The team of Accounting and Business instructors at East Central College piloted a course delivery method that removes barriers for their students and allows them to choose how they learn.

The HyFlex delivery model earned Lisa Hanneken and Tanner French the inaugural Donald R. and Barbara D. Means Faculty Innovation Award for their use of technology and flexibility to improve education at ECC.

This method, fully implemented in the two programs in the 2022-23 academic year, gives students three options to learn — in person, remotely via live video stream at the regular class time, or online watching recorded video when it is convenient to them, also called “asynchronously.”

Students can use any combination of class deliveries at any time — that means they can attend any class in person, attend any class remotely during class time, or attend any online outside the normal class time.

Hanneken, who also serves as the director of the programs, and French have been developing and practicing the HyFlex model before fully implemented it into their curriculum this past academic year, according to Dr. Robyn Walter, vice president of academic affairs.

“The development and pilot of the HyFlex model demonstrates innovation and flexibility in the true spirit of meeting students where they are in their educational and personal life journey,” Walter said.

Hanneken added that the HyFlex removes barriers for learners with nontraditional schedules. The goal is to serve both traditional daytime students and students who typically have full-time jobs during the day.

“Originally, we had a general idea of a ‘multi-mode’ course but quickly learned through research that other colleges were also struggling with this problem and that some four-year schools were adopting a HyFlex option,” she said. “Gathering additional information about the various methods used, we came up with something we thought would be the best fit for ECC students.”

That led the instructors to pilot the delivery method during accounting and business courses during the 2022-23 academic year.

“The students loved this option, and many would not yet have graduated if the option was not available,” Hanneken said. “Also, the pilot program showed increased enrollment, retention and success rates.”

She added that students already have benefited from the new course delivery method.

“Personally, I found the HyFlex pilot program extremely helpful,” one student said. “It enabled me to better balance my daily schedule with my classes. It came in handy when I was going to be out of town and was able to just do the videos later instead of missing the meetings.”

Means Innovation Award

Walter explained that the Donald R. and Barbara D. Means Faculty Innovation Award recognizes faculty who improve the quality of education at ECC.

Donald Means, with the support of Barbara Means, was a charter trustee, and his service goes back even further when he and others worked diligently to bring the college into existence in the 1960s. Donald Means was an ECC charter trustee and served 24 years as an ECC Trustee from 1968 to 1992. He was Board secretary from 1968 until 1984, and then served four years as president of the board.­

“The Means family values higher education, student achievement, and are true partners in this process. I am grateful for their generosity,” Walter added.

The ECC Faculty Development Committee evaluates Means Faculty Innovation Award nominees and makes a recommendation to the vice president of academic affairs.

The committee examines the creativity of the innovation, impact on the quality of teaching and learning at ECC, transferability and potential for adoption in other courses, the ability of the innovation to engage more students in the learning process, and the impact it has on learning and on the student experience.

“The development and pilot of the HyFlex model demonstrates innovation and flexibility in the true spirit of meeting students where they are in their educational and personal life journey,” Walter said.

Hanneken said the Means Faculty Innovation Award was unexpected.

“We were simply doing what makes sense to ensure our students are able to acquire the best education possible, without negatively impacting the other aspects of their lives such as work and family responsibilities,” she said.

“The Means family has been very generous in providing this award to ECC in order to promote innovation for our students,” Hanneken added. “It will be exciting to see what new and creative things this award brings to ECC.”