Students are in classrooms, classlabs, studio spaces, or engaging in experiential learning on location. This mode also includes off-campus experiential learning programs like Semester in Detroit, BioStation, Camp Davis, NELP.

Guidelines

On-site courses are synchronous (all students meet together, at the same time), though of course that  only applies to the in-class component. Homework activities often use ‘online’ tools (e.g. an online discussion to brainstorm for or follow-up on class, pre-reading and annotation activities, preparation for an active learning activity that will happen during the next class meeting). Scheduled class sessions for an on-site course should not be moved into online or asynchronous modes unless the instructor wishes to re-design the course as a blended one.

While it is often desirable to “flip” an on-site course, moving lecture material out to homework time and moving erstwhile homework activities into class time where they can be more collaborative and active, this does call for creation of new video. Lecture videos for a flipped class should be written and produced to suit the new format (and preferably created in a high quality environment, such as a studio). Recycled Lecture Capture videos of a previous term’s course are not suitable or sufficient for the purpose. 

On-Site (in-person) instruction typically assigns 3 hours of homework for each contact hour of class, though this may vary from class to class based on the complexity of the homework and workload expectations. For a resource that may assist in estimating the workload, see Wake Forest University’s Workload Estimator.

Benefits of In-Person Instruction

On-site courses are, of course, a significant part of a residential experience for undergraduate students and, therefore, the default mode for LSA. Beyond that, however, on-site courses have both community-building and pedagogical advantages. Choosing the in-person format allows faculty to highlight interpersonal interactions like peer teaching and small-group discovery learning. Teaching an on-site course is an opportunity to increase community building and to create student sense of belonging and classroom engagement.

Pedagogically, on-site courses are well suited to hands-on work, team-based classes, and discussion-centered learning. Students who are interacting in person have access to the full range of non-verbal expression and understanding, and this is valuable for both team-based activities and courses with a high level of discussion or group analysis work. And, of course, any experiential learning that requires hands-on activities or in-person sensory experiences will work best in an on-site environment.

While many on-site courses have substantial interaction between students and instructors built into the course activities, it’s a good idea for teachers of larger courses, in particular, to consider how best to connect with students. Interactive polls or an active Q&A chat during class are useful ways to increase engagement with students.

All course interactions are online, with no on-site component or requirement for the course.

Online courses may be completely synchronous, completely asynchronous, or may involve a mix of both modalities: synchronous elements such as live discussions on Zoom and asynchronous activities such as collaborative annotation of course texts. The instructor may be teaching from campus or remotely, and the students may likewise be on campus or remote. Course activities do not require students to be in the same location, but the instructor may, if it seems helpful, arrange student groups to enable on campus meetings for group assignments and projects.

Guidelines

Substantive and Regular Interaction

The course must include substantive and regular interaction between instructors and students. An online course with synchronous meetings can use many of the same interactions that on-site courses do: class discussions, meetings between the instructor and small groups, peer review activities, polls and chat or discussion during lecture, etc. Opportunities for substantive and regular interaction in a completely asynchronous course might include feedback on assignments, Q&A boards, instructor participation in discussion activities, and weekly announcements by the instructor to introduce, highlight, or sum-up course content, discussion, and activities. Without interaction with instructors and peers, students in fully asynchronous courses may feel isolated and disconnected. It is part of the instructor’s responsibility to ameliorate this. See also Activity and Interaction Hours.

Small Group Work

While online courses can certainly include small group work, it can be harder to connect interpersonally than it is in on-site or blended courses. For this reason, online courses may lend themselves better to groups that are stable the whole term, allowing students to invest in their partner(s) and build trust and a working relationship over time. 

Authenticating Student Work

Instructors should state in the syllabus and discuss with students how they will confirm that work turned in is the work of the student in question. This may be as simple as “by monitoring student progress for consistency” or “by learning each student’s writing voice over the course of several drafts,” but it needs to be articulated. Not only is this essential for students themselves to know, it is also required to document this process for curriculum committees and accrediting bodies.

Lecture Videos

While well-made online course materials such as lecture videos, practice activities, and assessments may be durable for several years, ad hoc materials like the Lecture Capture video of a previous term’s course are not suitable or sufficient for an online course. Lecture videos should be created for the online mode -- for example, shorter 15 minute chunks with accompanying exercises and preferably video recorded in a higher quality environment, such as a studio. Recycled Lecture Capture videos of a previous term’s course are not suitable or sufficient for the purpose. See Quality Matters for research on optimal length of video.

Contact Hours and Calculating Student Effort

While online, asynchronous courses will not have contact hours in the same way an on-site course does, instructors can still calculate what the total activity-time of the course should be based on credit hours. Four hours of activity time for each credit hour is a reasonable standard. For a resource that may assist in estimating the workload, see Wake Forest University’s Workload Estimator. For every three hours of independent, homework-type activity, ensure at least one hour of high quality interactive activity in which students have two-way, ongoing communication with the instructor and with each other. See also Activity and Interaction Hours for some examples.\

Benefits of Online Instruction

Online courses, especially ones with a strong asynchronous element, are the most flexible course mode. They permit students who may be distant from each other spatially and temporally to still interact and learn together. This is useful both for courses that wish to welcome remote learners (e.g. international students in other countries), and for courses that take place while most residential students are dispersed (i.e. during summer).

Pedagogically, the online asynchronous mode is well suited to activities that require significant time and forethought. Courses with a strong analytical or reflective element may do especially well in the online mode. Courses that are focused on independent study, or advanced research, may also benefit from the self-paced and independent learning of the online mode. Courses that focus more on group-work or in-depth discussions will need to include synchronous meetings to get the most out of those activities, and may do better as blended courses (see below).

The blended course is designed to have both on-site and online class sessions and will include synchronous and asynchronous activities. All students will participate together in one mode at a time (i.e. all on-site, or all online). Blended learning can apply to a wide variety of course types. Blended courses may involve some days each week on-site and some days online, or may involve one week on-site and the next week online.  There are multiple ways of combining these elements and we offer a few examples below:

Example 1: Lecture is online (synchronous) and Discussion Sections are on-site .

Example 2: 4-day/week course meets two days on-site and two days online (synchronous over Zoom).

Example 3: 3-day/week course meets two days on-site and one day is asynchronous online learning activities with high quality interaction (group annotation of articles, online discussion).

Example 4: In a 2-day/week course the cohort is split into two groups of students with 1 day on-site and 1 day of high quality, interactive asynchronous activities; each cohort alternates when they are on site and when they are asynchronous so that the instructor teaches group A on-site one day and group B on-site the second day.

Guidelines

Communicate clearly to students at the start of the course, informing them of what the on-site/online schedule will be. Be sure to include which specific days are on-site and which days are online. Plan to have this information in the course guide and reflected in your room reservation.

The online element of a blended course can be either synchronous or asynchronous, depending on your goals. For courses with an asynchronous component, be careful not to overload the online element and calibrate the asynchronous “contact hour” activities appropriately with homework activities (e.g. only one hour of highly interactive activities to three hours of more independent homework-style activities). 

The on-site and online elements should take advantage of the pedagogical affordances of each mode. For example, online, asynchronous discussions permit more time for forethought and in-depth responses, and may be more suitable for analysis or for placing a course text in dialog with additional, researched sources. On-site elements, such as a synchronous discussion, should take advantage of experiential learning or the greater use and understanding of non-verbal, body language communication available in person. This may be an especially suitable mode for a discussion of difficult topics.

Benefits of Blended Instruction

Blended courses can take advantage of the strengths of both on-site and online courses--both easier interpersonal relations and hands-on learning opportunities, and also deeper reflective opportunities. The schedule of blended courses should be planned with this in mind, putting team activities, hands-on work, or lively discussions in the on-site portion, and more slow-paced analytical reflection or research in the online portion.

Partnering with another instructor and/or program to share a given classroom by alternating your on-site days extends access to popular classrooms.  For example one class meets in person T 10-11:00 and online Th 10-11:00. The second class meets online on T 10-11:00 and in person on Th 10-11:00. This allows for more small courses, among other benefits.

If you want to have students do Team Based Learning but are unable to have the class assigned to a Team Based Learning classroom, consider making the course blended. Group work can be done successfully and comfortably in an online format.  The groups could meet during a scheduled class time (synchronously) or at their own convenience (asynchronously).  Faculty can watch the group work develop in the collaborative online tools and/or participate in the small group discussions online.

In hybrid instruction, courses meet synchronously, with some students on-site and some remote. Both segments of the class should be able to interact with the instructor and with each other. Hybrid instruction requires skill at teaching a remote group and in-person group at the same time, devoting equitable attention to and inclusion of students in each location. 

Most LSA classrooms have technology which can facilitate basic hybrid instruction (see definitions below).

Under some circumstances the remote hybrid experience may feel more like watching a live-streamed event. Faculty who want to make the experience more engaging will need to work to include and connect students and create community among students in both locations. Methods for this  include anything from providing a chat channel to having full two way videoconferencing discussions. 

Subcategories of Hybrid

Basic Hybrid: Livestream of class over Zoom; remote students may ask questions or provide comments over audio connection or in chat, and hear what is said in the on-site classroom. Faculty may choose to see remote students on the podium monitor, but they are not visible to students in the room unless the instructor projects the monitor view. Remote students may have a wide-angle view of the on-site classroom, but not a face-to-face view of on-site students.

Students choose at the beginning of the semester whether they will attend in person in the classroom or whether they will attend online.  In some cases students may need to register either for the in-person section or for the online section. Interaction between the on-site and online students is limited by the lack of two-way videoconference.

Hyflex: Livestream of class over Zoom; remote students may ask questions or provide comments over audio connection, although typically questions and comments are made through a back-channel chat tool, in this class model.

Students can choose on any given day to join either the in-person or remote class session. Faculty must have a classroom that can accommodate the entire enrollment.

Videoconference Based Instruction in a Distance Learning Classroom: Carts or installed videoconferencing equipment enable a two-way videoconference connection between on-site and remote students. Everybody can see and hear, and speak directly to, everybody. There are a very limited number of such rooms, so make your request early if you wish to try this.

Things to consider

Faculty will want their hybrid course scheduled in the correct type of classroom, and should investigate what technologies are available for the particular mode they are interested in. Talk to LSA Technology Services about what’s available and which classroom technologies are best suited for the type of hybrid instruction you are considering.

There are many possible approaches to hybrid instruction. Faculty will want to work with an LTC or LRC consultant when deciding how to structure and prepare the course.

Faculty will need to actively connect people in two separate locations to make the remote students feel engaged and connected to in-person instruction.  This can be quite challenging. Again, your instructional consultants can help you figure out how you will address this issue.

It may complicate group work activities if some members of the group are in-person and others are remote. Faculty may need to re-design group-work activities to ensure students are grouped according to location.

Benefits of Hybrid Instruction

Hybrid instruction increases the element of student choice, in the course, as students can decide what mode they wish to engage in. This can result in greater student comfort and/or greater student engagement with course material and concepts.

Some LSA faculty may want to provide options to students who are unable to come to campus (short-term or long-term). Different forms of hybrid may address unique student needs and situations, including:

• Students with disabilities or medical conditions 
• Students on internships, study abroad, or other off-campus programs that need to take an on-campus course
• Students in other situations which prevent them from being on-campus 
• CourseShare Courses

Hybrid Resources

Dr. Jack Miller, Statistics Education Specialist at U-M since 2013 teaches with the hyflex approach. See this page of collected articles and presentations. 

LTC 2019 Universal Design Workshop includes Dr. Jack Miller speaking on their experience of teaching with increased student choice.

Hybrid Teaching Technology Guides. Step-by-step instructions on using LSA classroom technology for basic hybrid teaching.