Hybrid teaching sessions

Hybrid teaching is a term developed in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. It refers to classroom teaching that additionally offers the possibility to connect with students and/or teachers online who are not physically present.

Hybrid teaching is particularly suitable for introductions, getting to know new semester students and lecture or speech style formats. A great advantage is the synchronous, simultaneous presence of all participants in order to be able to communicate the general conditions and contents to everyone equally.

If you conduct a hybrid teaching session, consider offering an additional consultation hour for students who are connected only online.

Blended teaching sessions

Preparational steps of an asynchronous teaching session or module (distance learning, online teaching)

• Decide whether you want to make the distance learning element available in Moodle or MS Teams. Communicate this clearly to the students: Where to find which materials, which course elements are provided in Moodle or MS Teams.
• When planning, consider the commitment and previous knowledge of your students.
• Make the content available as soon as possible.
• Divide your content into smaller parts (so-called ’micro-learning’). Use short screencasts (of a few minutes) or include sound to your PPT slides.
• Create a social communication area for your students in your course: give students the opportunity to introduce themselves, talk to each other, upload their own photos, etc.
• Give your students points for activities (assignments, forum posts, group work) which they have completed.
• Try to give feedback on the activities. To do so, use different assessment tools to evaluate the tasks: checklists, list of acceptable answers or others.
• Encourage collaboration: group work, e.g. students write contributions to forums in groups, groups comment on the work of other groups.
• Create short quizzes as formative assessment.
• Use survey tools to get feedback from your students.

Organisation of a synchronous (Microsoft Teams) teaching session

• Be present in the online room a few minutes before the start of the course – you can turn off the microphone and webcam and leave a message in the chat channel, e.g. “we start at 09.00 am sharp”. By doing so, all participants have a confirmation being in the right room.
• Switching the camera on and off
  • Start your lesson/greeting with the camera turned on to enhance the relationship with your students. Then, when you share your screen, turn the camera off.
  • If you are giving just a lecture, ask your students to turn off their cameras and microphones.
  • If you are conducting a small group work or a discussion with your students, students can also turn on their cameras to make the session more personally appealing.
• As a teacher, you are the moderator of your online course and you guarantee that it runs smoothly. In larger groups it can be helpful to have an additional person as a co-moderator. Inform your students what you have planned for the teaching session:
  • What? What they will learn, i.e. the content
  • Why? What are the learning objectives
  • How? What teaching methodology do you intend to use for the session.
• Split your content input into smaller sequences and plan question slots to answer your students’ questions. Students can ask questions in the chat, but also orally by using the hand symbol.
• Involve students actively as often as possible.
  • Give feedback to your students.
  • Get active feedback from students. You can use survey tools to get immediate feedback from your students.
• During longer teaching sessions, take breaks more often than in a face-to-face session.
• Show how relevant the teaching content is, refer to practical application.
• Consider the next steps, what could students do to support learning?
• At the end of the teaching session, say goodbye again with the camera on.

    Tips for all settings

• Together with the students, you should also create a ’course etiquette’ i.e. communication rules:
  • Type and possible ways of queries
    • Ask questions in the chat during the course
    • Raising of hands, speaking times allocated by the moderator to avoid confusion
    • Questions after the course
  • General netiquette, e.g. “feedback is welcome, but please make sure that it is handled in an appreciative manner also in the forums”, etc.
• Organise team collaboration:
  • Punctuality – also students should be present a few minutes before the official course starts
  • Do students have to expect to switch on their camera from time to time (during discussions or presentations)?
  • Could it be that the course instructors call students individually to solve examples, answer questions?
  • Submission modalities and rules for late submission
• Establish a consistent approach to document task management: when and for what purpose do you use the Moodle learning platform and when do you use MS Teams?
• Structure the teaching units in phases (most useful in asynchronous teaching settings!):
  • Activate: include students in discussion, refer to previous knowledge
  • Input: define, identify, present content
  • Reflect: exchange, compare, describe
  • Output: differentiate, organise, implement
  • Check: assess, improve, give feedback
• Plan different activities and methods to actively involve the students and how to implement these activities in the learning platform Moodle or MS Teams.

Follow-up

• Evaluate your experience and the synchronous and asynchronous teaching sessions you have carried out.
• Think about the scenarios in which you have had good experiences and what could be improved or needs to be completely revised.
• Share your experiences with us!

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