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

Positionality
As a practitioner in the field of instructional design and technology, a large part of my job
falls in the area of online and hybrid education. As the LMS administrator at my college, I train
and support faculty with all aspects related to using the Canvas LMS and often facilitate
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workshops addressing online teaching and learning topics. In addition to a certificate in online
teaching and learning from California State University East Bay, I hold a master’s degree in
learning design and technology and have experience on both sides of the online teaching and
learning dynamic through my work and my own student experience taking online courses at
several institutions. In addition to my full-time job as an instructional technologist at Skyline
College, I also take on projects as an instructional design and technology consultant. I have an
interest in the intersection of education, computers, and the internet, and I find myself spending
much of my free time researching and learning about new technology trends in education.
My personal aim for this study was to identify ways the HyFlex model of teaching and
learning can help practitioners increase student equity in postsecondary undergraduate courses.
First mentioned in the literature in a peer-reviewed paper presented at the 2006 Association for
Educational Communication and Technology International Conference in Dallas, the HyFlex
model is not new. Researchers have been looking at this or similar models since the 2000s
(Abdelmalak, 2013; Beatty, 2006; Irvine, 2009; Kyei-Blankson & Godwyll, 2010; Leijon &
Lundgren, 2016; Miller & Rasmussen, 2003; Risser & Griffiths, 2013), and since March 2020,
the model’s popularity has grown exponentially as education leaders have sought new ways of
maintaining continuity of instruction in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic (Deckert,
2020; Etshman, 2021; García Aretio, 2021; Harris et al., 2020; Verrecchia & McGlinchey,
2021). In this instructional model, students are allowed to make choices about how they wish to
engage in the course. Learners can attend classes in person, online synchronously, online
asynchronously, or via a combination of all modes of instruction. There is an inherent
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predisposition in this model toward creating access for all, and that predisposition to give access
makes HyFlex a promising model to promote equity.
In my years working in instructional design and technology, I have been deeply
entrenched in the world of online teaching and learning where I see hundreds of courses each
semester. I have an interest in investigating how internet-mediated education can help or hinder
student equity. Through observation, I have found many courses do not adequately or
sufficiently motivate students to engage in a manner that fosters their agency; current online
pedagogy does not promote the much-needed agency students need to succeed. I believe student
engagement starts with engaged instructors. This belief colors how I approach my work
generally and how I approached this research project. At every step of the way, I made efforts to
ensure I was as fair and objective as possible, from formulating my research questions to
participant selection to data collection and analysis, and in reporting my findings and outlining
my recommendations. Being this close to the topic of my study required I make some disclosures
to address ethical concerns. In addition to my interest in computers, technology, and instructional
design, I also have personal characteristics that could create additional blind spots or areas of
bias. I am a first-generation college student. Given that my target population was minoritized
college students, my own minoritized background could have created bias in my research. Being
mindful of this, I have endeavored to keep my biases out of my research to the extent possible to
minimize the possibility of bias during data collection, analysis, and reporting of the study’s
findings.
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