Join an instructional designer and a professor as they tell the story of how they teamed up to create a hybrid course using student-centered approaches. This session will explore strategies to foster student-engagement and empower student choice, showcasing the transformative impact on student learning experiences.

In this session, we explore the transformative effect of student-centered approaches in hybrid learning, a topic of increasing relevance as educational institutions continue to blend online and face-to-face instruction. This presentation tells the story of how an instructional designer and a faculty member work together to create a hybrid course for over 70 higher-education students who must design a culminating Capstone project while simultaneously completing a rigorous 40-hour clinical internship. The dual demands often leave students feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and dissatisfied, which calls for the need for innovative practices to prioritize student welfare and learning. The course was fundamentally structured as project-based learning which inherently promotes personalized experiences that enhance student satisfaction and motivation (Abuhmaid, 2020). Taking this opportunity and applying Chan et al. (2022) DIVE principles, we created a customized learning experience allowing students to tailor their educational journey to align with their individual needs, schedules, and preferences. This flexibility empowered students to take ownership of their learning. We utilized storytelling interviews from past course participants. These firsthand accounts provide valuable insights and strategies, instilling confidence in current students and inspiring them to succeed. We designed diverse engagement opportunities, including interactive infographics, drag-and-drop activities, collaborative Padlet sessions, and more to enhance their engagement with the course material. We applied a chunking approach to project-based learning concepts and assignments, breaking down major tasks into manageable segments. This allows students to receive timely feedback at each stage, promoting continuous improvement and reducing overwhelm. We emphasized the importance of building a supportive learning community through small-group connections. Despite students being dispersed across the United States for clinical internships, regular group sessions provide opportunities for collaboration, networking, and mutual support. We will demonstrate the implementation of each strategy, discuss student performance outcomes, share feedback from both students and faculty on the course, and present comprehensive results of student achievements. The significance of this session lies in its focus on student-centered learning strategies that emphasize choice, engagement, empowerment, and success—essential elements in today’s educational landscape. These principles not only support students through demanding schedules but also encourage a deep, personalized engagement with content, catering to diverse learning needs and preferences. To ensure an engaging and interactive presentation, the presenters will use real-time polling and Q&A to gather live audience responses and foster dialogue throughout the session. Interactive demonstrations will showcase the tools, technologies, and materials used in creating the course, allowing attendees to directly experience the engagement techniques employed. The audience will have time to participate in discussions to facilitate brainstorming of how these student-centered strategies might be adapted to their own educational contexts. Attendees will leave the session equipped with actionable insights and techniques to enhance their own educational environments by allowing student choice, enhancing student engagement, and applying project-based learning strategies to create a transformative experience for the learner and educator. Abuhmaid, A. M. (2020). The efficiency of online learning environment for Implementing Project-Based Learning: Students’ Perceptions. International Journal of Higher Education, 9(5), 76. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v9n5p76 Chan, C., Kozhin, A., Liang, Q., Salter, G., Tang, R., Ye, C., & Zhao, C. (2022). Dive: Make online learning diversified, interactive, versatile, and engaging. 2022 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE). https://doi.org/10.1109/tale54877.2022.00085