Text CITL Flipped Hybrid Challenges and Solutions

Developing an effective hybrid learning experience can present new challenges for faculty including: making prerecorded videos, facilitating group activities, staying organized, helping students stay organized, and making sure that the entire course experience is well-blended and running smoothly. Here are the top five challenges faculty face when transitioning to flipped hybrid teaching, and some suggested tips for handling them.

Creating Prerecorded Video Lectures

One of the biggest challenges will be planning a week or more ahead to prerecord some of your lectures. These recordings will be shorter and tighter than your usual lectures, but even short videos can take a long time to make. You will need to break the full lecture into smaller content chunks, review and remake some of your slides, and rethink your delivery. You’ll also need to learn how to use recording software, microphones, and lighting, and you’ll need a quiet area to set everything up and leave it in place while you make the recordings.

Solution: You may already have some components of a hybrid course: prerecorded lectures, in-class and online activities, and alternative assessments. It's okay to tweak and reuse these in building your hybrid course, but challenge yourself to identify a weak topic in the course that can be improved. A way to do this it to ask yourself where students typically do poorly, where they are confused, or where they are bored. Then work on improving that part first. Making even small improvements to your course will result in a better learning experience.

Solution: The CITL Instructor Studio in the Armory has lighting, mics, and other recording equipment set up and ready to use, including a lightboard. After a brief lesson you’ll be able to reserve studio time and begin recording high quality videos there. CITL staff can also advise you on setting up a recording space in your home or office. Faculty are often nervous about turning their lectures into videos but usually find that the process gets easier and faster over time. It won't be long before you're making engaging lecture videos at home, in your office, or in our CITL studios.

Preparing More Hands-on Activities

Another big difference between flipped hybrid and traditional courses is that, with lectures moved online, the amount of time available for facilitating engaging activities in the classroom increases. For those who have only experienced lecturing, this can feel like a revelation, but it can also be a little overwhelming. Check out some of the ideas offered in Module 4, or schedule a short meeting with CITL staff to help you plan fun and engaging in-class learning activities where students practice and apply key concepts. As you are making changes to your classroom activities it may also be a good time to rethink traditional assessments, such as like tests and papers. Consider developing alternative assignments that require collaboration such as poster presentations, board games, student-produced videos, or graphic novels.

Solution: Many faculty struggle to come up with useful and interesting things for students to do with their new-found time in class. See Easy Ideas to Facilitate Group Activities and Digital Tools for In-Class and Online Group Activities in Module 4 for ideas you can use in-class or online to support practical applications of concepts and small group discussions. The activities can be adapted to any subject matter and require very little planning.

Blending In-Class and Online Activities

Another challenge is figuring out which activities to do in-person and which to offer online. You can reframe this by asking yourself which format is best for mastering the learning objectives. Some tasks are better when they're done face-to-face and students can see and interact with each other in the moment. Others are better done online where students have time to review, reflect, and develop their ideas slowly. Watching video lectures are best done online, while small group projects are usually better in person, but discussions or research can be effective either way. See our helpful article on what goes where to jumpstart your thinking.

Solution: Experienced hybrid course designers call this the ‘art of the blend’ which involves thoughtful planning and coordination of in-class and online activities. When done well, faculty enjoy a richer more engaged teaching experience, and students enjoy a seamless merging of course components with the added benefit of a supportive community in the classroom and online.

Solution: Avoid the course-and-a-half syndrome where too much extra work is assigned online under the mistaken belief that students have more time available in a flipped course. (Check the FAQ in this Module for more on this.) It's also a mistake to repeat entire lectures in class that have already been viewed online. This defeats the purpose of flipped learning and discourages students from coming to class prepared. CITL staff can help you think through and refine your teaching strategies to avoid common growing pains.

Being Very Organized

It’s easy for students to get lost in flipped and online courses and you'll have to be very organized. Special attention should be paid to the use of Canvas to manage course details like where information is found, when things are due, how communications will be received, and how grades will be given. Part of this involves becoming comfortable with Canvas. It is also important to write clear instructions for all assignments in class and online, and to continually foster a diverse and supportive learning community through discussions and activities in class and online. Learn more about effective use of communication tools in Canvas. Even simple changes can make your course run more smoothly and build stronger relationships between you and your students, and between students and each other.

Solution: CITL offers online and in-person assistance with Canvas and other teaching technologies. You may also find it useful to enroll in self paced courses like Canvas 101. Fast and friendly consultations always available at citl-info@illinois.edu

Helping Students Stay Organized

All courses require students to manage their time effectively, but hybrid learning also requires them to plan ahead. Your students will now have to view lecture videos and complete online quizzes before coming to class, post their homework or follow up comments to Canvas, and balance in-class and online due dates. Encouraging students to develop good organization skills begins with you. Give them a well-organized syllabus and use the communication tools in Canvas to set up course reminders, send announcements, and provide a forum for asking questions and getting help.

It is especially important in flipped hybrid courses to create Weekly Schedules that spell out exactly what is expected each day of the week. Indicate whether tasks are to be completed in class or online and when they are due. Check with CITL staff for more tips on helping students stay organized in your course.

Solution: You can see examples of Weekly Schedules in Module 2. A well-designed before-during-after class schedule helps students to see what is happening, when it's happening, where it's happening, and when something is due. Try to write short, clear instructions and include direct links to readings, videos, assignments, and rubrics in the schedule.

Solution: Not sure how to build a hybrid course in Canvas? Looking for shortcuts to building Weekly Schedule? We've got you covered. Check out the fully downloadable CITL Canvas Hybrid Course Template in Module 4. Use it as is, or modify it to meet your needs.

The Best Solution of All is to Start Small

Don’t feel that you have to change everything at once! Incremental changes will allow you to ease into the process, experiment with different strategies, and gain valuable input from students. Even faculty who are nervous about developing a hybrid course will usually come to appreciate the many advantages of hybrid learning, and after several semesters find that they have completely transformed an okay course into a stellar one.