Educators Nancy Caukin, shown at top left, Stacy Fields and Leslie Trail are guests on the “MTSU On the Record” program that first aired April 13 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5. Caukin, Fields and Trail are authors of a 2020  article, “Finding Flexibility with HyFlex: Teaching in the Digital Age,” that discusses combining online and face-to-face learning. (Classroom photo by Katerina Holmes and online learning photo by Julia M Cameron, via Pexels)

A new model of teaching that has entered the spotlight because of COVID-19 pandemic protocols was the focus of a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Gina K. Logue

Host Gina Logue’s guests were Nancy Caukin, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Education at North Greenville University in Greenville, South Carolina; Stacy Fields, an assistant professor in MTSU’s Department of Elementary and Special Education; and Leslie Trail, an adjunct professor in MTSU’s Womack Department of Educational Leadership and English teacher at Eagleville School in Eagleville, Tennessee.

Caukin, Fields and Trail are authors of an article titled “Finding Flexibility with HyFlex: Teaching in the Digital Age,” published in 2020 in the International Journal of the Whole Child.

The program first aired April 13 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and www.wmot.org.

You can listen to their conversation via the Soundcloud link above.

Created by Brian Beatty of San Francisco State University, the HyFlex teaching model combines both online and face-to-face learning, whether instructors and students engage at the same time or students learn at their own pace or convenience.

The practice’s fundamental values are accessibility to technology and skills, reusability of content and activities, equivalency in learner outcomes, and learner choice of the type of learning model.

Dr. Nancy Caukin

Dr. Stacy Fields

Leslie Trail

Trail has employed the HyFlex model in her English classroom in Eagleville throughout the current academic year.

She hails the ability of students to learn from the teacher in real time and or to catch up on lessons later through technology.

“Perhaps you have a student who logs in later that day and follows along with a video that was created through the lesson,” Trail said. “But the lesson would have materials and supplements that would allow the student to still participate.”

The article is available to read here in a PDF version via the Journals@MTSU free journals hosting system at MTSU’s James E. Walker Library.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about the radio program, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.