What is Blended Learning?

In its simplest sense, blended learning refers to a course with both online and in-person elements. In a blended learning environment, online components are used to support and complement in-person components, and vice versa. Importantly, blended learning integrates online with face-to-face instruction in an intentional, pedagogically-informed manner, rather than simply adding or ‘trading off’ online with face-to-face content and activities (or vice versa) (Niemiec & Otte, 2005).

Watch the video below to learn more about what blended learning is. Consider how you would explain the term “blended learning” to a colleague or student unfamiliar with it, and how you might consider “blended learning” in the context of your course or discipline.If you want to, you can note your response in Section 1 – What is Blended Learning? of your worksheet.

• Video Transcript

As described in the previous “What is blended learning” video”, there are three types or structured formats of blended learning that you might consider when approaching blended course design: flipped, hybrid, and HyFlex classrooms. Tab through the figure below to learn more about the differentiating features of each type of blend and for some basic examples of how these blends might be used in higher education.

Whether you are building a blended course from scratch or looking to blend elements of existing in-person and online courses, course design is key. Starting with your intended learning outcomes, consider how instructional strategies, learning activities, and assessments will come together to support student learning, and how you will use a blend of in-person and online elements to create an integrated learning experience for your students.

If you are working from an existing in-person course, it can be tempting to try and directly translate the existing content, activities, and assessments into online modes of delivery (or vice versa). While we encourage you to re-use as much of any existing courseware as possible, please note that, sometimes, a direct translation or replication across modes is not feasible. Likewise, incorporating a blend into an existing in-person course is not as simple as just adding online elements (and thereby creating a ‘course-and-a-half’ with more work for both you and your students) (McGee & Reis, 2012).

• Before continuing, please take a few moments to describe your course in Section 2 – Course Design: Teaching Context of the worksheet. If you are not sure which blended approach or model you will use, do not fret! You can return to this after considering your course components and how you will deliver and integrate them across modalities.

Strategies for Integrating Online & In-person Components

This page collates some tips, ideas and suggestions for optimizing the integration of your online and in-person course components. Click on each subheading to expand the sections, each containing ideas, suggestions or questions to consider as well as resources if you want to learn more.

As you work through this content, please reflect on the questions in Section 4 – Integrating Online & In-Person Components of your worksheet, noting down your responses:

• What do you foresee as the biggest advantage(s) of your chosen approach?
• What do you foresee will be a difficulty or challenge(s) of the approach, and how might you mitigate these challenges?
  • What communication strategies will you apply and how?
  • What tools will you use and why?

Then, map out some of the course components (i.e., content, activities, and assessments) you identified in Section 3 – Course Design: Component Modalities of your worksheet using the provided table. Use the strategies and tools you identified to help you plan for integration.

Storyboarding Your Blended Course

Now that you have considered your general course design and practical considerations for implementing blended learning across various mode(s) of delivery, we will introduce a method for building out your course and applying these considerations in more detail.

You can use a storyboard or narrative weekly schedule to illustrate the sequence of content, learning activities, and assessments that your students will follow for each week or module. In your storyboard, you will also consider through which modality (or modalities) the content and activities will be delivered and the general sequence that students will follow from week to week.

A storyboard will help you understand the whole picture of your course, rather than the specific details of each content item, activity, or assessment. Understanding the “whole picture” of your course and the learning experience that students will follow as they progress from week to week in your course will allow you to take a student-centred approach to course design, and reflect on how the various elements of your course come together to support student learning.

Storyboarding is a time-intensive and iterative process. While we encourage you to continue designing your blended course with a storyboard in mind, we recognize that this is not a feasible task to achieve in the context of this workshop.

Please download this storyboard template for you to use – or not use! – at your discretion. You may also wish to check out “Storyboarding Your Course” for a step-by-step approach.

Thank you for joining us in this workshop on Effective Teaching Strategies for Blended Learning! We hope that you now have a good understanding of what “blended learning” is and the different types or models for structing a blended course. We also hope that you are walking away from this workshop with some considerations of strategies and tools that you might apply to your blended teaching practice.

Key Takeaways

1. Blended learning has several levels and formats, ranging from almost completely online with only an in-person lab/practical component to a flexible blend of online and in-person components with options for students to choose their preferred environment for lectures or tutorials.
2. Regardless of where on this spectrum you find your course to be most suitable, certain principles and strategies apply equally across the different formats to promote a common standard of accessibility, communication and assessment.
3. Storyboarding is a technique that enables the instructor to gain a “big-picture” understanding the purpose of your course and which modalities best support the intended learning outcomes. This exercise is a way to effectively and efficiently integrate pre-existing components you may have available from previous in-person or online teaching experiences and materials.