{"id":46813,"date":"2026-05-25T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T13:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/?p=46813"},"modified":"2026-05-27T11:22:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:22:43","slug":"teaching-here-and-there-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/type\/featured-articles\/teaching-here-and-there-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Here and There\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by <strong>James Rutherford<\/strong>, City St George&#8217;s, University of London, UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teaching Here and There: Why this podcast&nbsp;still&nbsp;matters for the future of hybrid teaching and how it can&nbsp;improve&nbsp;practice today.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(This article is a follow-up to \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/type\/featured-articles\/teaching-here-and-there\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Teaching Here and There<\/a>\u2019 by Dominic Pates,&nbsp;2023.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hybrid teaching&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;a mode you switch&nbsp;on,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;a learning experience&nbsp;that&nbsp;is&nbsp;designed&nbsp;for students in the room,&nbsp;for&nbsp;students online, and often&nbsp;for&nbsp;students catching up later. In the post-pandemic reality of higher education, that challenge&nbsp;hasn\u2019t&nbsp;gone away. If anything,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;matured. Universities&nbsp;are refining&nbsp;their&nbsp;digital&nbsp;environment,&nbsp;students expect more choice and flexibility, and academics are being asked to deliver quality&nbsp;teaching across multiple contexts,&nbsp;without doubling&nbsp;their&nbsp;workload.&nbsp;(Good luck with that)&nbsp;This&nbsp;combination makes hybrid teaching both strategically important and personally demanding for teaching staff.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s\u00a0exactly why Teaching Here,\u00a0and There exists,\u00a0as a practical, honest, and research-aware podcast series exploring\u00a0developing\u00a0practices in hybrid teaching in higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;planning hybrid delivery for the first time or&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;been doing it for a while and want to improve quality, inclusion, and student engagement, this series is a valuable companion.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;based&nbsp;on real experiences from academics, students, learning technologists, and&nbsp;higher education&nbsp;voices navigating hybrid teaching in practice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Teaching Here and There?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teaching Here and There is a podcast series for exploring&nbsp;evolving&nbsp;practices in hybrid teaching in higher education, hosted by Dominic Pates, Dr Ivan Sikora, and James Rutherford. The show launched in summer 2021 and&nbsp;runs&nbsp;across&nbsp;three&nbsp;series.&nbsp;It features conversations spanning pedagogy, learning spaces, institutional strategy,&nbsp;psychology,&nbsp;staff development, and,&nbsp;critically,&nbsp;the lived experiences&nbsp;of students.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can find it&nbsp;wherever you get your podcasts,&nbsp;including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/teaching-here-and-there\/id1578123182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0XJC8ZqJYJuInl8uFnVY1U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why hybrid teaching still needs dedicated, practical resources<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of&nbsp;what\u2019s&nbsp;been written about hybrid teaching focuses on definitions or tools. But&nbsp;the day-to-day reality is more complicated.&nbsp;Hybrid teaching introduces time-management challenges, communication complexity, technology&nbsp;reliability, and assessment issues, both&nbsp;for staff and students.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The consensus from guests&nbsp;agreed that&nbsp;those challenges don\u2019t simply disappear once the&nbsp;technology&nbsp;is installed;&nbsp;they need ongoing pedagogic adaptation, staff support, and&nbsp;particularly,&nbsp;thoughtful course design to avoid creating a \u201ctwo-tier\u201d experience,&nbsp;where one group&nbsp;of students&nbsp;consistently gets the best of the session.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the&nbsp;HE&nbsp;sector is moving toward&nbsp;a more refined&nbsp;definition&nbsp;and planning around blended, hybrid, and flexible approaches,&nbsp;encouraging&nbsp;universities&nbsp;to be&nbsp;clear&nbsp;about time, place, pace, and support, rather than treating&nbsp;\u2018hybrid\u2019&nbsp;as a one-size-fits-all solution.&nbsp;This is where Teaching Here and There becomes particularly valuable;&nbsp;it documents what actually happens,&nbsp;what works, what fails, what students notice, and what institutions need to do differently.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What makes Teaching Here and There especially useful?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It treats hybrid teaching as a whole-system design problem&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hybrid teaching succeeds when pedagogy, technology, space, and support&nbsp;come together. That alignment&nbsp;shows up&nbsp;repeatedly in the series through discussions that include not just academic&nbsp;perspectives but&nbsp;also learning space development and learning technology voices.&nbsp;A prime example is the Edinburgh Futures Institute, see&nbsp;episode&nbsp;18 to&nbsp;hear&nbsp;more about their&nbsp;particular approach&nbsp;to hybrid teaching and learning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&nbsp;matches what&nbsp;the literature&nbsp;has&nbsp;emphasised,&nbsp;hybrid&nbsp;teaching&nbsp;practice&nbsp;must be designed around inclusion, social connection, sensitivity to presence inequality, flexibility, and engagement, and&nbsp;not simply&nbsp;the latest technology.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It takes student experience seriously (not as an afterthought)&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The podcast has featured student perspectives explicitly, including episodes built around student reflections on hybrid teaching experiences across institutions.&nbsp;See episodes&nbsp;12 and 13.&nbsp;This matters&nbsp;because hybrid teaching&nbsp;can&nbsp;fail&nbsp;if online&nbsp;students&nbsp;feel&nbsp;disengaged, and in-room students can become the \u201cdefault audience\u201d unless staff intentionally design participation and interaction.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;shy away from the cognitive load of \u201cteaching in two places at once\u201d&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the recurring realities in hybrid delivery is the&nbsp;significant&nbsp;cognitive load on teaching staff, what with&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;the&nbsp;chat, reading the room, managing audio delays, handling&nbsp;screensharing, and&nbsp;facilitating&nbsp;group work across&nbsp;both&nbsp;modalities. The&nbsp;podcast&nbsp;series&nbsp;provides a forum to discuss&nbsp;that challenge, which is the first step toward designing support structures that&nbsp;reduce&nbsp;it, rather than&nbsp;normalising&nbsp;academic&nbsp;overload.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Without reproducing&nbsp;any show&nbsp;content,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;worth highlighting a few episodes that illustrate the&nbsp;range&nbsp;of topics and value&nbsp;of the podcast&nbsp;series.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Episode 14&nbsp;features&nbsp;Dr Brian Beatty,&nbsp;who is&nbsp;known for the&nbsp;HyFlex&nbsp;course design and the principle-led approach to learner choice&nbsp;and&nbsp;inclusivity.&nbsp;Brian pioneered the development and evaluation of the&nbsp;HyFlex&nbsp;course design model for blended learning environments, implementing a \u201cstudent-directed-hybrid\u201d approach to better support student learning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Episode&nbsp;16&nbsp;is a&nbsp;retrospective&nbsp;show,&nbsp;recorded in a hybrid space&nbsp;at City St. George\u2019s,&nbsp;University of London.&nbsp;The&nbsp;hosts of the&nbsp;series&nbsp;reflect on&nbsp;learning gathered across conversations and the realities of working in hybrid&nbsp;spaces,&nbsp;an approach that underlines the show\u2019s&nbsp;value as a&nbsp;study&nbsp;conducted directly alongside professionals in&nbsp;higher education.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a crowd-sourced \u201cvoices from across the globe\u201d special, see Episode&nbsp;17. This extended show compiles responses from multiple&nbsp;international&nbsp;contributors&nbsp;who&nbsp;answered&nbsp;common questions&nbsp;about experiences, benefits,&nbsp;challenges, and&nbsp;who were able to&nbsp;look to&nbsp;the future of hybrid teaching.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>If&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;already teaching in a hybrid mode and looking to refine your approach, you could use&nbsp;the Teaching Here and There&nbsp;podcast&nbsp;as a tool for reflective practice.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Audit participation equity: who contributes, who is acknowledged, and who receives feedback first? An effective hybrid design needs to address \u201cpresence inequality\u201d deliberately.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. Simplify and&nbsp;be consistent with&nbsp;your&nbsp;hybrid learning design:&nbsp;coherent&nbsp;formats help reduce cognitive load for both staff and students, especially when managing multiple channels at once.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3.&nbsp;Increase meaningful engagement: the aim&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;to simply \u201cbroadcast\u201d lectures, but to design&nbsp;hybrid&nbsp;sessions where time together is used for high-value interaction, group&nbsp;work&nbsp;and active learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4.&nbsp;Build in support and feedback loops: hybrid teaching works best when institutions provide professional development, reliable AV\/IT support, and opportunities for&nbsp;regular&nbsp;evaluation that allow staff to adapt and improve over time.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;overriding refrain&nbsp;from the Teaching Here and There podcast&nbsp;is that hybrid teaching&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;going away,&nbsp;so we need better, more open conversations about how it works in practice.&nbsp;Research&nbsp;gathered&nbsp;from the podcast&nbsp;highlights both the potential and the complexity of hybrid models. They can combine the strengths of face-to-face interaction with the flexibility of online learning, but they also bring ongoing challenges around technology, communication, engagement, assessment, and staff support.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, sector-wide curriculum design work is calling for&nbsp;new&nbsp;models,&nbsp;clearer language and more intentional approaches to time and place. The traditional timetable&nbsp;structure&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;automatically translate into effective hybrid delivery.&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;where&nbsp;\u2018Teaching Here and There\u2019&nbsp;comes in. It&nbsp;can&nbsp;act as a living resource for staff development, reflective practice, and institutional learning. Because&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;grounded in conversation rather than compliance, it creates space for the uncertainty, experimentation, and iteration that hybrid teaching still requires.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A research paper on the whole podcast series will be produced later this year&nbsp;by JR.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:15% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"123\" height=\"147\" src=\"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/files\/2026\/05\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46815 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.media-and-learning.eu\/node\/4101\/lightbox2\" target=\"_blank\" data-lity><strong><strong>James Rutherford<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>, City St George&#8217;s, University of London, UK.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by James Rutherford, City St George&#8217;s, University of London, UK. Teaching Here and There: Why this podcast&nbsp;still&nbsp;matters for the future of hybrid teaching and how it can&nbsp;improve&nbsp;practice today.&nbsp;&nbsp; (This article is a follow-up to \u2018Teaching Here and There\u2019 by Dominic Pates,&nbsp;2023.)&nbsp; Hybrid teaching&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;a mode you switch&nbsp;on,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;a learning experience&nbsp;that&nbsp;is&nbsp;designed&nbsp;for students in the room,&nbsp;for&nbsp;students online, and often&nbsp;for&nbsp;students [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[270,4,275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-av-technologies","category-featured-articles","category-higher-education"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/files\/2021\/06\/bigstock-Man-With-Headphones-Is-Typing-413689133.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Dovile Dudenaite","author_link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/author\/dovile-dudenaite\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46813"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46909,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46813\/revisions\/46909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}