ABSTRACT
In the context of architecture education, this study investigated the relationships between the effectiveness of Learning Management Systems (LMS), collaborative teaching practices, HyFlex learning implementation, and critical learning outcomes, including student engagement, perceived learning quality, and learning sustainability. Data were collected from 159 architecture students using a validated structured questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale, and a descriptive–correlational research design was employed. The hypotheses were tested using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank-order correlation, and regression analyses.
The results indicated that the deployment of HyFlex learning was assessed poorly and exhibited no significant correlation with the effectiveness of the LMS or collaborative teaching approaches. Moreover, the HyFlex learning implementation did not significantly predict student engagement, perceived learning quality, or the sustainability of learning. Multiple regression analysis showed that LMS effectiveness and collaborative teaching techniques were associated with student engagement, however HyFlex learning implementation was non-significant when controlling for these factors. The findings suggest that student engagement in architectural education is more closely linked to good technical support and collaborative teaching methods than to HyFlex delivery alone.
The study emphasizes the context-dependent aspect of HyFlex learning in studio-based disciplines, as well as the importance of intentional pedagogical integration, faculty development, and curriculum revision in aligning flexible learning approaches with architectural education's experiential demands. The findings give empirical evidence that can help higher education institutions build data-driven initiatives to improve student engagement and promote quality and sustainable learning outcomes.
Keywords: HyFlex learning, learning management system effectiveness, collaborative teaching practices, student engagement, architecture education, flexible learning
INTRODUCTION
Higher education has entered a phase where the continuity of learning, diversity, and sustainability are imperative institutional responsibilities. Universities and colleges are now required to guarantee continuous access to education across diverse settings, utilizing flexible learning modalities, robust academic systems, and adaptive curricula that address global disruptions and swift technological advancements. The continuity of learning underscores the obligation of institutions to assist students irrespective of their circumstances, so strengthening education as a reliable and essential public good (Nyakotyo & Pedzisai Goronga, 2024).
Learning management systems (LMS) were transformed from basic repositories to essential infrastructures for instruction, evaluation, and student interaction as a result of the rapid transition to flexible modalities during the current COVID-19 epidemic. The Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) architecture emerged as a significant approach as institutions transitioned from emergency remote teaching to sustainable flexible models. This architecture enables students to engage with courses through in-person, synchronous online, or asynchronous online modalities without compromising course completion. HyFlex fundamentally addresses a variety of learner circumstances by enhancing accessibility, providing significant options, and augmenting institutional resilience (Detyna et al., 2022).
According to Nur Hidayati et al., (2025), international and local research highlights that the success of HyFlex models relies on faculty preparedness, a robust digital infrastructure, effective pedagogical alignment, and ongoing feedback systems. In the absence of these elements, HyFlex may devolve into an inconsistent paradigm, wherein in-person learners enjoy enhanced connection, while online or asynchronous students confront diminished participation, poorer feedback mechanisms, and a reduced sense of learning present.
LMS implementation is not without hurdles. Picciano (2017) emphasizes the favorable impact of LMS use on educational accessibility, citing its ability to promote learning across time and place. However, successful implementation frequently faces obstacles that limit its efficacy. According to Conrad and Donaldson (2011), user resistance, technological obstacles, and data security concerns are recurrent issues that hamper LMS incorporation within institutions. Furthermore, scalability and adaptability remain significant problems, particularly in various learning environments.
Infrastructure constraints and educational deficiencies may potentially undermine LMS utilization. Abbasi-Kasani et al. (2020) identify persistent challenges including insufficient technological resources, limited utilization of formative assessment tools, inadequate feedback systems, difficulties in verifying student authenticity, and deficiencies in managing presentations, exercises, projects, online assessments, and discussions. When properly executed, LMSs provide quantifiable efficiencies; Norton (2022) indicates that firms can reduce the time usually allocated to conventional classroom administration by as much as 45% with LMS-facilitated instruction.
Hybrid classrooms provide a sustainable and progressive educational model by combining in-person instruction with online learning methods (Xing & Saghaian, 2022). This concept facilitates simultaneous engagement between instructors and students in both real and virtual environments, minimizing dependence on various venues, optimizing institutional resources, and promoting ecologically sustainable behaviors. In response to rapid global changes, higher education institutions (HEIs) and their associated corporations have prioritized digital transformation to equip graduates for the evolving industrial landscape and to tackle intricate societal challenges of the twenty-first century. Griffin et al. (2022) define digital transformation in higher education institutions as a comprehensive process that reconfigures administration, pedagogy, governance, infrastructure, research, and curriculum. It encompasses the implementation of educational apps and databases, intelligent technologies, data analytics, virtual learning platforms, student information systems, chatbots, and digitized procurement and payment systems.
Within the Philippine higher education context, particularly in Metro Manila, disparities in digital access, variations in faculty readiness, and uneven institutional support structures continue to shape the implementation of HyFlex learning. These challenges are especially salient in architecture programs, which demand high levels of interaction, design thinking, and studio engagement (Kunjiapu et al., 2025). Despite the growing adoption of HyFlex modalities, empirical research examining the structural relationships among LMS effectiveness, collaborative teaching, and student engagement remains limited. Moreover, existing studies have largely relied on qualitative or descriptive approaches, leaving a gap in theory-driven, model-based analyses capable of explaining how these factors jointly contribute to sustainable HyFlex learning.
Despite the increasing adoption of HyFlex learning in higher education, empirical evidence remains limited regarding its effectiveness in studio-based disciplines such as architecture, where learning is strongly grounded in experiential design processes, critique-based instruction, and face-to-face studio interaction. While Learning Management Systems (LMS) and collaborative teaching practices are widely recognized as essential components of flexible learning environments, it remains unclear whether these factors support meaningful HyFlex learning implementation and whether HyFlex learning contributes to improved student engagement, perceived learning quality, and sustainability of learning in architectural education.
This study examined the relationships among Learning Management System (LMS) effectiveness, collaborative teaching practices, HyFlex learning implementation, and selected learning outcomes in architecture education. Specifically, it sought to determine whether LMS effectiveness and collaborative teaching practices are significantly related to HyFlex learning implementation, and whether HyFlex learning implementation significantly predicts student engagement, perceived learning quality, and sustainability of learning. In addition, the study investigated whether LMS effectiveness and collaborative teaching practices significantly predict student engagement among architecture students.
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