Hybrid education, also called multilocation teaching, is where simultaneously part of the students follows their class online via Zoom and part follows the class physically present in the hybrid classroom. Lots of teachers choose to teach this way because some students can't make it to campus. They might have Corona, they need to take care of others or they are in different country. These students can participate online and won't miss any of their classes. The VU has upgraded many classrooms with a camera and microphone to make hybrid education a possibility. Do you want to teach hybrid? This page will tell you all about it!

Teachers are scheduled in the hybrid classrooms via the faculty led scheduling process.

List of all hybrid classrooms and lecture halls

The way to do this #1: Contact the VU Education Lab student-assistants via this form as soon as possible to set up an appointment to help you set up and operate the camera, microphone and Zoom in the hybrid classrooms. Full = full.

The way to do this #2: Use the Canvas groups functionality to organize who will attend the class physically and communicate this clearly with your students. See these instructions on how to organize your groups.

The way to do this #3: Start up the equipment in your hybrid classroom 30 minutes before the start of your class. This way, if anything doesn't go as planned, you still have enough time to call the AVC to fix it.

The way to do this #4: Make sure all students are seen and heard. Assign a (student-)moderator to keep track of the chat, repeat the questions and answers from the students that are physically attending, display the online students on the main screen, use Mentimeter to poll your students.

The way to do this #5: Prepare yourself by reading the Hybrid Teaching Guide:

Hybrid Teaching Guide

How to use the hybrid equipment?

Pitfalls

Focussing on only one of the two groups. You need to divide your attention equally to the physical present and online present students. Otherwise students will simply 'switch off'. Make sure to practice this. It helps to project the online students on the screen, so it's like they are actually in the room.
Do not forget to repeat questions and answers from students in the classroom. Especially in the large lecture rooms, it can be difficult for the students online to hear what the students physically present are saying.
Thinking hybrid teaching is the same as teaching online or offline. When teaching both the students physically present and online simultaneously, you need to divide your attention, which is something you need to get used to. Make sure to prepare and practice.

Hybrid teaching is different from teaching just offline or online. You need to be able to do 2 things at once: both teaching the students physically present and the ones online. Both groups need to feel like they were given attention to. For example, the students who enter the class online expect the class to start right away, the students who follow the class on campus might still be chatting. The online students don't have this option, so they might be waiting around, while if the entire class was given online this would not have been the case. Think about how both types are experienced by your students, and don't forget that you can also just ask your students how the hybrid class is going. They might have great advice you might not have thought of yourself.

We have developed a guide full of teaching tips to help you make the best of your hybrid classes. You can find them in the Hybrid Teaching Guide:

Teaching Tips for Hybrid Teaching

Get inspired by Geert Buijtenweg to start with hybride teaching. In this video (7:45) teacher and students share their experiences with Hybrid teaching.

Our junior lecturers show how to use digital writing during classes (9:01)

Experience of a teacher

"I taught in 5A-00. The students in the room were thrilled. I had the Zoom students on the big screen as well as the monitor - they could easily contribute to the discussion. However, they could not see the students in the room (except for those who brought their laptop and also joined via Zoom). The image of me is also a little blurry. And they could not always hear the students in the room very well. Both the students and I were very happy that this hybrid possibility exists!"

Experience of a teacher

"You can have genuine interactions with the students who are at home. As an instructor, you just speak to them as though they were in the classroom, and you hear them speak back as if they were in the classroom as well. It's actually better than a regular lecture because the students seem to be much more comfortable asking complicated questions from the comfort of their homes. (This is about HG 6A00.) It is important that there are students in real life as well, you can see a very nice mutual reinforcement then. The students seemed very happy and I personally was pleased as well. Applications like Mentimeter are very easy to combine with this but I didn't do that at this time."

Did you teach in a hybrid teaching room? Please let us know your experiences to help us improve the hybrid classrooms: Evaluation hybrid classrooms

Please help us collect inspiring examples. If you have an interesting example to share, or if you come across an example worth sharing, please tell us by filling out this Contact Form. Your help is much appreciated.

In all hybrid classrooms is a step by step guide available on how to get the equipment started. Already want to have a look at this guide? You can find it here:

Step by step guide on how to use the hybrid classroom equipment

What equipment can I expect to find in the hybrid classrooms?

Zoom

Licenced to VU

Intermediate

Organise webinars/ video meetings for up to 300 people
Chat, share screen or record your meeting
Schedule a zoom meeting via Canvas

49 participants visible at the same time
Use breakout rooms to facilitate discussion
Use the whiteboard or polling functionalities to stimulate interaction

Mentimeter

Licenced to VU

Beginner

Use Mentimeter for online voting
Create interactive presentations
Respond via mobile phone

Immediate and easy interpretable results

A bit diffucult to integrate in Powerpoint

If you do not feel comfortable with hybrid teaching or the equipment is failing or missing, consider the following options:

Fully online. Teach your class completely online.
Fully offline. Repeat your on-campus class a later time, so students who can't attend the first class have a second chance to follow the class on-campus.
Don't want to divide your attention to an online and on-campus class? Use the hybrid classroom equipment to record your class, without the presence of online students. This way you can focus your full attention to the students present in the classroom. The students who cannot come to the campus can watch the recording afterwards.
Is the hybrid equipment not working or are you not scheduled in a hybrid classroom, but you still want to teach hybrid? It is possible to create a hybrid classroom setting yourself. You will need to bring your own laptop and wireless headphones that include a microphone. Position your laptop in the classroom in a way that the camera of your laptop is pointing at you during the Zoom. Use the microphone on your wireless headphones so your online students can hear you loud and clear, as well as the students in the classroom. You will also be able to hear your online students in your headphones when they unmute. Communicate well that if the online students want to say something, they use the raise hand function in Zoom. And that you will give them a turn to speak. If you don't communicate this, there is a chance they keep interrupting you, which makes it difficult for you to focus on your class. In case you don't have wireless headphones, another possibility is to use your mobile phone as your microphone. Log in to Zoom both on your laptop and on your phone. You use the laptop as your camera and your phone as your microphone. Make sure to not accept the audio on your laptop to avoid an echo. You will have to hold your phone during your class to make sure your online students can hear you.
You as the teacher are not responsible for a Zoom session, but instead you allow students present in the classroom to film and share the recording with fellow students. We would say this is the least preferable option, since you have no control over what happens to the recording and it's the least inclusive option for your students.

You can find the frequently asked questions for hybrid education in the Hybrid Teaching Guide Go to Hybrid Teaching FAQ's

Where can I get further support for online education?

Fill out this contact form (Links to an external site.) for questions or to set up an appointment with an expert;

Or contact your faculty support.

In case the Frequently Asked Questions do not cover your question, please fill out our contact form.

Want to know more?

Hybrid teaching tips from your fellow VU teachers

Teaching a Hybrid Flexible course by Brian J. Beatty

VU Quality ambitions for online education