Category: Instructional Design

At a time when social distancing is the requirement, it is important to find solutions to supplement traditional course modalities. Looking ahead to Fall 2020, Tennessee Tech will be offering three Tech specific course modalities – Web-Enhanced (“Tech-Enhanced”), Hybrid (“Tech-Flex”), and Online (“Tech-Direct”). Providing online courses for students seems to be the easy solution. However, many courses cannot be taught entirely online. There are crucial elements to learning that can only be introduced in a classroom or
lab setting.

One technique that is widely used to account for the need of both online and on-campus learning is the use of a Hybrid (“Tech-Flex”) course. A Tech-Flex course is one where the course content is delivered through both on-Campus and online approaches. The online components average 40-60% but no more than 80% of course content is delivered online.

A well-designed Tech-Flex course will capture the benefits of both online and on-campus learning. The flexibility of synchronous and asynchronous online instruction, paired with the experience of learning on-campus can provide an exceptional learning experience for students. When utilizing a Tech-Flex course design, online activities and instruction support the classroom experience and provide supplemental information that students can access at any time, from anywhere.

As you conclude your Summer 2020 courses, and continue to plan for Fall 2020, we encourage you to take this opportunity to maximize your students’ experience by considering different course modalities and utilizing the instructional design resources offered by the CITL. If you would like to explore Tech-Flex, or another course design technique and see how it might be beneficial to your course, you can contact one of our Instructional Designers.