Course setting of the HybrIDD course

The arrangement of locations, digital and analog media must be designed in such a way that cross-location interactions between all participants can take place and students - regardless of where they are participating in the synchronous hybrid teaching-learning setting - are not disadvantaged. To this end, the mutual audibility and visibility of all participants must be ensured. Accordingly, the individual media technology components (e.g. smartboard, cameras, audio and microphones) must be connected with each other.

Collaboration across locations in the HybrIDD room is ensured by the additional use of digital devices (e.g. tablets), tools (e.g. Mural  or Padlet) and software (e.g. the video conferencing software Zoom  licensed at JMU). Analog media such as flipcharts or moderation cards are also used, but must be filmed or photographed so that they are also available to online participants. In addition to the media technology, cross-location collaboration is also promoted by the flexible spatial arrangement of the furniture: The pentagonal tables purchased from EinrichtWerk can be rearranged ad hoc for cross-location small group work, for example, and formed as group tables so that they can then each be equipped with tablets, which participants can use to see and hear each other in breakout sessions. Modular multifunctional furniture from Xbricks will also be used: these can even be used to develop synchronous hybrid teaching/learning settings in the summer semesters, in which the on-site participants can take part in the teaching process from the front garden of the building in which the course is taking place. 

Developing an arrangement of locations and digital and analog media that does not disadvantage any of the participants also requires consideration of the infrastructure and media technology requirements on the part of the students. This can be particularly challenging in international synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning settings. It is then important that the students communicate infrastructural problems well so that the teacher can adapt to the corresponding circumstances. 

Arranging a synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning setting places high demands on teachers. In addition to imparting knowledge and supporting learning processes, they must now also be able to set up media technology and navigate it in a meaningful way. This can be overwhelming. At JMU Würzburg, however, we assume that the responsibility for the media technology success of a synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning setting does not lie solely with the teacher. Rather, our students support the media technology implementation of the HybrIDD room in a co-creative way, for example by starting up the smartboard at the beginning of the course, switching on the monitors and audio and logging into the video conferencing software. In addition, explicit group rules are developed for cross-location collaboration and communication in the synchronous hybrid teaching/learning setting. For example, students alert the teacher when something has been written in the chat or when one of the online participants wants to say something. This requires both an introduction of the students to the media technology and a joint negotiation of group rules (see social setting). In addition, the individual steps of navigating the media technology (setting up, switching on, logging in, switching off and dismantling) must be made transparent so that students can always come back to them in case of doubt (see materials for further use). 

Overall, it is clear that didactic considerations should always be made before media technology is purchased or arranged for a course. For example, it must be clarified which teaching/learning objectives are to be pursued in which teaching format and how the acquisition of learning content is to be methodically facilitated. The more interactive a synchronous-hybrid teaching-learning setting is to be designed, the more complex the media technology structure can be. A purely unidirectional transfer of knowledge, in the course of which the students primarily take on a receptive role, on the other hand, does not require a well-founded media technology set-up. It is therefore worth taking a look at the knowledge dimension and the social setting before considering the media technology.