Before highlighting some proven effective strategies for large group teaching in hybrid modalities, it is imperative to talk through the experiences of your students as learners and try to understand their concerns or questions, and then address those areas as key components of adopting a student-centred approach to teaching. As you and your students adjust to a hybrid teaching module, be ready to conduct these discussions frequently throughout the term.
Class Discussion
Putting questions to students on the course content using a live polling tool is one informal method to get their attention both in the classroom and online. For this kind of live polling, at City, we have the audience response system called Poll Everywhere. Using the polling function within Zoom or Teams is one alternative approach. For academics and online learners, this means managing additional tools, but if polling is something you’ll be doing frequently, the learning curve is worthwhile.
Chat or backchannel
You may provide a backchannel for class discussion using the text chat feature within Zoom and Teams. The “front channel” is the spoken conversation you have with your students, whether they are in person or attending your class online. The students can have further conversations in the chat. You may use a backchannel to let your online and in-person students communicate with one another and even build a feeling of community. In addition, it can fulfil some requirements related to universal design by offering a text substitute for spoken exchanges for those whose first language is not English. Bear in mind that Zoom does not allow students to keep their previous text conversation if they leave and subsequently rejoin the session. Many people find it difficult to monitor and reply to messages in the chat since they can only divide their attention so much. This is where the Co-Pilots at City can be the “voice of the chat.” Some academics ask students to volunteer to mediate this chat on a rotating basis. However, the Co-Pilots have the responsibility to keep an eye on the chat and search for any remarks or inquiries that need to be directed towards the lecturer.
It is a good idea to have a discussion with your students on how to make effective use of the chat when in class. Rather like an agreed etiquette, it’s worth setting some guidelines for acceptable text chat behaviour in the class. Lecturers could pose some leading questions, or you may want to steer students’ comments into the backchannel. All students should be invited to offer their questions and opinions in the chat or in class if there are microphones open, to share their voice during the class with those online.
Collaborative Notetaking
Collaborative notetaking is one way to approach the chat or backchannel strategy. Usually, this entails creating a document that students may use to take notes on the topic of discussion in class. At City, Dr. Rebecca Wells, our ISLA project co-sponsor finds this very effective in her hybrid classes during sessions in MSc Food Policy. See her case study video linked here to Mediaspace. Students can be encouraged to read and contribute to the shared notes, where two or three individuals are designated as lead notetakers for a particular class. This role should be rotated among students during the term.
This method offers a framework for active listening in the classroom; note-takers listen intently and record as much as they can, freeing up other students to concentrate on contributing to the discussion without worrying about taking notes. It may be especially helpful in a setting where some students find it difficult to hear one another, particularly if the note-takers are dispersed around the classroom’s socially isolated areas.
Hybrid Pairing
Another approach to enhancing student engagement is where the on-campus students link up with your online students for a brief Zoom or Teams conversation. Mixing groups is challenging within a class, but this might be a useful approach. By including pair work during classes, once you have worked out the matching of students challenge, but this may only need doing once, then you need to have all of the students that are in person using headphones or earphones. Additionally, it fosters camaraderie between your two student groups, which is an extra bonus.
Physical Movement
There is proof that exercise improves cognitive performance, and not often mentioned in guidance on hybrid teaching, but there may still be methods to include movement in the classroom. For example, you might add some vertical movement by students to a yes/no or agree/disagree polling question. Or they could stand up if they agree and sit down if they disagree. Students might take turns writing ideas in a shared document or putting questions in the chat, some academics use online boards like Miro or Padlet. Post-it notes stuck to the class whiteboard or better still, placed under the visualiser, would enhance a group work project. Requiring your online students to move around may seem difficult, but if you have one or more in-person students taking notes to share with the class later, your online students may find it good to go for a short walk and reflect on the questions, especially if it is a longer session.
Hybrid Fishbowl
This is an advanced exercise but can be very effective in a hybrid classroom, based on a long-standing method for facilitating class discussions. In the traditional form, a lecturer would select a group of pupils who have similar opinions on a subject. These students are in the fishbowl and are told to arrange their seats in a circle in the middle of the space. The other students, who are not inside the fishbowl, listen while they talk about the subject and share their opinions as well as their reasons for thinking it’s essential. Students in the fishbowl can confirm or clarify the observations made by the observers when the lecturer asks them to summarise or paraphrase what they heard. After that, students trade places and the procedure or tactic is to promote empathy for opposing viewpoints, and can be especially helpful when discussing divisive subjects.
The fishbowl exercise could function effectively in the hybrid class with a few adjustments. A lecturer may choose a portion of their online students to be the “fish” in the fishbowl rather than choosing students based only on their opinions. While the other students, both those online and those in person, listen, watch, and if they choose, will take notes in a shared document, these students are asked to debate the subject at issue from their diverse points of view. Following the fishbowl conversation, the observers use their voices, the chat, or one of the previously discussed group work structures to paraphrase, question, or dispute as appropriate to the subject.
This type of fishbowl game does capitalise on the fact that in a hybrid classroom, the students present will be able to hear the students participating online more easily than the other way around. Additionally, you can guarantee that every student eventually has an opportunity to be in the fishbowl if your hybrid class is set up so that you cycle between in-person and virtual attendance.
Ref: Active Learning in Hybrid and Physically Distanced Classrooms. (n.d.). Vanderbilt University. Retrieved 22 July 2024, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2020/06/active-learning-in-hybrid-and-socially-distanced-classrooms/
