Introduction

Welcome to Flex Your Attendance: A Guide to Multiple Attendance Options! Have you ever wished for a guide that would steer you in the right direction of choosing an instructional tool that might increase enrollment and retention? This text aims to be that guide for you. Written by the 2022-2023 Online Innovations Cohort, this informative guide draws from research, experience, and student feedback. The guide will aid instructors in deciding what strategies to use to increase student learning and promote engagement.

How the Guide is Organized

There are two major parts to this guide. The first part, titled “Tech Setups Used at MCCCD”, highlights technology options and setups that can be used when applying Multiple Attendance Options (MAOs). The second part, titled “Pedagogical Tools and Techniques to Use with MAO,” offers strategies and tips for teaching with MAO. You’ll find other helpful sections, such as “Attendance Monitoring Techniques,” important “Policies and MAO at MCCCD”, and “Types of Courses that work well for MAO.” We hope this helps you to navigate through this guide to make an informed decision on how to use MAO.

A Note to District and Site Administrators and Leadership

We are excited to offer an innovative, data-driven response to the challenge of implementing Multiple Attendance Options (MAO, known as Hyflex in academic research). We have worked to create a “best practice” approach to planning, implementing, and executing an instructional tool that may help students matriculate through classes, programs, and degrees.

We view Multiple Attendance Options (MAOs) as an instructional tool NOT a modality. Modalities are methods or approaches used to deliver educational content, and in MCCCD include traditional classroom settings (in person), online (both asynchronous and live online), and hybrid delivery. By considering MAOs as a tool, rather than a modality, it opens opportunities for faculty in many disciplines to leverage the ability to improve student learning and engagement.

The concept of Multiple Attendance Option (MAO) is:

• Instructional tools that teachers can use to enhance student engagement and attendance.

• Meant to be a response to students’ needs for flexibility to ensure class retention, program matriculation, and degree completion.

• Not a new modality meant to be added to options like F2F, hybrid, online, or live online.

• Not appropriate for every class, program, student, and teacher

• Not required for teachers to implement

Exposing the faculty to MAOs is meant to be viewed similarly to how any instructional technique or strategy is implemented, through local campus CTLs. Professional development for faculty interested in exploring the strategies, benefits, and challenges of adopting MAOs is highly recommended. There is no “one size fits all” or mandate on what is used. It can be considered a perspective that faculty can use to approach when wanting to increase completion, attendance, and engagement.

The 2023 Online Innovations Cohort:

Nicola Plowes (Faculty Coordinator, Life Science Faculty at MCC), Steven Crawford (District Director, MCCCD Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation), Carla Ghanem (Instructional Designer, MCCCD Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation), Miriam Lierley (Faculty, Computer Information Systems at MCC), Michelle Meeks (Faculty, Reading at Phoenix College), Alisa Cooper (Faculty, English & Journalism at GCC), Jamie Lopez (Faculty, Early Childhood Education at MCC), Gabriel Tarr (Faculty, Mathematics Computer Science and Engineering at SCC), Roberto Gudino (Faculty, Scottsdale School of Film+Theatre at SCC)