3 - Can I take your class online?

Faculty, administration, and staff have spent the better part of the summer trying to figure out how to safely deliver quality education starting this fall. We've had more meetings, brainstorming sessions, revision discussions, and feedback forums about how to run classes this fall, how to best utilize space, and how to ensure compliance with social distancing and mask-wearing protocols, than I could list in this single blog.

But it recently occurred to me that we haven't yet passed that information along to you, students!

Here I offer a brief explanation.

You may notice that some classes are listed as "online" and others as "lecture discussion". In the past, this might have been a fairly clear distinction, but this fall, you are likely to find there is a spectrum of what these titles may mean.

For example, if your class is listed as online, this may mean that it is fully asynchronous (no synchronous meeting times), that most of the content will be asynchronous, but you will occasionally meet during your previously scheduled classtime, you meet at the regularly scheduled class times, or some combination of these. Further, the synchronous meeting may be a straight lecture (more like a webinar) or it may be more interactive. 

If your class is listed as being a "lecture-discussion", this means that there is likely some "in-person" component to the class. Some classes may meet in person and, if small enough, have a somewhat "regular" feel to them. Others may meet in person but only half the class comes at a time. Some will be conducted in what is now coined a "hyflex" environment. 

A hy-what now?

The idea behind a hyflex classroom experience is that some students will be in the classroom, in-person (wearing masks and socially distanced by a pre-determined room arrangement), while other students will be joining the class remotely. This means that ALL students (whether in person or joining form another location) will be logging into the virtual platform (Zoom, for example). The class will be conducted through zoom, even though people are in the classroom.

Here is a great article describing the hyflex classroom environment. 

Why do this? Well, it offers an opportunity to be physically present, while still offering space for virtual students to contribute. It ensures that there is no need to break social distancing protocol (like might be the case in a normal classroom where instructors move about during the discussion), and also allows students to join class virtually who cannot or choose not to make it back to campus in the fall. As a student, you do not have to decide to be virtual or in person and stick to it the whole semester, rather, if you feel like it would be fun to come to class, you can join in person. If you are not feeling well, or haven't been tested recently (12 testing centers on campus!!), or just don't feel comfortable coming to the classroom that day, you can join online and not miss class. (Yay!)

For my B201 students this fall, our hyflex day will be Mondays. There will be an in-person option that day (in Deloitte auditorium*) and students can also join virtually. Those days will be some lecture, but mostly activities and discussions about the readings, videos, and other assigned work you've completed prior to coming to class.

I hope this helps dispel some of the uncertainty around the classroom experience this fall. What other questions do you have about the Fall course experience?

*A note that only 47 students are allowed in Deloitte Auditorium at a time due to Covid 19 social distancing restrictions.