What is Cluster Hybrid?
Many PLATO members love attending our courses. However, members who are limited to attending classes virtually can’t participate in in-person courses, while the opposite is also true; members who prefer in-person courses would like to participate in courses that are only available virtually. Maybe your course can have it both ways. Try cluster hybrid. It’s simple and members can participate in-person OR virtually.
Requirements
The in-person participants bring their own devices (laptops or tablets) to the class. The course coordinator also brings a speakerphone (which can be provided by PLATO) which connects to the coordinator’s laptop or tablet with USB or Bluetooth.
Managing the Class
The course coordinator sends the Google Meet or Zoom link for the class to all class participants. In-person participants bring their own laptops or tablets to the class and join the ‘meeting.’ If some in-person participants don’t bring a device, they will need to share one with a classmate. The online participants will join the meeting from their remote locations.
All microphones in the in-person location must be muted except for the coordinator’s speakerphone. Speakers on all other devices in the room must also be silenced.
With the combination of in-person and remote participants, electronic hand-raising is often useful. With Google Meet, and perhaps Zoom, the host can observe the group in the order in which they raised hands and thus follow a disciplined approach for managing comments.
