Thread by @karenraycosta

Okay before I share any of this, for the record, I'm not actually critiquing HyFlex. HyFlex, bless its heart, is fine. What I'm critiquing is #HigherEd's continued reliance on garbage can decision making.

While there are some exceptions, I've yet to see any compelling data or argument that HyFlex is better than a well-designed, fully online course taught by an awesome online educator. And the costs in terms of faculty stress and the tech being poured into it continue to amass...

I'm going to try to use this thread to aggregate data on HyFlex. If you know of any, please chime in.

Of course, we already have oodles of data on what works for student retention and completion (wraparound support, supporting faculty in their pedagogy), but I digress...

First off, in my initial dive into the lit, there are a lot of articles talking about "practical considerations" for HyFlex that assume its worth. I haven't found a thing (yet) connecting HyFlex to increased student learning, retention, completion or (gasp) faculty success.

This was a pretty cool read though, and touched on something I've heard anecdotally from so many faculty: students either don't show up to in-person class or stop showing up. They opt for online.

#HyFlex
#HigherEd

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

So again, this brings me back to one of my big questions: why not support faculty in developing and teaching awesome online courses? What's the problem you're trying to solve? What are the benefits and costs of HyFlex? Is it worth it?

"Generally, student predictions did not match their actual choices. Overall, students predicted that they would attend more face-to-face than online sessions. However, more of them decided to participate via online asynchronous modules."

#HyFlex
#HigherEd

The desire path in HyFlex courses leads to asynchronous online learning. #JustSayin

Not surprisingly, not finding any data on faculty experiences teaching via HyFlex. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

#HigherEd

I have also learned that HyFlex is a type of tool used in root canals and no I'm not making this up.

#HigherEd

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…

Another layer of concern here is that the HyFlex "practical tips" pieces I'm finding are super reliant on....

wait for it...

LECTURE!

#HigherEd

Per our convo yesterday re: problems to solve:

"A key benefit for the university is that it can serve both onsite and online students without maintaining a self-contained online degree program."

Hmmmm....🤔

#HigherEd

acenet.edu/Documents/Degr…

Anyway, after this exploration, if I had $50k to spend, would HyFlex be #1 on my list? No. #10? No. #100? Maybe?

Beatty used it in a master's program in instructional tech. V. specific use case.

I think we should try HyFlex conferences.

But panacea it is not.

#HigherEd

And if our institutions are pushing this, I think it makes sense (and takes courage) to raise our hands and ask some tough questions. Because our time, energy, and $ are precious resources, and the stakes are higher than ever.

#HigherEd
#HyFlex