Learn how one health science course achieved alignment across asynchronous, synchronous, and in-person learning modalities. This session walks through design principles, cognitive load contrasts, and real-world redesign strategies, including team dynamics, iterative change, and faculty-student collaboration, offering practical takeaways to support hybrid learning in health professions and beyond.

In hybrid and hyflex courses, students often navigate a fragmented learning experience—one where asynchronous content, synchronous sessions, and in-person components coexist but fail to connect meaningfully. This disconnect increases cognitive load, causes confusion, and ultimately undermines learning outcomes. When different modes of instruction duplicate, contradict, or fail to scaffold toward a final objective, both learners and instructors are left exhausted and frustrated.

This session focuses on designing for alignment across modalities by showcasing the redesign of a professional-level, project-based course in a healthcare education program. The course includes weekly asynchronous modules, monthly synchronous small group sessions, and an intensive in-person lab week. All modalities intentionally build over a trimester toward a tangible final product: a professional proposal. The presentation shares a model for aligning modalities so they function not as separate tracks but as integrated steps in a coherent learner journey.

As institutions expand their online and hybrid offerings, the complexity of maintaining instructional alignment increases. Courses that span multiple formats risk becoming collections of disconnected content unless instructional design explicitly addresses coherence across modes. While many educators are proficient in designing for a single format, fewer have frameworks or examples to support intentional alignment across asynchronous, synchronous, and face-to-face environments.

This challenge becomes even more complex in courses where modalities are not evenly distributed across the term. In the course featured in this session, asynchronous instruction occurs weekly, synchronous sessions happen monthly, and the in-person experience is concentrated in a single immersive lab week. This uneven format was not a design choice, but a necessity driven by curricular structure and accreditation expectations, making alignment not just important, but essential.

The session addresses this reality head-on. It presents a tested alignment strategy developed under real constraints, including limited in-person time, fluctuating student readiness, and evolving deliverables. Through a combination of backward design and flexible iteration, the course was restructured to promote flow, reduce redundancy, and keep all modalities working toward a common outcome.

This course serves as a microcosm of a broader challenge: how to design hybrid learning that is streamlined, engaging, and aligned even when conditions are less than ideal. Attendees will leave with replicable strategies for improving course flow and reducing friction, while preserving the flexibility that hybrid learning promises.

The session will follow a structured yet dynamic flow designed to engage participants in both reflection and application. It begins with a brief audience engagement on perceptions of alignment barriers. 

Next, the session introduces a foundational framework by presenting a case vignette that illustrates common pitfalls of misalignment. For example, a student watching a dense lecture video early in the semester, only to find it has no relevance until weeks later. Key terms such as alignment, redundancy, conflict, and cognitive load are defined and contextualized to help attendees articulate similar issues in their own courses.

The heart of the session centers around real examples of intentional course design. A visual flowchart shows how asynchronous videos, synchronous small groups, and an in-person lab were structured to avoid overlap and instead build progressively toward a major deliverable. Participants will see both “good” and “bad” examples of alignment, with specific commentary on why certain approaches supported or undermined learning.

From there, the session transitions to a discussion of guiding design principles. The presenters will share several core rules that have shaped the redesign process, including the importance of scaffolding rather than duplicating content, using backward design to shape each learning experience, and designing by phases rather than individual weeks. These principles provide a high-level framework that attendees can adapt to their own institutional contexts.

One of the most valuable elements of the session will be a walkthrough of the collaborative team process that enabled this course transformation. The presenters will describe how a small, agile faculty team took educational and accreditation standards and distilled them into course objectives, then mapped those objectives onto assignments and learning activities. Weekly team meetings, daily communication, and continuous timeline reviews ensured that backward design remained central. This process included moments of flexibility and adaptations. Instead of pushing forward with misaligned expectations, the team replaced the task with content that addressed current student needs, when it better fit the course trajectory.

To highlight the impact of alignment on student experience, the session features a cognitive load contrast table that compares what happens in an unaligned course versus the redesigned version across three key points in the trimester. The contrast clearly demonstrates how thoughtful pacing and instructional coordination can reduce overload and increase clarity.

The session will end with a showcase of the practical tools that made alignment possible. Attendees will leave with examples of resources, along with ideas for how to create or adapt similar tools in their own hybrid or multimodal courses.

This session is designed to be not just informative, but practical and immediately applicable. By anchoring the learning experience in both research-informed design and real-world instructional challenges, it offers a replicable approach to course alignment that honors flexibility without sacrificing structure.

To highlight the impact of alignment on student experience, the session features a cognitive load contrast table that compares what happens in an unaligned course versus the redesigned version across three key points in the trimester. The contrast clearly demonstrates how thoughtful pacing and instructional coordination can reduce overload and increase clarity.

The session concludes with a showcase of the practical tools that made alignment possible: templates, scaffolds, and worksheets that served as cognitive anchors across modalities. Attendees will explore how these tools supported backward design in action and enabled more consistent progress toward a high-stakes deliverable. They will leave with examples and ideas for creating or adapting similar resources in their own hybrid or multimodal courses.

Ultimately, this session speaks directly to higher education faculty and instructional designers navigating the challenges of hybrid course planning. By walking through a real-world example of course transformation rooted in backward design, cognitive load theory, and responsive teamwork, it offers more than theoretical guidance. It provides replicable strategies, visual tools, and adaptable frameworks that help bridge learning formats. Participants will leave with a practical model for cross-format alignment and the confidence to apply it in even the most complex instructional environments.

Kaitlyn Cremer OTD, MOT, OTR/L

Clinical Associate Professor at Baylor University

Kaitlyn Cremer is a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of Doctoral Capstone for the Baylor Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. She earned her Masters in Occupational Therapy (2010) and her Post Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (2011) from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. Dr. Cremer holds a specialty certification in Low Vision (SCLV) awarded by AOTA. She has extensive training for Dementia Care and Dementia Care for intellectual/developmental differences (I/DD) population. She is an onsite-prevention specialist and Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS).

Aside from her clinical experience with the occupational therapy field, her extensive teaching experience includes designing and implementing innovative online curriculum that aligns with contemporary learning theories to enhance student engagement and success. She is adept at applying principles from both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments to create dynamic and inclusive educational experiences. Her contributions to online pedagogy have been recognized through national and international presentation opportunities, awards for excellence in teaching, and educational leadership roles.

Jana Hickman, OTD, OTR

Clinical Assistant Professor at Baylor University

Anne Bradley

Occupational therapist- adjunct faculty at Baylor University