Blended learning

Blended Learning is a blending of different learning methods, techniques and resources and applying them in an interactively meaningful learning environment. Learners should have easy access to different learning resources in order to apply the knowledge and skills they learn under the supervision and support of the teacher inside and outside the classroom. This approach will combine face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction. It also applies science or IT activities with the assistance of innovative educational technologies using computer, cellular or I-phones, Sky TV channels and other electronic media. Learners and teachers work together to improve the quality of learning and teaching, the ultimate aim of blended learning being to provide realistic practical opportunities for learners and teachers to make learning independent, useful, sustainable and ever growing.

Blended learning gives learners and teachers an environment to learn and teach more effectively. Learners can select the best activities to suit their own pace, learning style and level, as well as time and place. Learners can be more independent and self-reliant in their own learning. They can also be more able to take decisions, think creatively and critically, investigate and explore as well as solve problems they face in learning and real life. Meanwhile, teachers can be facilitators, supervisors, assessors, organizers and managers of learning activities, and so should be creative and able to support learners and provide various learning materials in different formats.

Whether a course should be proposed as a face-to-face interaction, an online course or a blended course depends on the analysis of the competences at stake, the nature and location of the audience, and the resources available. Depending on the cross-analysis of these 3 parameters, the course designer will opt for one of the 3 options. In his course scenario he/she will then have to decide which parts are online, which parts are offline. A basic example of this is a course of English as a second language where the instructor reaches the conclusion that all audio-based activities (listening comprehension, oral expression) will take place in the classroom where all text-based activities will take place online (reading comprehension, essays writing).

Blended learning increases the options for greater quality and quantity of human interaction in a learning environment. Blended learning offers learners the opportunity “to be both together and apart.” A community of learners can interact at any time and anywhere because of the benefits that computer-mediated educational tools provide. Blended learning provides a ‘good’ mix of technologies and interactions, resulting in a socially supported, constructive, learning experience; this is especially significant given the profound affect that it could have on distance learning.

Role of the instructor

The instructor can combine two or more methods of teaching method. A typical example of blended learning methodology would be a combination of technology-based materials and face-to-face sessions to present content. An instructor can begin a course with a well-structured introductory lesson in the classroom, and then proceed with follow-up materials online. Blended learning can also be applied to the integration of e-learning with a Learning Management System using computers in a physical classroom, along with face-to-face instruction. Guidance is suggested early in the process, to be used more sparingly as learners gain expertise.

The role of the instructor is critical as this requires a transformation process to that of learning facilitator. Quite often, with the increase of baby boomers going back to school and pursuing higher education the skills required for technology use are limited. Instructors then find themselves more in the role of assisting students with computer skills and applications, helping them access the internet, and encouraging them to be independent learners. Blended learning takes time for both the instructor and learner to adapt to this relatively new instructional concept.

Current usage of the term

With today's prevalence of high technology in many countries, blended learning often refers specifically to the provision or use of resources which combine e-learning (electronic) or m-learning (mobile) with other educational resources. Some would claim that key blended-learning arrangements can also involve e-mentoring or e-tutoring. These arrangements tend to combine an electronic learning component with some form of human interaction, although the involvement of an e-mentor or e-tutor does not necessarily need to be in the context of e-learning. E-mentoring or e-tutoring can also be provided as part of a "stand alone" ("un-blended") e-tutoring or e-mentoring arrangement.

Heinze and Procter have developed the following definition for blended learning in higher education:

Blended learning is learning that is facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of learning, and is based on transparent communication amongst all parties involved with a course.

Some of the advantages of blended learning include; cost effectiveness for both the accrediting learning institution and the learner, accessibility to a post secondary education, and flexibility in scheduling and timetabling of course work. Some of the disadvantages may include; computer and internet access, limited knowledge in the use of technology, study skills, problems which are similar to those who would be entering a physical learning institution.

It should also be noted that some authors talk about "hybrid learning" (this seems to be more common in Northern American sources) or "mixed learning". However, all of these concepts broadly refer to the integration (the "blending") of e-learning tools and techniques.

Blended learning systems and projects

The European Union's Socrates programme is currently funding the development of blended learning courses in nine less widely spoken European languages. The development projects, Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning TOOL are coordinated by the EuroEd Foundation, Iasi, Romania and Autonomous Language Learning ALL coordinated by CNAI, Pamplona, Spain.

Each project is aiming to develop blended learning programmes at A2 'Waystage' level in accordance with the competence descriptors defined in the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

ALL: Romanian, Turkish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian. TOOL: Slovene, Dutch, Hungarian, Estonian, Maltese.

The development is large in terms of size and scope and these may well be the first blended learning courses available in these languages, representing a development for the application of modern communicative language learning techniques in these languages.

The course developments are undertaken by a development team, consisting of several partner institutions, from each country. These institutions include publicly and privately funded universities, and private language learning providers, as well as consulting specialists.

Outside the academic sector, blended learning is being used in private companies, possibly because of the cost benefits over traditional training, though no studies are available which show clear cost savings. One of the earliest commercial offerings in the sector came from Virtual College, which produced a blended learning NVQ system in 1995.

Willow is another platform for creating blended learning courses Willow

Nvolve: http://www.nvolve.net is an approach that blends classroom, online and mobile technologies.

Objections

Martin Oliver and Keith Trigwell voice some objections to the use of the term "Blended Learning". They point out that the term has become a bandwagon for almost any form of teaching containing "two or more different kinds of things that can then be mixed". There is no concensus over what the things are that should be mixed: examples include different media, varying pedagogical approaches, or the mix of theoretical with practical work.

Their main objection is that generally the distinctions being drawn don't exist, or aren't productive. For example, the blending of e-learning with traditional learning implies that there can be an unblended form of e-learning in which no traditional learning occurs.

They also object to the use of the term "learning", when almost all of the focus is on how teaching is deliverered and the implication is that receiving teaching is equivalent to learning.

See also

• Hybrid Course
• Flexible Learning
• E-Learning
• M-learning
• Networked learning
• Virtual education
• Virtual University

External links

• "Autonomous Language Learning" A European Union, government-funded, education project to build blended learning language courses in less frequently taught European languages (Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Lithuanian)].
• "Tool for Online and Offline Language Learning" A European Union, government-funded, education project to design blended learning language courses in less frequently taught European languages (Dutch, Estonian, Hungarian, Maltese, Slovene).
• An Instructional Media Selection Guide for Distance Learning, an official publication of the United States Distance Learning Association (http://www.usdla.org), which contains a section on blended learning. Free download available at: http://www.usdla.org/html/resources/2._USDLA_Instructional_Media_Selection_Guide.pdf
• Liu, G. Z. & Hwang, G. J. (2009). A key step to understanding paradigm shifts in e-learning: towards context-aware ubiquitous learning. British Journal of Educational Technology.