Research

16 Actions to Achieve a Hybrid Future

• By Rhea Kelly
• 10/17/22

A new report from Educause offers a concrete plan of action to move colleges and universities toward the future of hybrid learning. To create "2022 Educause Action Plan: Hybrid Learning," the higher education IT association asked a panel of teaching and learning experts from a range of institution types to imagine the ideal hybrid future 10 years from today. Panel members drew from the trends, technologies, and practices outlined in the 2022 Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition to come up with "practical action items the teaching and learning community can employ to make this future a reality," the plan explained.

In the ideal future, "everything is hybrid," the plan asserted. Learning modalities are selected to optimize pedagogical and student needs, and learning is no longer measured by seat time. Collaboration flourishes, learning spaces extend beyond physical campuses, instructional design is centered on equity, and professional development is "ongoing, integrated, and valued."

To achieve that hybrid vision, the plan offered 16 action items at the departmental, institutional, and cross-institutional levels, listed here verbatim from the report:

• Use research-based methodologies and frameworks;
• Make professional development a foundational part of instructors' jobs;
• Support international hybrid learning;
• Learn more about students' comprehensive needs;
• Include experiential learning in all academic programs;
• Expand instructional design capacity;
• Establish best practices for sustainable technology-enhanced learning spaces;
• Develop and share best practices for equitable teaching and learning;
• Define privacy standards for higher education;
• Develop funding models for expanding technology access across institutions;
• Develop a nonacademic credit pipeline;
• Establish cross-institutional programs and credentials;
• Reimagine tenure;
• Reevaluate the role of the higher education institution in a consumer-driven world;
• Define state and national standards for hybrid learning; and
• Change federal government funding models.

"The future we want is within reach, but only if we work together," the report emphasized. "Any stakeholder in higher education who teaches in or supports hybrid learning modalities will find this report helpful in preparing for the future of hybrid learning."

The full report, including details on each action item and planning activities to help develop an action roadmap, is available on the Educause site.