The definition of hybrid teaching should be considered at the learning activity level, rather than at the unit level, and planned in the best interests of learning for all students. This means, for example, that a unit may offer a mix of hybrid parallel tutorials and hybrid adaptive lab sessions.
Hybrid concurrent
A hybrid classroom allows flexibility with the synchronous delivery of content, allowing students to physically attend a session or access it online. Hybrid concurrent teaching allows all students to connect with their educators and peers. With the hybrid model, every student is able to get the same information presented by the educator at the same time. Students are all given the same opportunity to participate in class discussions and to participate in online-class activities synchronously.
Students physically in the classroom will have easier access to educators. Therefore, a conscious effort must be made to include students that are not in the classroom.
Modification to traditional teaching practices from in-person to online are required to deliver high-quality, impactful educational experiences. View the Hybrid teaching activities guide for more details on how you can adapt specific activities.
Recommendations
Below are some recommendations for how to design and teach in a hybrid concurrent learning environment.
Technology
Check the AV equipment in the teaching space. Your teaching strategy is likely to be affected by the AV equipment available so it is a good idea to visit the space prior to your first teaching session.
Book a test session in the teaching space with an AV support person and rehearse a few class activities. eSol is resource tight and requires a minimal 2-week advanced booking, so book as soon as you can.
Decide on the educational technology platform that will be used. Your faculty may specify any requirements to use Zoom, Echo360 or MS Teams.
If using Zoom, ask all students to download the latest version of Zoom. This will allow self-selected breakout rooms (a new feature).
Ask face-to-face students to bring a laptop or personal device as well as individual headphones to all lessons so that they can participate in online discussions.
Consider how students in each cohort will ask questions. Set expectations with students as to where this will take place (e.g. Zoom chat, FLUX) and any rules for queueing questions (e.g. raising your virtual hand). Ensure that you repeat the questions into the room microphone so both cohorts have a chance to hear the question and your response.
Consider pre-recording any content or lecture material that you wish to deliver and ask students to watch this before class. This not only increases the time available in class for interaction, but also gives all students – online and offline – the same experience for receiving content.
Moodle
Provide clear instructions in Moodle for both cohorts about how to access the session.Clearly state how online students are to access the live session via which platform and what are the requirements for students attending the face-to-face session. For example, tell face-to-face students if they are required to bring their device, a microphone and headphones to the classroom.
Provide clear channels of communication for questions. This could be instructions of how to book a drop-in session, email details stating when emails will be checked and responded to, or a discussion forum for questions and answers.
Session start up
Ask all students to sign in to Zoom through their Monash ID. This will allow pre-allocation and alleviate some pressure off running breakout rooms. These instructions should be clearly stated in Moodle as well.
Update Zoom settings in the Zoom admin page choosing "Monash users only", enable “auto saving chats” and “mute participants upon entry”, Getting Started with Zoom.
Set and present Houserules for hybrid lessons. Explicitly communicate house rules and repeat the instructions in the first few classes. Co-creation of additional rules supports the student voice and acknowledges them as adult learners.
Assign an online moderator. The online moderator helps bridge the in-room proceedings and the online audience. This may be another teaching staff member or a student. This may be another teaching staff member or a student. Here is a guide to online moderation. Have the moderator collect questions to raise at key points.
Acknowledge to students that there will be teething issues at the beginning. It would help to have honest conversations with the students about how they are feeling about this novel approach to learning. Even stopping class to ask how students feel emotionally and whether or not they feel connected could potentially help foster social connections and comfort with the new system.
Introduce the session’s learning agenda.
Tell students how they can ask questions. This may be via the chat, at specific breaks in the lesson, or by raising their hands (both in person and online).
Advise students on the ability to turn off the self-view and use virtual backgrounds. Some students are uncomfortable seeing themselves in a mirror or may be embarrassed by their living situation and this can help them feel safe engaging.
Teaching in the session
Keep the session varied. Break your class into different components and try to keep it moving. Spend a few minutes in breakout rooms, then show a video, then have a student share their screen. Don’t linger on any one component for too long.
Don’t try to cover too much. Plan for less. Synchronous sessions should be used for problem-solving and collaboration. Whatever you can’t cover in the session, consider how you can share this content asynchronously, such as a short lecture video.
Don’t get caught up on the tech. It helps to start with what you are most comfortable using. It’s fine to experiment with teaching tools, but take it gradually; see what works, and don’t try too much too soon.
Restate the session’s learning agenda and where you are at. The additional complexities and chaos of a concurrent classroom require repeated reminders of the session’s agenda. This can be as simple as an agenda slide inserted into class every 20 minutes.
Ensure students can ask questions. This may be via the chat, with voice, on a Google doc, padlet, in the chat, at specific breaks in the lesson, or by raising their hands (both in person and online).
Announce in advance which students will be asked questions in the subsequent 20 minutes of class. This roster can alternate between in-person and online students, giving students in either location time to prepare their minds and their technology for a response.
Break students into teams to accomplish a specific task to increase the number of students actively learning and engaging socially with each other. This will also provide opportunities for more quiet students to engage in a smaller group setting, while encouraging unprepared students to be more active.
Where possible, try to get groups (face-to-face and online) to generate their outputs electronically so all can view the outputs (eg Google docs, Jamboard, etc.).
Use online collaboration tools such as Google Docs or electronic whiteboards to structure team exercises in physical or virtual breakout rooms. Pose a specific question or task, and ask teams to document their thoughts in an electronic Whiteboard or text in a Google Doc.
Choose activities that are appropriate for a hybrid classroom. Traditional teaching practices may require modifications to translate to hybrid teaching activities.
Wrap up and summarise the key learning from the session
Allow time to form connections and a classroom community. Tell students that you can stay online for 10 minutes to take questions or arrange a time when you will be online to take questions. The online cohort, in particular, will need a way to make contact with you. Other options for connections include discussion forums. You want to create a link so it’s easy for students to feel like they belong, like they are part of the course.
Don’t assign too much reading. Remember that PDFs can be exhausting on the eyes. You can only read so much.
Upload a recording of the synchronous session to Moodle. Use Panopto to store videos for the unit. These videos can be utilised by students unable to attend as well as aid in revision for assessment.
Break recordings into bite-sized chunks and consider putting them in the context of other tasks so they do something with the material. a straight recording may not add as much as a recording with thinking prompts for instance.
Hybrid parallel (dual)
A hybrid parallel teaching model is when a synchronous offering of the same activity is delivered separatelyfor on campus and remote students. This will be timetabled at different times to allow the same educator to facilitate both sessions. Simply put, this means that you will be teaching the same session twice, once for the in person cohort and once for the online cohort.
When preparing for hybrid parallel, plan out what you want students to get out of the experience (knowledge, skills, etc.) and come up with some different types of activities which could suit those outcomes. Select online activities which could also work for face-to-face, thus creating a 'modality-free high-level plan'. This will ensure the learning activities may be delivered in both modes for greater consistency in student experience. View the Hybrid teaching activities guide for more details on how you can adapt specific activities.
Recommendations
Below are some recommendations for how to design and teach in a hybrid parallel learning environment.
Technology (for online cohort)
Decide on the educational technology platform that will be used. Your faculty may specify any requirements to use Zoom, Echo360 or MS Teams. You can learn more about the strengths and limitations of these collaboration platforms here.
If using Zoom, ask all students to download the latest version of Zoom. This will allow self-selected breakout rooms (a new feature).
Create a run sheet for the online version of the lesson.
Consider how students will ask questions. Set expectations with students as to where this will take place (e.g. Zoom chat, FLUX) and any rules for queueing questions (e.g. raising your virtual hand). Ensure that you repeat the questions into the room microphone so both cohorts have a chance to hear the question and your response.
Session Design
Design for online synchronous engagement for both cohorts and then adapt the online session plan for face-to-face engagement as needed (eg where you plan to run breakout rooms to discuss an item, consider how you will divide up face-to-face students to do that activity). Given online teaching requires you thinking about technologies to facilitate interaction as well as content design, doing this work first as your base makes it easier to adapt for face-to-face teaching.
Set up your Moodle. Allow access of all resources to both cohorts so as to not disadvantage students. All students should have access to content specific forums but technical support forums may only require viewing from online students.
Be clear with students about protocols and explain to students, tell them to whom they should reach out and in what ways.
Consider pre-recording any content or lecture material that you wish to deliver and ask students in both cohorts to watch this before class. This not only increases the time available in class for interaction, but also gives all students – online and offline – the same experience for receiving content.
Moodle
Provide clear instructions in Moodle for the online cohort about how to access the session. Clearly state how online students are to access the live session via which platform and what are the requirements for students attending the face-to-face session. For example, tell face-to-face students if they are required to bring their device, a microphone and headphones to the classroom.
Session start up (for online cohort)
Ask all students to sign in to Zoom through their Monash ID. This will allow pre-allocation and alleviate some pressure off running breakout rooms. These instructions should be clearly stated in Moodle as well.
Update Zoom settings in the Zoom admin page choosing "Monash users only", enable “auto saving chats” and “mute participants upon entry”, Recommended settings for Zoom guide.
Advise students on the ability to turn off the self-view and use virtual backgrounds. Some students are uncomfortable seeing themselves in a mirror or may be embarrassed by their living situation and this can help them feel safe engaging.
Assign an online moderator. The online moderator helps bridge the in-room proceedings and the online audience. This may be another teaching staff member or a student. This may be another teaching staff member or a student. Here is a guide to online moderation. Have the moderator collect questions to raise at key points.
Introduce the session’s learning agenda.
Tell students how they can ask questions. This may be via the chat, with voice, on a Google doc, padlet, in the chat, at specific breaks in the lesson, or by raising their hands (both in person and online).
Teaching in the session
Keep the session varied. Break your class into different components and try to keep it moving. Spend a few minutes in breakout rooms (or physical groups), then show a video, then have a student share their work. Don’t linger on any one component for too long.
Don’t try to cover too much. Plan for less. Synchronous sessions should be used for problem-solving and collaboration. Whatever you can’t cover in the session, consider how you can share this content asynchronously, such as a short lecture video.
Don’t get caught up on the tech. It helps to start with what you are most comfortable using. It’s fine to experiment with teaching tools, but take it gradually; see what works, and don’t try too much too soon.
State and restate the session’s learning agenda and where you are at in it. The additional complexities and chaos of a concurrent classroom require repeated reminders of the session’s agenda. This can be as simple as an agenda slide inserted into class every 20 minutes.
Ensure students can ask questions. This may be via the chat, with voice, on a Google doc, padlet, at specific breaks in the lesson, or by raising their hands (both in person and online).
Break students into teams to accomplish a specific task to increase the number of students actively learning and engaging socially with each other. This will also provide opportunities for more quiet students to engage in a smaller group setting, while encouraging unprepared students to be more active.
Use online collaboration tools such as Google Docs or electronic whiteboards to structure team exercises in virtual breakout rooms and in physical groups. Pose a specific question or task, and ask teams to document their thoughts in an electronic Whiteboard or text in a Google Doc.
Wrap up and summarise the key learning from the session
Allow time to form connections and a classroom community. The online cohort, in particular, will need a way to make contact with you. Tell students that you can stay online for 10 minutes to take questions or arrange a time when you will be online to take questions.
Forge connections through the use of discussion forums. You want to create a link so it’s easy for students to feel like they belong, like they are part of the course.
Upload a recording of the synchronous session to Moodle. Use Panopto to store videos for the unit. These videos can be utilised by students unable to attend as well as aid in revision for assessment.
Break recordings into bite-sized chunks and consider putting them in the context of other tasks so they do something with the material. a straight recording may not add as much as a recording with thinking prompts for instance.
Hybrid adaptive
Sometimes it is not possible to deliver the same activities online and face-to-face. In this circumstance, you would need to create different but equivalent learning activities for on campus and remote participants. In order to ensure an equivalent learning experience, learning outcomes should be the starting point for lesson planning. The activities to achieve the learning outcome would differ based on limitations of the environment, materials, and connectivity.
In order to ensure that online students don’t feel they are getting a compromised learning experience, it is important to be explicit with students about how the online sessions are delivering on the learning outcomes that are set for them.
Recommendations
Below are some recommendations for how to design and teach in a hybrid adaptive learning environment.
Session Design
Decide if the equivalent session will be synchronous or asynchronous.
Think about equivalence. This means that you will teach so that both groups can achieve the same learning outcomes. However, the way in which you will create learning experiences for students so that they achieve the same learning outcomes will differ across face-to-face, synchronous online or asynchronous online modalities.
The equivalent but different learning activities must not disadvantage either group from achieving the learning outcomes that form part of the unit outcomes and which you will likely assess in the assessment regime.
Set up your Moodle. General content question forums should include participants for both cohorts. Use separate groups for activities that are specific to only one cohort to reduce confusion.
Be clear with students about protocols, to whom they should reach out and in what ways.
If you are running the online group in a synchronous manner, follow the guidelines outlined for the online group under Hybrid Parallel.
Use Moodle to guide the learning. Structure the Moodle site in a way that allows students to navigate a session worth of learning in a logical and sequenced way (eg Don’t just upload documents on the Moodle site).
Optimise the online learning experience by thinking about it as a whole and not just individual asynchronous activities.
Establish a clear beginning, middle and end of the equivalent ‘session’. Explain the learning outcomes for the asynchronous online session, explain how a student working through the materials will achieve them (what they will do) and then explain to them the reasons that they they are doing it in this way (eg first you will… then you will consider, after that you will apply those principles to...).
Create a logical structure that makes it easy for them to work through the learning activities which means they can see the order in which they need to undertake the activities.
Assign an estimated time duration that you think should be spent on each learning activity.
Try to create some active or interactive learning activities using technology. Explore the different activities and resources available in Moodle. For ideas on how to do this visit Increasing interactive learning with technology.
Include feedback into asynchronous activities. This could be automated within the technology, personalised feedback from the lecturer or general feedback done in the next synchronous session.
Wrap up the learning at the end of the set of activities by restating the learning students should have gained from undertaking the tasks. Also make it clear to them how to reach you to clarify any lingering questions after the activity.
Acknowledgement
Mr Bowen Yang, Digital Education Specialist, Monash Sustainable Development Institute
‘House Rules’ donated by Monash Business School BEX3150
Hybrid teaching scenarios contributed by Veronica Halupka, Educational Designer Faculty of Engineering and Phillip Abramson, Educational Designer Faculty of Information and Technology
