Like many faculty members, I know that the research suggests a blended or flipped approach to learning (where students do some work outside of class time e.g. by watching videos or doing readings, and spend the in-class time working on problems and actively engaging with material) is better by far than only using classes for lectures where students absorb information passively. The thing that always held me back from applying this approach was the enormous amount of time and effort it would take to create that out-of-class content.

But over the last year, like many faculty members, I have been forced to create that content by the circumstances of COVID. Now that it will soon be possible to have in-person course components again, we have an amazing opportunity to leverage all that work into a superior educational experience for our students, while not overwhelming the demands on university space. We can incorporate interaction between students and faculty. We can focus on the absolute best parts of in-person teaching. And all of this without increasing your workload.

Does this sound too good to be true? I promise it’s not. Already being over the hurdle of creating the asynchronous content makes turning a traditional in-person course into a blended course so much more manageable.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Don’t be intimidated
   Lots of terminology (blended, flipped, high-impact teaching practices, active learning, etc) sounds really scary, but something doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort to be “high impact.” In fact, you probably already do it. An example for students to work on specifically chosen to make them confront a confusing topic, an opportunity for students to discuss something in pairs and share with the class, even having students think about and write down an answer before proceeding – all of these are active learning activities.
    
2. Pick your favourites
   Since you’ve taught the course before, you know what students struggle with most. You might have a demonstration, example, or discussion you normally do in class that helps clarify that point. Great – that can be the focus of your in-class time for that week. Try to think of something for each week – it could even be an application of the course material to real life, what’s going on in the news, or just something really cool. I bet you can identify 6 ideas, which means you’re already half way there.
    
3. Flesh them out (with help if needed)
   Fill in the rest of the 12 weeks with other things you want students to do in the synchronous times. It could be a review activity if there is a midterm coming up (try a jigsaw activity), or going over the solutions afterwards (maybe in small groups, known as a two-stage test.) It could be Q&A, a demonstration with coding, student presentations, or even a short quiz (try a pre-course and post-course content quiz so they can see how much they have learned.) If there are any resources you need, or want help coming up with ideas, ask someone. I’m always happy to help (and I’m hoping to get a workshop going with CTE to help instructors do this – stay tuned!)
    
4. Set the tone
   When the term starts, it’s important right off the bat to explain why you are using this approach to teaching. Students (Math students especially) will generally respond well if you show them your approach is evidence-based and that you are doing it to help them learn. You could have the synchronous time worth a small percentage to encourage participation, maybe dropping one or two (and in the short term when some students can’t be there in person, have an option to submit after the fact or attend remotely. Long term you don’t need to worry about this.) Showing you are committed to this approach will help the students buy in too.

Students will love having a chance to interact in person with each other (and you) again after so long apart. You will love focusing your in-class time on just the best parts of teaching – seeing students engage and really understand the material. Making the best use of your in-class time is a huge benefit for everyone.

Best of luck blending!