Film production and screen media: HyFlex practice and adaptive pedagogies in tertiary-level film education

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant global disruption at educational institutions which, to varying degrees in 2020 and beyond, were required to transition to online teaching delivery. However, as people started to trickle back onto campus, many institutions within the tertiary sector needed to make provision for students who were unable, for a variety of reasons, to physically attend classes. One of the dominant delivery modes implemented to facilitate this was HyFlex, which combines the synchronous delivery of classes for in-person and remote students alongside opportunities for students to engage with course content asynchronously. Staff at Swinburne University of Technology’s film and television course received some institutional support to implement this delivery mode as part of an Adobe Innovation Grant. This article reflects on the teaching practices adopted and applies a theoretical lens to evaluate the implementation of such a delivery mode and understand the key research question: ‘How can the Adobe Creative Suite be utilized to implement HyFlex learning and teaching in a tertiary film institution context?’ To interrogate this question, this article outlines five key pillars which guide the implementation of HyFlex delivery. These pillars have been derived from an overview of the literature in the field. Using a case-study approach, a studio class and a theory class were identified and its diverse results discussed. While this article is not aiming to generalize the HyFlex approach, these specific findings will inform teaching and learning and are of interest for those who would like to embrace a more dynamic approach to pedagogy.