Emergency remote teaching has had a deep impact on post-Covid digitalization and pedagogical practices at tertiary level. To be effective in post-pandemic educational contexts, digital pedagogy needs to be carefully refocused. In particular, while devising new digitally-enhanced practices suited to the new normal, instructors need to take into account some newly emerged dimensions, namely flexibility, pedagogy of care, and collaborative learning (Bozkurt et al. 2020). Flexibility entails specifically developing online learning catering to social distancing, designing digitally-enhanced courses which can be easily moved fully online (if necessary), and catering to students’ multifarious needs. Likewise, the adoption of open pedagogy, suited to fostering equity, access, and inclusion, has emerged as a key post-pandemic higher education practice (Rapanta et al. 2020; Van Allen and Katz 2020).

In this light, this presentation aims to illustrate first the findings emerged from a study carried out during emergency remote teaching at an Italian university and then a HyFlex course model, devised on the basis of the findings emerged, suited to designing flexible transformative digitally-enhanced collaborative activities suitable for connecting students locally and globally while catering for their well being. HyFlex (Hybrid-Flexible) courses combine learning modes which enable students to study in class or at a distance either synchronously or asynchronously (Beatty 2019a, 2019b). A newly devised HyFlex course model, designed from an open pedagogy and a pedagogy of care perspective (Bozkurt et al. 2020) within a Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, and Archer 2000; Garrison 2017), will thus be presented. The HyFlex model devised can cater to local and global students’ needs to be socially distant and at the same time socially engaged; universities can also use the model to implement international projects in times of crisis.

This presentation may be especially useful to instructors planning to teach flexible digitally-enhanced courses at local and global level in the new normal higher education context.