Introduction: Fall 2021 Considerations
The goal for Fall 2021 remains welcoming as many students as possible back to the McMaster campus to safely engage in meaningful in-person learning experiences. However, we expect that public health measures will limit the number of people gathering indoors. These important public health measures will impact the design and experience of courses, requiring instructors to be flexible and adaptable and open to exploring blended teaching approaches.
Our team at the MacPherson Institute is available to support instructors as they strive to design engaging learning experiences, and remain flexible in adapting to any public health restrictions that may limit the number of students who can physically gather in a classroom or lab.
In order to help guide your decision about offering a course in-person, or in another format, we offer this guidebook outlining considerations, practices, advice and examples to help you plan for a blended course delivery.
The guide includes the following pieces:
- Building your blended course
- Making the most of your in-person components
- Making the most of your synchronous (Virtual Classroom) components
- Making the most of your asynchronous (Online Classroom) components
- Assessments in the blended classroom
- Course scenarios and examples
- Deciding which blend is best: Course Delivery Decision Matrix: a framework for determining the right blended mix
- Additional resources
To navigate through the guide, you can either choose from the drop-down Contents Menu in the top right corner or select the “Next” links at the very bottom right corner of each page. You are welcome to move through all, or parts of the guide to help you best plan a blended delivery of your course. Note that this guide will be accompanied by Faculty-based and central training sessions and we also offer one-on-one consultations – connect with us at mi@mcmaster.ca.
