Discussion of Findings - Flexible Learning Environments: Minoritized College Students’ Experiences in HyFlex

Discussion of Findings
With an interest in unpacking the experiences of minoritized students in HyFlex so
minoritized student voices can inform leaders and practitioners considering HyFlex learning at
their institutions, the overarching question that drove this study was: What are the benefits and
challenges of HyFlex learning for minoritized college students? In addition to learning about any
challenges and benefits, I wanted to learn about the demographics of who takes HyFlex courses
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in the United States and why. I wanted to learn whether they have experienced issues of equity
and access and how they choose to participate in HyFlex and why.
Subquestions
The following subquestions augmented the overarching research question to gain a richer
understanding of the phenomenon as experienced by the participants:
1. How does minoritization by race, gender, language, or disability status affect the
experiences of students in HyFlex courses?
2. What, if any, issues of equity do minoritized students report from their HyFlex
experience?
3. What are the reasons minoritized students cite for enrolling in HyFlex courses?
4. When given a choice, how do minoritized students prefer to participate in HyFlex
learning, and why?
Overarching Research Question
The collective benefits and challenges participants in the study perceived in their
experiences in HyFlex were broad. Some of the benefits they mentioned included flexible modes
of attendance and participation (i.e., choosing one learning path or another and sticking with that
for the duration of the course), diversity, accessibility, and universal design for learning (UDL),
ability to self-pace, and ability to mix and match synchronous with asynchronous participation as
needed (i.e., switching between paths on a weekly basis as their personal lives demanded). In
retrospect, it is not surprising participants found flexibility, accessibility, and the ability to mix
and match paths as needed to accomplish the learning outcomes of the course to be some of the
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main benefits of HyFlex learning. After all, these items are the direct result of three of the four
HyFlex guiding principles: (a) learner choice, (b) equivalency, and (c) accessibility.
Although participants were generally pleased with their experiences in HyFlex, no system
or method is perfect, and even when the planning and design are done exceptionally well, the
actual execution can be difficult. In terms of challenges, participants discussed a few components
of their experiences that they interpreted as difficult or challenging. Indigenous participants
indicated a need for more feedback mechanisms; they thought feedback is important in both
directions. Therefore, there should be more done for students to get feedback from faculty and
for faculty to get feedback from students. Indigenous participants also found the lack of critical
consciousness in their experience to be a lost opportunity to use HyFlex not only as a novel
instructional model but also as an instructional model germane with emancipatory pedagogy.
The call for culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy was tacit in their accounts. They often
suggested their courses, HyFlex and other modes, should be made more relevant to their cultural
identities. Two participants explicitly called for infusing Indigenous culture, history, and ways of
knowing evincing their desire for an Indigenous resurgence.
As I carried out the interviews, I came to expect to hear the mother students discuss
issues of childcare, family support, housing, and lack of time for example, but contrary to my
expectations, they described other issues I had not expected to be at the top of their concerns as
mother students raising children. When the notion of time came up during the interviews, it was
not as an explicit comment or complaint about them not having enough time. Instead, the notion
of time was implicit as they explained the creative ways they managed their daily lives to fit
schooling in, and yet have their families be the center of their lives. They did not say things like
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“I don’t have enough time” or “I was not able to submit an assignment because I ran out of
time;” instead, they shared accounts of how they managed to make it all work through their
agency and time management skills. As a group, the mother students valued social interaction
with peers and expressed that more opportunities, regulated with rules of engagement or
interpersonal communication protocols, should be designed into HyFlex courses so online and
onsite students have more opportunities for socialization and collaboration. They expressed
having some rules as checks would help prevent dominant personalities from appropriating those
social and collaborative spaces where the various learning paths converge. Mother students were
also strong advocates of ensuring every student has reliable, fast internet. They expressed the
college or university should provide fast and reliable internet to students taking online or HyFlex
courses who cannot afford to pay for it.
Students with disabilities were generally satisfied with the degree of accessibility in their
HyFlex courses. They expressed the courses were designed well using best practices that allowed
them to use alternate media to access course content. They did mention some items they thought
were challenges that, although not exclusive to HyFlex, should be resolved to improve the
experiences of online and HyFlex students. This group of participants also noted the need for fast
and reliable internet, but they went beyond that and argued institutions should offer technology
loan programs and free internet for low-income students. One more challenge they identified was
when untrained faculty are assigned to teach a HyFlex course and highlighted the need for
professional development for faculty to learn how to design and teach HyFlex courses.
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