Learning environment
Hybrid learning combines the best of in-school and online learning with digital engagement. Hybrid learning can enhance and accelerate learning by providing student-centered approaches to foster global competencies and meet diverse learners' needs. To create this environment, institutions must create physical and virtual learning spaces that enable dynamic interactions with students who are both in person and remote.
Instructors are accustomed to in-person instruction in spaces that promote visibility and collaboration. They know how to garner students' attention, gauge understanding, and foster conversations in person. There are protocols, procedures, and expectations for students' behavior, class activities, and class assignments. Class management and class workflow are, in short, well-established and comfortable.
In a hybrid learning environment, institutions must create virtual learning spaces for teachers and students with a tool like Microsoft Teams. Teams is the perfect tool for providing continuity and flexibility. As the digital hub for a hybrid classroom, Microsoft Teams allows educators to connect with students in Teams calls, create and collect assignments, share resources, and make collaboration among students easier, whether in person or remote. Instructors can also integrate other resources and apps in Teams, making it a central learning space, similar to the physical classroom.
In the hybrid model, educators present bi-modally to students physically on campus and attending remotely. The classroom must optimize instruction for students who are attending virtually via Teams call. Educators need to use a microphone and webcam to ensure virtual students can hear and see. For accessibility, instructors should teach students to use the closed caption feature in Teams calls. With the Share Screen feature, virtual students see everything the instructor is demonstrating and discussing.
Policies and procedures
Educators must establish policies and procedures for their virtual environment.
- How do students ask questions or get the instructor’s attention?
- How do instructors take attendance and gauge participation during a synchronous calls?
- How do educators break students into groups for collaborative work, get students' attention, and bring them back to the main classroom for check-ins or further instruction?
Instructors must determine how to modify in-person learning procedures to work in a virtual space.
Workflows are needed for:
- Sharing content and resources
- Distributing and collecting assignments
- Offering feedback
- Evaluating student work
Microsoft Teams, OneNote Class Notebooks, and assignments in Teams streamline workflows and help students organize class materials, work independently, and prioritize assignments.
Instructors should determine an organizational structure for their virtual learning space. Educators can use channels within Teams to create structure. Channels can be organized in various ways:
- Weekly channels
- Topic-based channels
- Channels for each activity
- Group-based channels, using private channels.
Instructors can also add specific channels for socializing, meetings, questions, virtual field trips, or learning centers.
Microsoft Teams can be the digital hub for a hybrid learning environment. Core in-person experiences can be translated online with Teams features.
| In-person interactions | Microsoft Teams tool | Virtual interactions |
|---|---|---|
| Day-to-day interactions, conversations, dialog. and questions | Posts tab | Students and instructors interact through the posts tab; educators pose discussion questions; students ask questions; classmates socialize and share ideas |
| Lecture, demonstrate, collaborate, discuss in class meetings | Teams call: raise-hand, chat, share screen, whiteboard | Students and instructors join a Teams call for class meetings; students use the raise-hand feature or the chat window to ask questions, share insights, or answer the instructor questions; instructors use Share Screen or Whiteboard to offer visuals |
| Distribute handouts and resources to students; facilitate collaboration among students | Files tab | Instructors share read-only content and resources in the Class Materials folder in the Files tab; students and instructors collaborate on Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files shared in the Files tab; offer comments with the file, and each file has a chat feature for conversations about the file |
| Distribute handouts and resources to students; create a workspace for students; facilitate collaboration among students | Class Notebook tab | In OneNote Class Notebook instructors share read-only content and resources in the Content Library; create workspaces for students to complete assignments; students collaborate on projects or share resources with one another in Collaboration Space; students have individual workspaces to take notes, document learning, and complete assignments |
| Distribute and collect assignments and provide students feedback on their work | Assignments tab | Instructors distribute and collect assignments with Assignments tab; attach a OneNote page for students to complete, a link, or other files; students turn in assignments through the Assignments tab; instructors review work and offer feedback; students revise work based on feedback |
| Communicate graded assignments | Grades tab | Instructors return graded assignments, students see grades; instructors review an individual grade or the class performance on an assignment |
| Create learning centers and/or organizing materials and resources for students | Channels | Instructors create a structure for the virtual learning space with channels; channels can be organized by week. topic, or assignment; in private channels students collaborate on projects; create virtual learning centers with channels and direct learners to specific channels for meetings, questions, or socializing |
| Evaluate student participation | Insights | Review real-time data of student interactions in assigned discussions, participation in meetings, and completion of assignments |
| Lecture, demonstrations | Microsoft Stream | Upload instructional videos and demonstrations; add the Stream channel as a Tab in Teams |
| Entrance and exit tickets; quizzes: surveys/polls | Microsoft Forms | Connect a Forms quiz to instructional videos; create assignments with a Forms entrance/exit ticket or Forms quiz; collect information from students (and even parents or guardians) through Forms surveys; added as a Tab or shared in a conversation in the Posts tab |
Considerations for primary learners
One of the best ways to develop a positive learning environment for primary learners is to establish meaningful connections. Student-centered, active learning should be inclusive and accessible to all learners. Introduce primary-age classes to tools such as Immersive Reader, Read Aloud, and Dictate so they can access instructions and other content without assistance.
Considerations for intermediate learners
Intermediate learners benefit from a learning environment that is easy to access and manage where they feel comfortable to grow and work independently and collaboratively. Ideas to achieve this include posting class announcements in the Teams general channel providing a schedule of the day, agenda, directions, and documents or links to read. Small group channels and the OneNote Class Notebook provide places to share files, discuss ideas, and collaborate.
Considerations for adolescent learners
Adolescent learners are better able to manage time so the hybrid environment should take advantage of tools that support student organization and develop executive functioning skills. The Teams visual calendar, assignments feature, and their OneNote notebook provide these opportunities.