Hybrid education
Hybrid education has taken off in 2021. But what is hybrid education? And why do you need a hybrid classroom for it? How is it already being used at educational, what do teachers and students think of it and how is the technology arranged?
What is hybrid education?
Hybrid education has been a frequently heard term in higher education since the 2020 pandemic. Students are allowed to come to the campus but have to keep a distance of 1.5 meters. As a result, not all students can come to campus at the same time. A lot of education therefore takes place online and physically at the same time: hybrid education.
Hybrid Classroom Thomas More (Belgium)
Online and physical education at the same time
Hybrid education involves part of the students reveive tuition online, while the other students receive tuition in a physical space at the same time. It is in other words, a combination of synchronous online and offline education. The reason why some of the students follow the education online may be a pandemic, but it may also be due to - for example - a disability. Hybrid education therefore also offers opportunities for making education more accessible and inclusive. Hybrid education requires redesigning education with the learning outcomes and the hybrid setting as starting points.
Hybrid education requires specific teaching methods. Lotte Kips has listed a number of teaching methods in the Online Teaching Questionnaire, in the blog post 'Active learning and group assignments in hybrid education' (In Dutch)
You can find more tips on developing and providing hybrid education on the tab 'Getting started'.
Good to know about hybrid education
- Hybrid education is also referred to as simultaneous education.
- Hybrid education is different from blended education. Blended education is a sophisticated mix of online and offline learning (synchronous and asynchronous) that suits the learning objectives, the curriculum and the student. Hybrid education takes place synchronously both online and offline.
- There is another definition of hybrid education, mainly in (secondary) vocational education. There, hybrid education refers to the combination of school and work; together, they form the hybrid educational practice. Simultaneous education is the term used in vocational education for hybrid education.
Hybrid classroom
An important part of hybrid education is the hybrid classroom. The characteristic of the hybrid classroom is that a few students and the teacher(s) are in a physical space and the other students participate online via screens in the planned teaching. Read all about setting up and using hybrid classrooms: