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"Key Takeaways Large lecture courses are often required of an institution's newest learners, who lack skills to help them succeed. To open alternative paths through these courses, a team at Ohio State University redesigned an intro-level econ course that typically serves more than 600 students at a time. Part of the redesign includes offering these students a hybrid flexible (HyFlex) lecture option that lets them choose to experience lectures in the classroom or online through a live stream at a location of their choosing. Other technologies reduce logistical overhead, letting instructors spend more time teaching and helping students, and less time dealing with basic questions about course rules, schedules, and so on."

"HyFlex is a course design model that presents the components of hybrid learning in a flexible course structure that gives students the option of attending sessions in the classroom, participating online, or doing both. Students can change their mode of attendance weekly or by topic, according to need or preference. Models like HyFlex, which present multiple paths through course content, may work well for courses where students arrive with varying levels of expertise or background in the subject matter. Courses built on the HyFlex model help to break down the boundary between the virtual classroom and the physical one. By allowing students access to both platforms, the design encourages discussion threads to move from one platform to the other."

A lengthy but good overview of MOOCs, with a close look at xMOOCS - Coursera, Udacity, edX that have taken advantage of scalability but tend to reinforce a traditional teacher-student model, and cMOOCS - knowledge building/networking, flexible tools, self directed, chaotic learning. Siemens goes on to share lessons learned from cMOOCs he has been involved with and provides 9 Steps How to Plan/Create a MOOC [approx 58:00] Around 18:00 he makes a provocative statement that because of the expertise available in xMOOCs, he would throw out all of his content, tell his students to take one of these courses, interact with them around the content themes and then assess their work. Other interesting ideas include: the need for regional MOOCs to diversify and fully explore potential innovation [export vs import]; the concern that mid-range universities stand to loose to the 'superstar' professors in the xMOOC model; & the notion of teaching globally, accrediting locally [e.g. Udacity -Pearson testing option for credit]

Increasingly, universities are using technology to provide students with more flexible modes of participation. This article presents a cross-case analysis of blended synchronous learning environments-contexts where remote students participated in face-to-face classes through the use of rich-media synchronous technologies such as video conferencing, web conferencing, and virtual worlds. The study examined how design and implementation factors influenced student learning activity and perceived learning outcomes, drawing on a synthesis of student, teacher, and researcher observations collected before, during, and after blended synchronous learning lessons. Key findings include the importance of designing for active learning, the need to select and utilise technologies appropriately to meet communicative requirements, varying degrees of co-presence depending on technological and human factors, and heightened cognitive load. Pedagogical, technological, and logistical implications are presented in the form of a Blended Synchronous Learning Design Framework that is grounded in the results of the study.