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Over the past academic year, many (all?) of us have had to deal with 鈥淶oom fatigue鈥�. The good news is that research on this topic has been conducted and published, including the causes of Zoom fatigue and more importantly what we can do to reduce the negative effects of so much 鈥淶ooming鈥�. Here鈥檚 a glimpse into some of the findings of a Stanford study (2021) that identifies four causes of Zoom fatigue.

In recent months, there has been a great deal of interest in hyflex instruction at all levels of education (particularly in K-12 as a response to the pandemic situation) and 69萝莉 will be experimenting with this teaching modality in more courses in the next academic year. Many questions about hyflex have been raised, but here are answers to a few basic ones:

• What is hyflex at WVC? A hyflex course is one that is scheduled to meet on a set day/time, but offer students the option of participating in the class via face-to-face OR online synchronously via video conference.
• How is a hyflex class different from a hybrid class? Hybrid classes meet both face-to-face and online (either synchronously or asynchronously), where students are expected to attend all face-to-face sessions (and online synchronously, if applicable) during the day/time specified in the schedule. In hyflex courses, students have the option to either show up for class in the physical classroom noted in the schedule, OR online synchronously via videoconference.
• Are faculty required to teach in hyflex mode? No. For Fall 2021, a few faculty have volunteered to beta-test courses conducted via hyflex modality. The plan is to use the experiences from this cohort of 鈥淗yflex Voyagers鈥� in guiding future offerings of hyflex courses.

Additional questions surrounding hyflex instruction are being discussed, including what technology and equipment are needed in hyflex courses, what kind of support will be given to faculty teaching hyflex, and logistical challenges with meeting pandemic protocols.

We are certain you have questions as well, and we ask that you share them with your Dean/Director. If you are interested in teaching in hyflex mode, please consult with your Department Chair and Dean/Director. The future of hyflex courses at WVC isn鈥檛 certain, but it is important for the WVC community to engage in thoughtful discussion to ensure our hyflex courses meet the standards of high-quality education for our students.

Do you need training to satisfy the requirement to teach online/hybrid? Per the WVMFT faculty contract, faculty scheduled to teach an online or hybrid course must either have:

• taught an online or hybrid course within the District in a previous semester, or
• received approval from Office of Instruction. The Faculty Request for Approval to Teach Online/Hybrid form (along with documentation) is to be submitted in a single pdf file to [email protected]

NOTICE!! Fall 2021 is the last semester faculty can teach online without having satisfied Article 51.

Thank you to WVC faculty and staff for making the Friday WOWs in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 such a success!! There were more than 200 faculty/staff participating in the sessions (and an additional 200 faculty attended the Zoom/Panopto workshops held in early Spring 2021.) Friday WOW topics ran the gamut and although the focus was on improving online teaching, many of the ideas and strategies can be applied in face-to-face courses as well.

As you work over the summer to refine your courses, check out the recordings and resources for these sessions. They are available in the Canvas course shell, WVC Online Faculty Resources (if you wish to be added to the roster, see section on WVC Online Faculty Resources Canvas group below).