In a HyFlex course, students can attend face-to-face or online synchronously or asynchronously. Brian Beatty, Associate Professor of Instructional Technologies in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University, when he was Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Operations, called the new mode he was developing in the mid-2000s “hyflex.” HyFlex has also been implemented at Purdue, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and in many other colleges and universities. 

From Beatty’s (2019) perspective, here are four fundamental values or principles of HyFlex (see p. 52): 

1. Learner Choice: Provide meaningful alternative participation modes and enable students to choose between participation modes daily, weekly, or topically. 
2. Equivalency: Provide learning activities in all participation modes which lead to equivalent learning outcomes. 
3. Reusability: Utilize artifacts from learning activities in each participation mode as “learning objects” for all students. 
4. Accessibility: Equip students with technology skills and equitable access to all participation modes. 

How Does BlendFlex Differ from HyFlex?  

Although Beatty has described BlendFlex as very much the same as HyFlex (2019), in some BlendFlex implementations there is less flexibility. It is common in BlendFlex, for example, for instructors to pre-assign students’ face-to-face attendance on certain days. On other days they may choose how to participate, for example whether to attend remotely, watch a recorded session, or complete an online module.  

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