modality they are engaging with. There should be equivalency in how each students' final grade is calculated. We'll look at this in more detail later.
  
  
• Continuity between modality. Keep in mind that in Flex, students are able to determine which modality best fits their needs. Individual students may choose to switch between modalities throughout the term. A student who usually attends synchronous in-person might need to work asynchronously for one week. A student who normally does everything asynchronously might choose to attend in-person in preparation for a big assignment. Students should know what to expect for each week in each modality, so that they can make an informed decision. An individual student should be able to move between modalities without missing any important information or context.

Using a modality grid may be helpful when planning equivalent ideas and activities.

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We'll explore specific examples of technologies and interaction activities in more detail later. Click Next to continue to your second activity.