HyFlex (hybrid + flexibility) course design provides a hybrid format for face-to-face and online students and adds a flexible participation policy for students. Students may choose to attend face-to-face synchronous class sessions or complete course learning activities online without attending class in person. In a HyFlex course, the instructor provides instructional structure, content, and activities to meet the needs of students participating both in class and online. These are not necessarily completely separated sets of activities, and are typically not the same activities for both types of student participation, but must be equivalent sets of activities selected so that student learning can be effective in either participation format. No matter which participation format is chosen, teaching and learning activities should: • Be presented effectively (and professionally) • Engage learners with generative learning activities • Use authentic assessment to evaluate student learning The decision to adopt a HyFlex course design should consider the same factors used to decide whether or not to create a fully online course, observing these principles: Learner Choice: Provide meaningful alternative participation modes and enable students to choose between participation modes weekly (or topically). Equivalency: Provide equivalent learning activities in all participation modes. Reusability: Utilize artifacts from learning activities in each participation mode as “learning objects’ for all students. Accessibility: Equip students with technology skills and access to all participation modes. Once the decision to deliver all or part of a course in the HyFlex format has been made, the following steps should help instructors create an effective teaching and learning environment for both types of student participants. 1. Identify learning goals 2. Develop instructional objectives 3. Identify/create content 4. Select instructional activities 5. Create clear instructions 6. Prepare learning supports (documents, course site)