Teaching in a HyFlex room

This article discusses teaching and facilitation in Brock's new HyFlex rooms, and is intended for instructors that are new to these spaces.

Before the first day of class

A few steps are needed before first meeting with Hyflex students:

Create a new Sakai site to serve as a general hub for your course
Create a Teams site to host class meetings online
1. Optionally, add a link to your Teams site from your Sakai site
Create a recurring meeting in Teams. This will serve to connect your online students with your on-campus class.

The new HyFlex classroom hardware consists of a few important components which are already configured for instructors to use:

A high-quality video camera and speaker, usually in the back of the room. Students that join your class remotely (normally via Teams) can participate via this speaker. The camera is positioned to record the instructor as well as presentation content that's displayed at the front of the room.
A directional microphone hung above the classroom podium. The microphone is able to record the instructor as well as most questions that in-class participants ask during class meetings.
A large video display near the back of the room. This display will be paired with podium computer. The conference platform in use (often Teams) will be shown within this display and will include remote participants that have joined the class meeting. While teaching, instructors will be able to view the video display to engage with remote learners.
A podium computer. This continues to be the technology hub of the classroom. Conference platforms such as Teams or Lifesize will be available from the podium computer and can be started before the Hyflex class meeting begins. This computer's display will be shared with the video display in the back of the room.