Welcome to Hybrid-Flexible Course Design!
Welcome to the HyFlex World
Hybrid-flexible course designs - multi-modal courses which combine online and onground (classroom-based) students -
have been used successfully for more than a decade at many higher education institutions around the world with a wide
variety of courses. At San Francisco State we call this design “HyFlex”; many campuses use this term and many others
use their own term. This book uses the terms "Hybrid-Flexible" and "HyFlex" interchangeably, often using the more
general term "Hybrid-Flexible" to open a chapter and the shorter term "HyFlex" when referring to detailed approaches.
Other names for the HyFlex approach are referenced and used when describing other specific implementations,
especially in the case reports of Unit III.
Often the initial impetus for developing a Hybrid-Flexible approach is a very real need to serve both online and onground
students with a limited set of resources (time, faculty, space) which leads to a multi-modal delivery solution. When
students are given the freedom and ability to choose which mode to participate in from session to session, they are
able to create their own unique hybrid experience. Locally, we have started acknowledging the student control aspect,
sometimes referring to HyFlex as delivering a “student-directed hybrid” learning experience.
This book provides readers with strategies, methods, and case stories related to Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) course design
so that they (you!) may make informed and thoughtful decisions about using it themselves and begin their own HyFlex
course (re)design journey. More specifically, based on the needs identified for their specific context, readers will be able
to:
a. gains an awareness of the HyFlex design,
b. determines if and how HyFlex course design could help them solve critical needs,
c. finds their own innovative HyFlex solution to their specific challenges,
d. begins the HyFlex implementation process using strategies similar to those used by instructors described in this
book, and
e. take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve their education practice, enabling them to better serve more
students.
The book describes the fundamental principles of HyFlex design, explains a process for design and development, and
discusses implementation factors that instructors, designers, students and administrators have experienced in a wide
variety of higher education institutions; public and private, larger and small, research-intensive, comprehensive and
community colleges. These factors include the drivers, the variations in implementation approaches and constraints,
and the results (e.g., student success metrics, student satisfaction). A series of worksheets in Chapter 1.4 provides
specific guidance that can be used by individuals or teams engaging in HyFlex design projects at their own institution.
Case reports in Unit III from institutions and faculty who have successfully implemented HyFlex-style courses provide a
rich set of real-world stories to draw insights for a reader’s own design setting.