Hyb-IT-up!: Designing Effective Hybrid Teaching and Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected education at all levels and classrooms have been forced to turn to distance teaching. In response, society has adapted to a new means of communication, leading to a lasting transformation in how we teach, learn, and work―often through hybrid models that blend in-person and online engagement. This book explores such unique educational scenarios from both theoretical and practical perspectives, offering conceptual frameworks, design guidelines and experience-based examples. It presents strategies for educators to effectively design and facilitate hybrid learning activities, while also empowering students to engage meaningfully in these environments. The authors propose scientifically grounded pedagogical approaches that promote active learning, support teacher-student and peer-to-peer interaction, and encourage learner self-regulation.

The main goals of the book are:
•    To clarify the definition of hybrid teaching and learning
•    To detail some of the main conceptual pillars of hybrid teaching and learning
•    To describe some of the most relevant of hybrid teaching and learning modes
•    To discuss and clarify important operational guidelines to support hybrid teaching and learning
•    To provide practical application cases of hybrid teaching and learning modes

Azusa Nakata (ORCID: 0000-0002-2845-3920) is a project manager in the Learning and Educational Technology (LET) Research Lab, at the University of Oulu and a coordinator of the Hyb-IT-up! project. She has worked on multiple EU projects focusing on the design and implementation of pedagogical approach using digital tools to enhance distance, hybrid and technology-enhanced learning. Her research focuses on students' negotiation and group regulation processes, exploring their influence on the socio-emotional climate and effectiveness of online collaborative learning environments.

Ana Balula is an associate professor (with habilitation) at the University of Aveiro, with expertise in Education with a focus on Pedagogy and Educational Technology. Her main research interests include e-assessment, e-teaching evaluation, and the integration of digital technologies in education. She is an integrated member of the Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF) and the Laboratory of Digital Contents of the Department of Education and Psychology of the University of Aveiro.

Paulo J. M. Santos holds a Master's degree from the EduTech department at Saarland University, where he investigated the impact of information sources on attitudes in debates over controversial topics. His research employs mixed-methods approaches to understand how individuals construct arguments and learn, with a particular focus on perspective strategies that support attitudinal changes and learning.

Hanna Järvenoja is a full professor and co-leader of the LET Lab at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research focuses on self-regulated learning, particularly in collaborative learning contexts. She is internationally recognized for her work on the role of motivation and emotions in socially shared regulation of learning and has also contributed to advancing process-oriented methods for studying regulation in collaborative settings. Currently, she leads research projects funded by Finnish Science Foundation and Horizon Europe, being a board member of University of Oulu's Hybrid Intelligence research program.

António Moreira holds a PhD in Didactics of Foreign Languages (University of Aveiro). His research interests encompass cognitive flexibility in hypertexts and communities of practice. He founded and coordinated the Nónio Século-XXI Local Competence Centre and directed the Digital Content Laboratory at the University of Aveiro, serving as deputy coordinator of the Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF), focusing on innovative initiatives in the field of education.

Armin Weinberger is full professor and founder of the EduTech department at Saarland University, Germany. His main research areas are educational technology, technology-enhanced and computer-supported collaborative learning. He investigates collaboration scripts, awareness tools, and conversational AI-agents facilitating joint attention, transactivity, attitudinal changes, and knowledge convergence in argumentative knowledge construction.