Hy-flex course design involves teaching a course in a face-to-face and online delivery method at the same time. It is one of the more resilient course design options because students can determine whether to be in-person or online at any given time.
This course design does not necessarily move students at their own pace. In this course design, face-to-face and online students move through the learning experiences according to thresholds for skill and knowledge acquisition as established by the instructor. The students cannot progress from beginning to end in the course without demonstrating that they have acquired skills and knowledge deemed essential to proceeding.
Still, a student could proceed through the course only engaging the instructor and their classmates asynchronously. Thus instructors must have fully developed face-to-face and online course designs for both delivery methods. The instructor plans to provide instruction to all the students in the course using the various delivery methods and encouraging course engagement in the varying modalities.
One of the benefits is that instructors no longer worry about attendance. Instead, instructors provide activities, podcasts, mini-cases, etc. that provide an equivalent learning experience for students who cannot—for whatever reason—attend class. When students complete the work, the instructor notes that they have attended class.
Hybrid course design moves the students together through the course. They are all online at the same time and all face-to-face at the same time. The course meets at a pre-established time throughout the semester. Students who attend online attend sessions synchronously with those students who are in-person. Instructors may also ask students to participate in groups or teams for learning, incorporating online students into face-to-face interactive groups.