Contributed by Jane Nguyen – Instructional Designer I (COE)
Some of you may be aware that in addition to being an instructional designer here at UHCL, I am also a long-time college instructor who has, for years, taught both in-person and online. Currently, it’s an in-person Saturday class at Houston Community College. Even with the “in-person” designation, however, our heavy use of a learning management system (LMS) when not in class makes it effectively hybrid as well.
So, this week I’d like to riff on hybrid teaching. This will necessarily mean tips on engaging students in the classroom, engaging them online, and how to bridge the two for hybrid cohesiveness. To make this clear and easy, I’ll organize this by mode and give two tips per mode (a small # since I tend to elaborate).
Classroom Teaching Tips
Pair Share – The potential for good class discussions is always the first thing I think of when I’m assigned an in-person class – how my class and I will engage in a lively intellectual conversation where people share intelligent perspectives along with relevant personal experiences. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen easily at all. Too often, students behave as if they have nothing to say even when given an interesting topic.
I find that…they do have something to say; they are often just disinclined to share it with the whole class (too much potential for embarrassment). I overheard another educator this week talking about the very same issue—students clamming up if they’re asked a question as a whole, but gabbing away the moment they’re put in a group of three to discuss or with just another partner.
So…do that. “Pair Share” is a good practice regardless of your content. You might think…but my content isn’t the type of content that students can or will discuss. First of all, you’d be surprised at what students can come up with even about factual, non-controversial, or what seems like “dry” topics. And two, talking to one’s neighbor (classmate sitting n isn’t always about hashing out a controversial issue or giving an opinion. Letting students summarize or explain a concept you just talked about helps them learn it and helps it crystallize in their working and long-term memory. It also gives them a chance to clarify information to each other, which they will do, and even if they don’t say so, the act of articulating and demystifying concepts through speaking out loud will feel satisfying to them.
I encourage you to do this even if you are lecturing. Find breakpoints within a 45-minute lecture to let students pair-share. These pair-shares (can be three students if you prefer) are typically followed by asking if any group or pair wants to share with the whole class (either their opinion or a point of confusion). It is often the case that they will at this point since now they feel more validated in their thoughts or confusion and are willing to take them public.
How to bridge to online mode on the LMS?
Consider latching onto an interesting point that was made in person and creating a discussion board prompt in Blackboard related to it, beginning it with “In class on Thursday, Parker made the astute observation that…” and then posing the new question.
You can also latch onto an interesting resource or idea a student brought up, and post links related to the student’s mention. (A couple Saturdays ago, a student of mine mentioned a book relevant to what we were discussing in class. The next day, I posted a link to the book on Amazon as well as a YouTube video/TED talk of a person talking about the book, and I mentioned the student who talked about it in class). When you do this consistently, you’re not only bridging the in-person realm and the online realm, you’re showing students that you’re thinking of them and the ways you want them to be enriched. The class also feels more personal because there isn’t just a fixed set of resources put in place at the beginning of the semester that every semester’s iteration of that class gets, but also intermittent personalization to their specific ideas, thoughts, and interests in that semester’s unique version of the class.
Play Music
This tip will be shorter because it’s a little more whimsical. But…I want to share that a couple Saturdays ago while I was waiting for class to fill up, I had YouTube up on my projector screen and the classroom sound on and allowed a few popular easy-listening songs to play while we were idle before class started. This was at a low/moderate volume but loud enough for us to listen and enjoy. Several of my students loved it. One said, with a peaceful look on her face, “I like this…this is nice.” Another said, bright-eyed, “I like this song. This is one of my favorites.” I said, “I was just trying to wake us up.” She said with a smile, “You did.”
Of course, I did not play music once we got started (although there are pedagogical approaches for the appropriate use of music during class too, especially when it’s related to your subject matter). But I think many educators could use a reminder that school environments should not be austere all the time. School is a place to learn, but that can happen in a relaxed, easygoing, friendly atmosphere while still being serious about learning. Not to mention…your students like to see the human side of you - the side that likes some of the same things they like.
How to bridge to online on the LMS?
Well, as I said, don’t be afraid to share school-appropriate elements of pop culture and entertainment that you enjoy and that might help relax your students and give them a sense of your class and college as serious but also fun, connected to real-life, pop culture, recreation, and niche interests, etc. Of course, as with everything, don’t go overboard!
This week, I gave two classroom teaching tips and bridged them to the LMS (Blackboard or Canvas). In my next installment, I’ll give two tips on components of your class that start online but are then taken to the in-person realm. Until then, here is a good resource from Cornell University about hybrid teaching.
