KEY CONCEPT
Blended Learning Mission
The melding of the face-to-face and online environments in blended learning offers a unique set of opportunities and challenges in the course design process. Although many factors intervene in successfully building your blended course, defining your teaching and learning philosophy at first lays a solid foundation for the development of a quality course. Knowing where you stand on what constitutes teaching and learning will help you envision the protocols and strategies throughout the life of a course, from its creation to its delivery (BlendKit, 2017).
Teaching a blended course effectively requires a thoughtful approach that combines in-person and online components to enhance the learning experience. Here are some techniques and strategies for teaching a blended course:
- Define clear learning objectives: Start by clearly defining the learning objectives for your course. What do you want your students to know or be able to do by the end of the course? Having well-defined objectives will guide your instructional design.
- Create a detailed course plan: Develop a course plan that outlines the structure, schedule, and content of both in-person and online components. This plan should provide a roadmap for the entire course, including how in-person and online activities align.
- Provide a variety of resources: Offer a range of learning resources, such as video lectures, readings, interactive modules, and multimedia content, to engage students and cater to different learning styles.
- Encourage active learning: Design in-person and online activities that encourage student engagement and participation. These could include group discussions, case studies, simulations, hands-on projects, and peer-to-peer interactions.
- Foster online discussions: Use discussion forums or online collaboration tools to facilitate student interactions and debates. Encourage students to ask questions, share their perspectives, and respond to one another.
- Blend assessment methods: Incorporate a mix of assessment methods, including quizzes, written assignments, presentations, group projects, and exams. Ensure that the assessments align with the learning objectives.
- Maintain a regular presence: Stay accessible and maintain an active online presence through announcements, discussion forum participation, and timely responses to student inquiries. In the in-person component, engage with students during class sessions.
- Provide clear instructions: Clearly communicate expectations, guidelines, and due dates for assignments and activities. Consistency in communication is crucial for online components.
- Foster a sense of community: Create a sense of belonging among students in both the in-person and online components. Encourage collaboration, team-building, and peer support.
- Monitor student progress: Keep an eye on student progress and performance, especially in the online component, and intervene when needed to offer additional support or guidance.
TIP: Collect feedback and adjust.
Periodically gather feedback from students about their experiences with the course. Use this feedback to make adjustments and improvements for future offerings. You can use the FOL Survey tool to elicit feedback and save the data for later analysis and reflection.
Blended learning can be a highly effective way to engage students and provide them with a flexible, personalized learning experience. By carefully planning and implementing these techniques, instructors can maximize the benefits of a blended course while maintaining a high level of educational quality.
A Typical Blended Hour Example
Scenario – In a course that uses weekly quizzing on material, the student logs on to FanshaweOnline, completes a quiz designed to take 15 minutes and logs off.
Reflection – Has the student had the opportunity to reflect on the learning or engage with peers and the instructor? The student can complete a quiz on FOL as one type of classroom assessment/activity, but the remaining time can be complimented by additional materials for instruction and/or engagement to total a teaching lesson.
Suggestion – Effective use of the blended hour: In the above example, a student could complete a short reading or watch a short video online (20 min.), take a review quiz (15 min.), and then participate in a collaborative discussion by a critiquing or commenting using the discussion tool in FOL. The instructor can then review class postings at the next F2F meeting.
One Way to Approach a Blended TCH
- BEFORE the face-to-face session: Plan an “anchoring event” on the topic that provides entry points for connecting new information with the recall of prior, related learning.Anchoring Event: explore how communication channels affect the process of message tailoringBlended Activity Online: An online reading and a discussion post or quiz.
- DURING the Face-to-face session: Lecture then create a “triggering event” that students must consider/do when they leave class.Trigger event: assign a workplace scenario where students have to discuss the appropriate tone and audience and complete a draft work-related message.
- AFTER the face-to-face session: Plan an activity in FOL that relates to the trigger event. Blended Activity: post the draft message for peer feedback and participation online.
- Repeat for the next face-to-face session: create a “bridging event” by providing a context for what was done outside of class (online) and link back to a new anchoring event.
References
- The Blended Learning Toolkit by the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) with funding from the Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC). It is provided as an open educational resource under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
- OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT 3.5 (Nov 11 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
Active learning is an approach to teaching and learning in educational pedagogy that emphasizes student engagement, participation, and interaction with the learning materials, instructors, and fellow students. In active learning, students take on a more active role in the learning process rather than passively receiving information through lectures or readings. This approach is designed to promote deeper understanding, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and the application of knowledge.
Active learning is rooted in constructivist learning theory, which emphasizes the importance of connecting new information and experiences to prior knowledge and experiences to build new knowledge and understanding. It can also include collaborative and cooperative learning in small groups, which emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer interactions in learning.
Active learning approaches have increased student performance and decreased failure rates, particularly for students from underrepresented and excluded communities.
Assessments that actively involve students in monitoring and assessing their own learning. They help to develop student’s ability to learn effectively and prepares students to be self-directed, reflective, and engaged learners.
