HYBOT

Designing hybrid teaching scenarios is currently still a challenge for teachers, as didactic expertise is required to link physical and digital learning locations. In addition, planning and implementing hybrid teaching concepts can be time-consuming.

The HYBOT project aims to explore the potential of hybrid teaching for universities and to develop new concepts. This is to be done with the help of chatbots, i.e. intelligent virtual assistants. Chatbots are already being actively used in various industries for entertainment or information purposes. Chatbots can also play an important role in education and especially in the development and implementation of hybrid learning scenarios by acting as digital assistants to teachers and taking on or supporting various functions. 

Creating and implementing a good chatbot-based hybrid teaching concept requires special knowledge, pedagogical skills and, last but not least, a great deal of enthusiasm. All these building blocks are being brought together in the three-year HYBOT project with the aim of developing the skills of university lecturers in the design and implementation of hybrid learning and teaching scenarios using chatbots. In the course of the project, supporting tools such as an online training program for the development of chatbots, a handbook with good practices of hybrid teaching in Europe and worldwide as well as a transnational "Community of Practice" will be developed and tested. In addition, university lecturers participating in the project will demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired by creating their own hybrid scenarios and chatbots and testing them with students.

In the long term, the project aims to contribute to the modernization of learning settings at universities and to increase the reach of learning opportunities in post-pandemic times.

Result 1: Compendium of hybrid teaching scenarios

Are you a dedicated teacher looking to integrate hybrid teaching scenarios into your lessons and searching for inspiration? Then take a look at the collection of exciting hybrid teaching scenarios compiled by the HYBOT team below. The compendium presents 14 case studies on hybrid teaching and learning, developed and implemented by teachers from across Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, and Lithuania. Each case study covers different aspects of hybrid teaching environments, including the general framework, teacher motivation, the demographic composition of participants, the technologies used, pedagogical approaches, the time required, and feedback from both students and teachers.
The compendium also contains 13 teaching scenarios for hybrid and online environments, developed and implemented by dedicated teachers from the HYBOT consortium. By actively participating in the project activities and reflecting on their experiences in the case studies, they were able to contribute valuable insights from their work. A particular highlight of the HYBOT scenarios is the integration of chatbots, which were developed and implemented to support different learning objectives.

Don't miss this opportunity to benefit from the experiences of your colleagues and gather ideas for your own hybrid teaching scenario!

Download the Compendium of hybrid teaching scenarios

Result 2: Development tool for chatbots

In the Hybot project, we create chatbots using the Melibo chatbot development tool (www.melibo.de). Melibo offers a practical, accessible way to explore the potential of chatbots in education. It supports your teaching practice by providing a free sandbox environment for designing and testing chatbots for hybrid learning. You can experiment with features such as conversation flow design, chatbot customization, and access to basic analytics, making Melibo an effective tool for improving student engagement and support.
If you would like to try Melibo and create your own learning chatbots, please send us your request using the contact form below. We will then get in touch with you.

Get in touch

Chatbot pilot projects

What educational purposes can chatbots be used for? To collect feedback, answer frequently asked questions, or support interaction? The HYBOT partners identified various use cases and developed five small chatbot pilot projects in English and in their native languages of German, French, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Portuguese.

To the Chatbots

Result 3: Open training program “Chatbot Developer for Higher Education”

The HYBOT training program offers a comprehensive solution for educators who want to develop their own chatbots to enhance their teaching. Our training program combines technological and pedagogical expertise: teachers can learn about chatbot workflow design and how to create educational environments in which chatbots can be used!

The pilot training program took place between January 2024 and September 2024 with over 70 international participants. The successful results of this phase can be found under Project Result 4. You can adapt and reuse the following user guide, which was used during our pilot phase, for the circumstances of your own institution.

Open-source training program

Our Hybot training program is available to you free of charge. You can reuse our courses and materials, which are listed below. The open courses on this website are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license, which allows you to share, copy, redistribute, recombine, transform, and build upon the material, provided you comply with these conditions: You must provide appropriate attribution, including a link to the license and an indication of the changes made; the material may not be used for commercial purposes; and if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may only distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. For more information, see the Creative Commons license details. By accessing and using these courses, you agree to these terms. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Download the HYBOT training program in .mbz format:

You can download the three courses individually in .mbz format by clicking on the respective button below. The .mbz file format is specific to Moodle, a widely used open-source learning management system. These .mbz files can be imported directly into your institution's Moodle (version 4.3 Build 20240902 or higher) to seamlessly transfer the courses and run them independently of each other.

Download course 1: Mastering Hybrid Teaching

Download course 2: Understanding Chatbots

Download course 3: Chatbot Building & Implementation

Sign up and participate in the Hybot training program

All three courses in the open HYBOT training program are available on the MOOC platform of the University of Aberta (https://aulaberta.uab.pt/). To register for and participate in each course separately, please use the following links:

Sign-up to course 1: Mastering Hybrid Teaching

Sign-up to course 2: Understanding Chatbots

Sign-up to course 3: Chatbot Building & Implementation

Result 4: Proven chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios

How can chatbots support hybrid teaching scenarios in higher education? HYBOT has investigated this empirically! We invited dedicated teachers from our institutions to design their own chatbot-based scenarios for hybrid teaching and test them with real students! These educational experiences demonstrate the feasibility of the chatbot-based hybrid approach in higher education!

Learn how teachers planned and developed chatbot-supported hybrid teaching scenarios that promote greater engagement and transformative learning experiences in higher education. This document provides a comprehensive collection of creative approaches to integrating chatbots into teaching and is a valuable resource for teachers who want to innovate their hybrid teaching methods.

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (ENGLISH) 

Download chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios in other languages:

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (FRENCH) 

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (ESTONIAN)  

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (LITHUANIAN) 

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (PORTUGUESE) 

Chatbot-based hybrid teaching scenarios (GERMAN) 

The creation of this communication was partially funded by the European Union's ERASMUS+ funding program under grant number 2021-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000023203. Neither the European Commission nor the national sponsor of the project, the DAAD, are responsible for the content or liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of this resource.