Empathetic and inclusive teaching via hybrid learning: Lessons from teaching staff

Hybrid learning creates new opportunities for student learning, but also generates student anxiety due to the significant differences from the ‘standard’ method of teaching that most students are familiar with. This paper details the techniques used to teach in a more empathetic and inclusive manner during hybrid learning. Based on the authors’ experiences during the rapid switch to online teaching in higher education following the Covid-19 pandemic, the article highlights some of the successful techniques used to increase inclusivity and empathy within taught sessions. These techniques are split into those used before the taught sessions, those used during the sessions, and those used throughout the twelve weeks of teaching. The paper concludes that while these amendments create more work for teaching staff, we should all endeavour to utilize them to increase inclusivity and ensure a rich learning experience for all students. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.