Theme 2: Motherhood in HyFlex - Flexible Learning Environments: Minoritized College Students’ Experiences in HyFlex

Theme 2: Motherhood in HyFlex
Five of the 10 participants were parents. Isabel, Kate, Josephine, Vasiliki, and James all
had children. James made no mention of how HyFlex may affect or contribute to his ability to
parent effectively. However, the female participants did mention some of the benefits or
advantages they perceived HyFlex gives them as mothers juggling their professional and
academic lives. Although these female participants did not perceive gender as a determining
factor in their HyFlex experience; as working mothers taking care of children, they did consider
the ability to choose a mode of participation a unique benefit of HyFlex. UDL was also an
important aspect of HyFlex according to these participants.
Best HyFlex Features for Working Moms. Although this subgroup of participants did
not identify any pros or cons in HyFlex that could be attributed to their gender specifically, for
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them, as mothers raising children and nurturing their families, UDL and flexibility to choose how
to participate in class were the two most beneficial features of HyFlex learning. In addition to
discussing what they found most useful about HyFlex, this subgroup of participants also
indicated some ways to improve the HyFlex experience, including: (a) creating ample
opportunities for socialization in the course design, (b) training instructors to teach in HyFlex, (c)
identifying ways to ensure reliable internet connectivity, and (d) establishing interpersonal
communication protocols in HyFlex.
Flexible Modes of Participation
. For both graduate and undergraduate female students
who happened to be mothers, having the ability to choose a participation mode as needed each
week meant they got to spend more time with their children. Vasiliki, a mother of two children
and a graduate student, explained:
So, the first thing that comes to my mind when I talk about HyFlex is flexibility. I had the
best experience, because, as I said, it was convenient to me; I was working, I had two
children, and it was the best option that I could get to attend my classes and finish my
assignments, so I have a very good experience with HyFlex courses. The fact that I can
attend my classes, and take all the information and participate in this process, but at the
same time, I have a pretty clear idea about what is going on in my house with my kids, I
don’t have to hire another person to take care of my kids. And it’s pretty convenient at
that point of my life.
Being able to raise her children and having time to take care of them was important to Vasiliki.
The other mother participants also felt this way and offered their thoughts on how the flexible
nature of HyFlex has been useful for them to be there for their children. Isabel explained:
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I don’t like seminars. I like a HyFlex, because as a mom, it gives me flexibility . . . I try
to show up . . . I like to be in class . . . I take a lot out of that human connection and that
debate that happens in the class . . . is great, especially if the teacher knows how to
moderate a debate and asks the right questions. So, I do try, and I learn by listening to a
lot. But I also like the fact that I . . . you know? If my child is sick . . . I don’t have that
pressure that “oh I’m gonna have to make it to class” . . . right?
Isabel was initially skeptical of HyFlex courses. She explained she was not aware of what a
HyFlex course was at first and was initially incredulous when she learned the definition. She
said:
First of all, I was super curious about how that modality worked. And I have to admit it, I
didn’t fully understood . . . the . . . the concept of HyFlex . . . and that was in an
experience . . . really mean like, you know, can you really be in and out like? . . . is that
even a choice? it is! Does that really happen? It does! So as a woman, mom of a child,
HyFlex, save me time. I can allocate time how I want it, right? If I have my child
birthday this week, I can choose not do . . . you know? live class one day, but still I don’t
miss my class. Because life, especially at our age takes these turns. And, you know, I still
feel that I’m not missing much of the class content. Primarily this is the reason why
HyFlex is right for me.
Kate, Isabel, and Vasiliki were graduate students, and Josephine was an undergraduate working
on her bachelor’s degree at a public college in the Four Corners region. Josephine was a mom of
two young children and was married. Her husband worked and was completing a trade
apprenticeship at the same college where she was a student. Although it was convenient they
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both went to the same school, Josephine took on the child rearing responsibilities because
HyFlex gave her flexibility to spend time with the children. She said:
So I did that and I’m also a mom I have two kids I married, so I have like a lot to juggle
and that’s kind of why I picked HyFlex is because I can miss that class and still be able to
tune in and have all my craziness running around but still be able to pay attention to work
sure . . . yeah, because I have to like, yeah, I don’t have to lock them up [her children] in
a room or anything, or they don’t have to go like, they don’t have to watch a movie, if
they need something, I can easily like, stay plugged in with my headphones and like,
walk into the kitchen and get something if I need to, or take my laptop with me or even
do it on my phone . . . and all the notes . . . everything . . . all of our like resources are all
online, so I didn’t have to really buy anything for this class either, which was nice like
he’s able to put all of these like articles and stuff on to that web page, so it’s all really in
like one nice tight compiled space, which is really awesome . . . and yeah, just like with
my kids being sick, or like, my car . . . if my car decides not to work. I can stay home . . .
oh, I think, HyFlex makes education much more equitable because as a mom . . . or as
someone who has like other things going on in their lives or even like even if you
have . . . I don’t know . . . like an autoimmune disease that doesn’t allow you to be
around a lot of people at a time, it really levels, the playing field, I think, because you can
do things . . . At your own pace like if you need an extra 24 hours to do something . . .
you know what I mean? You can do it at a slower pace, or you can take your time and
gradually put things in rather than everything being on a super strict stringent tight-tight
schedule.
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Going into this research project, I had some predictions or expectations about what I would find.
I had tacitly expected to find all participants benefited from having the ability to choose how
they wish to attend class each week. The experiences of these participant moms confirmed that
expectation on my part. The participant accounts were evidence of the importance of the HyFlex
guiding principle of learner choice. In the next subsection, I present participant experiences that
relate to the guiding principle of equivalency as a result of applied UDL during the course design
and implementation.
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