Hybrid teaching settings are more complex, so before deciding on implementing such a scenario, the specific goals and added value should be clearly defined.

Similarly, the organization, didactics, and technical implementation must be well thought out, depending on the type and size of the course, as well as the characteristics of the on-site room.

• For example, based on the number of participants and the size of the room, are rotating cohorts even possible?
• What technology is available on-site, or does it need to be borrowed or purchased?
• Does time for setting up and dismantling the technology need to be factored in?
• Is there an assistant or student helpers who can provide support? And so on.

When designing hybrid teaching settings, the challenge is to ensure that students who cannot be on-site and participate online are not disadvantaged.

• For example, you should ensure that, as the instructor, you and all presentation materials are clearly visible to ALL students (on-site: as usual, e.g., via projector | online: via video transmission).
• Additionally, no activities should take place in the in-person setting that online students cannot participate in.
• It should be organized in such a way that all students who wish to be present on-site can do so at least once (rotation principle).

Clearly explain in advance how the scenario will proceed and what advantages or disadvantages may exist for on-site and online students, respectively. This way, students know what to expect.

• Clear structure and communication: What happens where, when, and through which medium?
• What tools will be used? Do on-site students also need to bring a laptop or tablet?
• What are the “ground rules”? (e.g., should online students use a microphone and camera when contributing their own comments?)

The scenario should be tested in advance, taking into account the spatial conditions (availability of LAN connections or Wi-Fi stability, microphone equipment, etc.).

Try to have a Plan B ready to compensate for internet connection failures or other technical issues (e.g., recording the session, providing self-learning materials, or having an assistant who can alert you to transmission issues and offer support if needed).

It is very challenging to keep an eye on both the students present on-site and those participating online simultaneously. Therefore, having an assistant is highly recommended!

The more complex the technical setup is in the room, the more advisable it is to have additional support (either another student assistant or, if possible, the existing assistant can take on this role).

At least for the first few sessions, until a certain routine is established, having support should definitely be planned!

• The “question channel” of online students must not be forgotten!
• Either the instructor keeps an eye on the chat themselves or there is an on-site assistant who asks the questions that come up in the chat.
• Questions should not be answered in text form in the chat but rather verbally by the instructor, so that ALL students can hear both the questions and the corresponding answers (unless the questions are technical or organizational and clearly only relevant to the online participants).
• If there are questions or contributions from on-site students, the instructor should briefly announce this verbally (“Now a question is coming…” or similar), otherwise, online participants might be puzzled by sudden pauses in the instructor's speech.
  General Tip: Everything that happens on-site should ideally be commented on by the instructor. Unless there is a second room camera (ideally placed at the back of the room for legal reasons) through which the online participants can follow what is happening on site.

Recommendation: Intentionally incorporate question slots

During these slots, you can address the questions that have come up in the chat, and on-site students can also ask their questions during this time.

It is important to communicate clearly to students beforehand how you intend to manage this. (Do you only check the chat during the slots and consider on-site contributions? How would “emergency notifications” be handled in between?)

Positive side effects:

• These slots can create learning-promoting pauses for students to “collect their thoughts”/ “mentally process” while you briefly review the chat questions (if no assistant is available).
• Your course becomes more structured, which in turn benefits students' attention and orientation.
• It simplifies things for you: You can fully focus on your presentation during the input phases. During the question slots, you could display the web conference view (including chat and possibly video tiles) on the projector and make a point to verbally repeat all contributions/questions.

For Online Participants

• If you are using multiple video sources (e.g., camera image of the board, additional presenter video, extra room camera) or switching between board notes and slide presentations:
  • Label the video sources in Zoom accordingly (e.g., “Room Camera” instead of “Max Mustermann”).
  • Introduce the different video sources and explain what will be shown through each of them.
  • Show your students how to pin a video in Zoom to see it in full screen.
  • Comment on the transitions and direct their focus to the currently relevant video source (e.g., “Now I’m switching to the board, and you can enlarge the board image again.”).
  • Briefly practice this with your students at the beginning.
• Clearly communicate how you will handle the chat in the web conference (Will it be monitored by you or an assistant the entire time, or only during specific time slots? Should/must questions be asked via chat?).

For On-Site Participants

• As soon as additional devices in the room that are also logged into the Zoom meeting, besides the presenter's laptop (which is transmitting the audio to the web conference), make sure that these devices are NOT connected to the computer audio! (Either do not connect to computer audio when joining the Zoom meeting, or later choose “Leave Computer Audio” from the microphone button settings.) Otherwise, very unpleasant interference noises (so-called “feedback”) can occur.
• Clearly communicate how you plan to handle the camera and microphone on-site. (Are you planning to transmit the audio and possibly the video of the on-site participants online as well? etc.)

• The diverse use of live voting systems offers a great activation opportunity for EVERYONE.
• The more interaction possibilities you utilize, and the more technically complex the setup becomes (e.g., additional microphones, other online tools), the more seamlessly the transition to Scenario B occurs.

Example of a more interactive but also more complex setup:

Incorporate small group work phases using methods like Think-Pair-Share (opens in new tab) or Peer Instruction (opens in new tab)

• You can organize the small groups simultaneously online through breakout rooms in the web conferencing system and on-site by simply having students sitting next to each other group up. For this, it is recommended to have an assistant who takes care of the online participants and manages the breakout rooms. The instructor handles the on-site students.
• For a subsequent consolidation in the plenary session, at least one additional microphone should be available for the on-site groups to share their contributions.
• Ideally, on-site and online students should be able to see each other during the plenary session. For this, the on-site students should be able to see the video tiles of the online participants projected on the screen, and the online participants should be able to see a video image of the entire room. See the supplementary instructions for handling different levels of technical complexity in Scenario A
• If the results of the small group work are to be documented, for example, in an Etherpad , each on-site group should have access to at least one laptop.
  Note: If these additional laptops are also logged into the web conference, they must not be connected to the computer audio! Otherwise, unpleasant interference noises (so-called “feedback effects”) may occur.

No learning activities should be conducted on-site in person that the online participants cannot take part in.

• Slightly adapt methods from traditional in-person teaching or purely online teaching for this purpose.
• If necessary, use online tools, such as those for live voting systems or collaborative work (e.g., Etherpad , TaskCards or Padlet ), provided that appropriate devices are available to the students on-site.

Examples of method adaptations using online tools:

Previously: Categorization tasks that you may have simply carried out in a purely online session by having students place a point or star on a prepared grid using the comment function. (In traditional in-person teaching, you would do this analogously on the blackboard/ whiteboard.)
Alternative for Hybrid: Use live voting tools, e.g.,

• Mentimeter : question types “Scales,” “Ranking,” “2x2 Grid” in the live voting tool.
• Particify : question types “Sorting,” “Prioritizing,” or “Likert Scales.”

Previously: Think-Pair-Share, which you might have conducted in a traditional setting by presenting a question, having students think about it, then discuss it briefly with their neighbor, and then collect their ideas and thoughts together in the plenary session, e.g., on a flip chart.
(In a purely online course, you likely used breakout rooms and a digital whiteboard, either within Zoom or through an online tool like Etherpad.)

• Hybrid Mix Version: On-site students discuss in the pair phase with the people sitting next to them, while the online students go into breakout rooms. In the share phase, you can either use an online tool like Etherpad or a flip chart on-site with a camera directed at it.

Previously: Fishbowl discussions, which are easily manageable in a traditional in-person setting with an inner and outer seating circle, but difficult to conduct in a purely online setting.

• Hybrid Version: On-site students form the discussing inner circle. The online participants observe/document “from the outside” and contribute to the discussion as needed. Afterwards, they share their observations.

• Chat, raise hand function, just speaking up? – Agree in advance on how the online participants and those on-site can best contribute.
• In addition to an assistant who helps you with technical issues on-site, a co-moderator among the online participants can also be helpful. This person can intentionally interrupt to bring your attention to raised hands, chat questions, etc., from the online participants.
• Try to encourage participants to turn on their webcams, especially during interactive phases or small group work. Emphasize that the interaction between the on-site group and the online group works much better this way.
• Address the online group directly. Position the camera best in your line of sight or next to the projector image.
• If possible: Arrange the room setup (positioning of tables and chairs) and the camera(s) so that everything happening in the room is clearly visible to the online participants.

Sense of belonging

The sense of connection between the online participants and those on-site improves

• if the on-site participants can see the online participants on a projector the entire time (this becomes challenging if only one projector is available and you need to show a presentation or other screen applications – see the Guide for Hybrid Setting: Displaying Presentation & Video Tiles on the Projector (opens in new tab) )
• and if the online participants can see a video image with all the on-site attendees at all times.
  • To facilitate this, use a second camera if you want to show specific things in the room or details (e.g., flip chart, devices).
  • Or moderate the switching of camera perspectives.

General challenge

The challenge will be not to focus too much on the online group and to find a balance in your attention between the online group and the on-site group.

Otherwise, you would end up sitting between the online and on-site participants.

In this way, you would always have one of the two groups behind you, which would be unfavorable. To address all students effectively, it would be better if all students were within your line of sight.

Because:

• If, for example, the “Logitech Group” table conference system is used on-site, any background noise, such as chairs being moved, glasses being placed down, whispering among participants, etc., will be clearly audible to the online participants and can become very tiring over time.
• For online participants, it is often more challenging to get a word in or to interrupt ongoing conversations happening on-site.

Separate:

On-site students form one or more groups in person, while online students join breakout rooms.

• The simplest approach is for all groups to digitally document their work results using an online tool.
  • Prerequisite: On-site students have a laptop or tablet available in their respective small group.
• Otherwise, during the follow-up discussion, the work results of the on-site students may need to be made visible to the online participants via a second camera (e.g., camera on a flip chart), while the digitally documented work results of the online participants are displayed for the on-site students via a projector (e.g., showing Etherpad ).

Mixed:

On-site and online students form groups together and “meet” in breakout rooms.

• Prerequisite: The on-site students (at least one person per group) have a laptop/tablet with a microphone and webcam available, as well as the possibility to move to a different room. Otherwise, there is a risk of feedback (very unpleasant noise) if multiple devices in the same room are logged into the web conference with active audio.
• Consider in advance how you want to organize the group formation.
• If on-site participants also log into the web conference, you could ask all participants to add a small label next to their name in the web conference system, such as (O) / (P), to indicate who is online and who is present on-site.
• Work results should be digitally documented using an online tool.
• Each small group should choose a spokesperson for the follow-up discussion.

Further Recommendations:

• Think carefully about the process and clearly communicate it to the students.
• Ideally, have a co-moderator among the online participants to support you.
• Consider how the task instructions can remain visible to everyone (if necessary, also use an online tool or the learning platform for this).

In this interactive setting, it is particularly exhausting for online participants to closely follow the on-site activities (e.g., being able to clearly understand everything that is said). It is also a significant challenge for you as the instructor, as you have to keep track of many details.

Therefore, for the sake of both yourself and your students, plan for more breaks!

Don't end the web conference meeting immediately after the event is over. Instead, let it continue, including the camera with the overall room perspective, until all on-site participants have left the room.

This prevents the online participants from feeling “shut out.”