With Universities gearing up to be back in session, education thought leaders around the globe are searching for solutions to teach and learn in the most effective way possible as the fallout from the pandemic continues.
As soon as schools create a plan on what the fall looks like for instructors and students, they’re forced to revise it due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 case numbers and altered city, state, and country mandates.
The hybrid classroom model - also known as the hybrid flexible, or HyFlex, course format is increasingly becoming a popular foundation for fall education. Described by EDUCAUSE as an instructional approach that “combines face-to-face (F2F) and online learning...in-person, synchronously online, and asynchronously online,” HyFlex learning allows for the most flexibility when it comes to learning.
ThinkHub Connect active learning technology is a software-based education tool that supports the HyFlex learning style and takes it to the next level by decreasing distance disparity and creating an engaging virtual learning environment.
In a recent webinar, Ian Wright, T1V Director of Sales, Central, highlights two customers’ (Texas A&M University and Ohio University) ThinkHub Connect systems, and how each university is adapting its original in-person learning environment to accommodate a hybrid classroom scenario.
One of the largest active learning deployments in the country, Texas A&M University’s Zachry Engineering Education Complex is a modern, high-tech learning environment for undergraduate engineering education. When first starting plans to create the new Zachry building back in 2016, the university sought a technology solution that would deliver a best-in-class, active learning experience to its students.
The Zachry Engineering Complex standardized its building across the ThinkHub Connect active learning platform with:
- 38 active learning studios
- 10 conferencing rooms
- 13 mobile carts
- AirConnect mobile app for BYOD and wireless screen sharing on all student + teacher devices
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Zachry was already set up for ThinkHub Connect to support different virtual learning styles - and will also be a vital tool for Texas A&M’s engineering community when new education formats are put into place this fall.
Caption: An instructor teaches students in-room during February 2020, prior to the pandemic.
Over the last five years, Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (HCOM) expanded from a single campus to three campuses. With the use of video conferencing technology, enrollment nearly doubled, while faculty and staff increased by 15% and 16%, respectively. When searching for the right technology for their new facilities, HCOM sought ways to better connect its faculty and student teams across its three campuses.
Caption: Ohio University, HCOM will be powered by ThinkHub MultiSite across three campuses.
HCOM will roll out a multisite, multicampus experience for teaching and learning to take place across its three campuses:
- Active Learning Classrooms (ALC’s) powered by ThinkHub Connect MultiSite
- ALC’s offer total space flexibility to faculty - ability to reconfigure rooms for different class sizes and types
- ‘Untethered Teaching’ for instructors
- Enhanced teamwork interaction between students across different campuses
In a recent T1V Webinar on COVID-19 impact on education, Jodie Penrod - Senior Director of Technology and Ohio University’s HCOM, explained that ThinkHub Connect MultiSite will immensely benefit the student experience in medical education.
In a HyFlex education landscape, the right technology will be the key differentiator when creating an impactful educational experience in 2020 and beyond. And with ThinkHub Connect, universities are afforded the flexibility to make adjustments to the learning environment wherever COVID-19 takes us.
Hear about how these ThinkHub Connect customers are adapting their active learning classrooms for HyFlex here.