Adapting Interteaching to a Hybrid Format:
A Framework for Implementation
Carmen Farrell, Ph.D.
Abstract
In the world of higher education, expectations of college-level instructors have shifted significantly in the last few years due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Instructors were required to be more flexible than ever before, oftentimes across different modalities. This essay models an evidence-based teaching method, interteaching (IT), that was originally created for use in a traditional face-to-face classroom and suggests an adaptation of that method for a hybrid classroom. The theoretical framework of IT is explained and an adaptation of IT for hybrid classrooms is provided with a specific college-level course example of implementation. The advantages and challenges of this approach are also discussed in hopes that faculty will build off this idea and empirically test it as higher education continues to require more flexibility from its faculty members.
Keywords: interteaching, hybrid courses, higher education
Adapting Interteaching to a Hybrid Format: A Framework for Implementation
The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed how university instructors and their students are expected to engage (Xie et al., 2020). Early in the pandemic, when universities were forced to move all classes online, many instructors were thrown into the unknown with various online platforms, while still attempting to maintain teaching excellence and maximize student understanding. Even more than a year into the pandemic, instructors were still being asked to continuously flex in how they allowed students to attend their classes, whether due to limited classroom capacities or to students falling ill, as universities navigated whether to move back to fully online courses or try to remain in the classroom (Felson & Adamczyk, 2021).
As a result, numerous institutions have adapted or rapidly expanded their more flexible course modalities in order to engage the students who wanted to be on campus in their classes, but to also allow all students more flexibility with how they engage in coursework. Although hybrid and hybrid-flexible (hyflex) course models have been around for years (Beatty, 2006; 2007; McCray, 2000), the shifting landscape of higher education during the pandemic exacerbated the utilization of these modalities (Bashir et al., 2021; Xie et al., 2020). What these terms specifically mean can vary depending on the school and the context, but typically hybrid courses refer to when class instruction and engagement are provided by a combination of in-person and online learning, and hyflex refers to allowing students flexibility to choose what modality they want to engage with the hybrid course in (Beatty, 2006; 2007; McCray, 2000). Particularly at the beginning of the pandemic, these modalities were the first option to attempt to start getting students back in the classroom, and the increased flexibility for students has become a much more consistent expectati