Rethinking student engagement for ‘hyflex’ teaching and learning in post-compulsory settings: acknowledging flexibility and agency needed for unplanned events

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emergency remote delivery (ERD) employed by post-compulsory education providers during COVID-19 has left an enduring legacy. In particular, hyflex (simultaneous online and in-person delivery) teaching and learning (HTL) has the potential to offer a choice of mode and flexibility, and open new ways of thinking about adult student engagement. To explore whether existing ideas about student engagement are ‘fit for purpose’ for HTL, we conducted a mixed-methods study, using post-course online surveys (n = 110) and semi-structured interviews with students (n = 10) engaged in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in seven disciplinary areas in a large metropolitan university in Australia. Kahu and Nelson’s student engagement framework, and the educational interface in particular, guided our analysis. Our findings illustrate the ways that hyflex accommodates unplanned crises and personal challenges to provide flexible and equitable access to learning, as well as fostering aspects of the educational interface: self-efficacy, emotions, wellbeing, and belonging. Tertiary and adult education providers should build on such experiential learnings gained since the pandemic by continuing to invest in resources to support hyflex teaching as an essential feature of students and staff being able to balance the competing demands of life and study/work, especially in the context of unplanned events.