GVSU College of Computing

In the College of Computing Multiple Delivery (MD) courses, sometimes known as "HyFlex", give students the ability to choose to attend class either in-person, synchronously online, or asynchronously online. One aspect that makes MD courses unique is that students are allowed to select a method of attendance each class period. This gives students a great deal of flexibility to choose an attendance option that fits their work schedule, meetings, travel, other courses they are taking, etc. The official description is on the Registrar's page.

The GVSU Instructional Design team has put together Tips for Teaching Multiple Delivery Courses with Remote Learners. In addition to this online support the eLearning liaisons for the college, Kelley Senkowski and Matt Roberts, are available for 1:1 consultations. If the online resources do not answer your questions, feel free to reach out to either of them.

One useful takeaway from their Tips is "Design your course to be asynchronous." Even though an MD course will have in-person students, students may choose to engage asynchronously. Planning for asynchronous students from the start is a more helpful strategy than assuming in-person and trying to accommodate remote students afterwards.

Faculty should spend some meaningful time thinking about what they have students doing during "class time" to make sure that it translates well across modalities—or to think about what analogues they can offer if need be. For example, instead of handouts, think about how remote learners can experience as much of the in-class activities as possible—whether they're case studies, simulations, small group work, discussions, whatever. For students who are synchronous remote, depending on the activity, try to consider how they will engage in the activity, either with other remote students, or with a combination of remote and in-person students (if they sign-in to Zoom from the classroom). Faculty are strongly encouraged to reach out to Kelley and Matt to discuss ideas.

Courses offered in a multiple delivery format are scheduled in rooms with technology to support all delivery modes, specifically a camera that tracks the instructor, microphones that will pick up both the instructor and in-person students, speakers to allow remote students to participate, and additional monitors so the instructor can see remote students in the Zoom meeting. A typical MD class period only requires that the instructor start the Zoom meeting and admit remote students, start recording, and then teach as usual. The camera will track the instructor and capture information written on the whiteboard. Microphones and speakers will capture the instructor and in-person student interactions, and allow remote students to participate.  When the class period is over, the instructor need only share the Zoom recording via Blackboard. Assuming Blackboard is used to collect assignments, no additional effort should be needed.

To support all enrolled students faculty teaching MD courses are expected to hold office hours both online and in-person.

Students enroll in MD courses because of the flexibility it offers. This extends to exams. Faculty should not expect all students to be able to attend exams in-person or at the same time (synchronous). Instead, faculty should plan for asynchronous exams as the norm with an in-person option for those that can attend. Many instructors use the Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor for online exams. These tools lock out any other applications from running, don't allow the browser to visit any other websites, and monitor the student via their webcam for suspicious activity like looking away from the screen, looking down, leaving the scene, talking, etc. Such activity is flagged and the instructor is alerted. GVSU has many resources available that describe how to use Respondus. Again, faculty are encouraged to contact Kelley and Matt for further discussion.

Finally, although students have flexibility in choosing a modality each class period, that flexibility does not extend to faculty. Faculty are expected to teach in-person for all class periods unless otherwise approved by their department chair.

International students should be aware of any restrictions on taking online courses. Attending an MD course online is considered to be an online course. The Padnos International Center is the authority on current regulations affecting international students, and they maintain a website with detailed information for online, hybrid, and multiple delivery courses. Students are expected to understand and comply with any current regulations.