Abstract:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the hybridization of higher education programs has significantly increased. In this context, the international research project HyPES (Hybrid Learning Environments and Training Practices in Higher Education; France, Luxembourg, Canada, Switzerland) aims to update the typology of hybrid learning programs developed by the European Hy-Sup project, by integrating the student perspective and the assessment dimension. This paper examines how students regulate their learning practices depending on the types of learning environments they encounter throughout their academic trajectories. It draws on the theoretical framework of congruence and constructive or destructive friction, which emerge between hybrid learning environments as designed by teachers and students’ learning practices, approached through their Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). The analysis is based on a corpus of interviews conducted with twelve students experiencing two contrasting learning environments during the same semester. Each of these environments is also described by the instructors in charge, who address, in particular, learning objectives, proposed activities, resources used (both digital and non-digital), and assessment methods.

The analysis of data related to learning practices, using the MEPA method, highlights students’ learning patterns, as well as their cognitive and metacognitive strategies and the media they mobilize. It also identifies the rules and values guiding their activity, as well as the roles of peers and instructors involved in the learning process. The analysis reveals situations of congruence (when alignment occurs between pedagogical choices and students’ practices), constructive friction (when the openness of the learning environment fosters the adoption of new learning strategies), and destructive friction (when teacher control limits, for instance, learners’ self-regulation). The expected results will make it possible to identify sources of congruence and friction within the learning environments studied, and to shed light on how students regulate their learning according to the degrees of autonomy or control afforded by these programs. The analysis will thus help assess the extent to which hybrid pedagogical configurations support or constrain learning. The discussion will address the implications for the design of hybrid learning programs, particularly regarding the conditions under which digital technologies can effectively support learning.

Keywords:

Hybridization, congruence, frictions, higher education.