Participant Profiles - Flexible Learning Environments: Minoritized College Students’ Experiences in HyFlex

Participant Profiles
Although this study was about the experiences of minoritized student in HyFlex courses,
it was necessary to first acknowledge the time they have spent in HyFlex learning environments
has only been a fraction of a much larger life experience for each participant. This study
recognized participants’ experiences and humanity begin and continue outside of HyFlex, and
participants’ overall life experiences are not suspended on pause during those moments when
they step into, or log into, the HyFlex classroom. Participants’ experiences in HyFlex, or any
other mode of instruction, are merely a segment of participants’ lived experiences, of who they
are, and how they move through the world.
This chapter introduces participants through profile vignettes to illustrate each
individual’s personal story in their own words. Through these vignettes, I have given voice to the
participants and humanize them beyond merely discussing them as data sources for a given
phenomenon. The next few pages present their stories as the participants told them during the
interviews.
Participant: Becky (Pseudonym)
Majoring in exercise physiology, Becky was in her final year of a bachelor’s program at a
public college in the southwest region of the United States. She planned to work in the field of
physical therapy for a year or two after graduating from her current program. She hoped to
eventually get into a doctoral program in physical therapy. Becky was not the first person in her
family to attend and graduate from college. She explained, “I have a lot of lawyers in my family
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who went through law school and everything. My grandpa actually got his PhD in . . . I think
something for math . . . yeah, he was a teacher, so he did that too.” Ethnoculturally, Becky
considered herself White and explained her family is a mix of mostly European groups. She
stated, “I have a lot of Polish . . . I have a lot of Irish . . . I’m also German, English,
Czechoslovakian . . . I’m a whole mutt.” Becky also had some Native American ancestry, as she
explained, “My grandma is part Native American. . . . So, I think that’s a really cool part of me,
but it’s such a small percentage. For me, that doesn’t really count necessarily.” Becky considered
herself a good student and chose her current college because her older sister went there as well.
Originally from the Chicago area, Becky chose to go to college in another state because
she wanted to get away from big city life and this college being in a small city in the Southwest
offered her the tranquility of the smaller campus her sister had previously attended. Becky grew
up in Chicago but “wanted to leave that lifestyle, the city life, all the people, and the social
aspect of it to come out to the Southwest, because I think that I describe myself as like, very
adventurous and outgoing” she explained. Becky described herself as someone who likes to push
herself to do things outside of her comfort zone and said of her move to this college in the
Southwest:
And this college here, for me, it was a really cool place to try to do that. And I came out
to school here three years ago. And I came all by myself, which was really, really hard.
But I did it because like I said, I like to challenge myself and push myself to try new
things and get out there and yeah.
Attending this college allowed Becky to pursue her academic goals and go out on her own and
experience college life in a small southwestern city. Although Becky preferred the tranquility of
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a small city, she was not an introvert, and although she wanted to get away from the hustle and
bustle of Chicago to study in a quieter place, she considered herself an outgoing person, sharing:
I’m kind of like a loud person, I’d say. In general, I’m not like the center of attention, but
I’m loud. And it’s kind of like, I’m always . . . it’s hard to, like, miss me. And I’m, like,
in the best way possible . . . I’m very down to earth and everything. And I don’t want to
be the center of attention. But I just I’m like a loud personality. So, it comes off that way.
Becky saw herself as an extrovert in a positive way. She saw herself as someone who is a light
by virtue of their extroversion and embraced that aspect of her personality.
Since she started in college, Becky had taken courses in person, online, one blended
learning course, and various HyFlex courses. Becky prefered to attend class in person and on site
whenever possible. About online learning, she stated:
I found it really hard sometimes to focus in an online class. Because you’re not like
sitting at a desk and the teacher is right in front of you. You’re like laying in your bed,
and you’re sitting on the couch or multitasking because you’re making breakfast while
you’re in your online class. I would find it hard to focus sometimes. But so, I’d really
have to, like, set a schedule for myself, even though like it was an online class, like I’d
have to sit down at a table. And like with my notebook out, I couldn’t sit on a couch, or
else I would get distracted and go on my phone. Which means there was a struggle for me
with online classes.
Attending courses online can be too distracting for Becky. Although she liked knowing HyFlex
gives her options for modes of participation and attendance, she preferred attending in person so
she could stay focused and avoid falling behind.
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