National Learning and Teaching Forum - Redefining Blended Learning

BLENDED LEARNING: REDEFINING THE SPACE

Professor Mike KeppellDirector, The Flexible Learning Institute &

Professor of Higher EducationCharles Sturt University

11Thursday, 30 September 2010

OVERVIEW

Assumptions

Principles

Conceptualising the space of this presentation

What is blended learning?

Dimensions of blended learning

Space

Multi-dimensional nature of blended learning


ASSUMPTIONS

Universities value and seek to enhance the skills essential for lifelong and life wide learning, developing graduates who will continue to develop intellectually, professionally and socially beyond the bounds of formal education.

Universities believe that programs, services and teaching methods should be responsive to the diverse cultural, social and academic needs of students, enabling them to adapt to the demands of university education and providing them with the cultural capital for life success.


HIGHER EDUCATION PRINCIPLES

Equivalence of Learning Outcomes ethical obligations

Student Learning Experience traverses physical,

blended and virtual learning spaces

Constructive Alignment

learning outcomes, subject, degree

program, generic attributes

Discipline Pedagogies specific needs of disciplines


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Subject Interactions

Learning Management

System

Pedagogy Learning Spaces

Degree Interactions

Blended Learning

Digital Proficiency


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PERSPECTIVES ON BLENDED LEARNING

Blended learning means that you need to look at the cohort, and the resources, the lesson, curriculum and put it all together. It requires a change of language. I see it as using technology for enhancing learning and it allows you to cater more for differences, for the different needs of the student body (Teaching Fellow, 2008).


PERSPECTIVES ON BLENDED LEARNING

The reason I’m a bit cynical about it (blended learning) is that I think it’s a matter of good teaching that you do... anyway. It’s a bit of a jargon word, I think, but I can understand the need to have it for the increased range of technologies (Teaching Fellow, 2008).

… It’s very, very hard to get people who come on campus to want to do something that’s not face-to-face and it’s very hard to get people who want to be totally flexible and do something at two o’clock in the morning by themselves to actually want to engage with other people (Teaching Fellow, 2008).


BALANCE


FLEXIBLE LEARNING

“Flexible learning” provides opportunities to improve the student learning experience through flexibility in time, pace, place (physical, virtual, on-campus, off-campus), mode of study (print-based, face-to-face, blended, online), teaching approach (collaborative, independent), forms of assessment and staffing. It may utilise a wide range of media, environments, learning spaces and technologies for learning and teaching.


BLENDED & FLEXIBLE LEARNING

“Blended and flexible learning” is a design approach that examines the relationships between flexible learning opportunities, in order to optimise student engagement and equivalence in learning outcomes regardless of mode of study (Keppell, 2010, p. 3).


BLENDED & FLEXIBLE LEARNING

Course/degree-Level blending

Subject-Level Blending

Activity-Level Blending

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PARADIGMS OF BLENDED LEARNING

Enabling blendsAccess and equity

Enhancing blendsIncremental changes to the pedagogy Transforming blendsTransformation of the pedagogy


ACTIVITY-LEVEL BLENDING IN PRACTICE

Instructor Role Student Role

Resources (Content)

Resources (Services) Assessment

Off-line

Allocate reading. Ask students to read required

reading and post summary in LMS

Read respective

chapterReading

Some discussion

about topic in face-to-face

class

Online Facilitator

Post a one paragraph summary

and comment

on two other posts

Student and instructor posts in

discussion forum

Discussion forum

Feedback from peers in online

discussion. Feedback from

instructor in online

discussion forum.


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Subject Interactions

Learning Management

System

Pedagogy Learning Spaces

Degree Interactions

Blended Learning

Digital Proficiency


SUBJECT & DEGREE INTERACTIONS

Information access (degree and subject expectations)

Interactive learning (learner-to-content interactions)

Networked learning (learner-to-learner; learner-to-teacher interactions)

Student-generated content (learner-as-designers; assessment-as-learning interactions)

(Herrington & Oliver 2001).


LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

e.g. Moodle, Sakai, Blackboard

Information access tools (e.g. subject outline)

Interactive learning tools (e.g. simulation)

Networked learning tools (e.g. forums, chats)

Student-generated content tools (e.g. digital stories)


PEDAGOGY

Independent learning

Peer learning

Authentic interactions

Learning-oriented assessment (feedback-as-feedforward)

Learning outcomes


DIGITAL PROFICIENCY

Multi-literacies

Information literacy

ICT literacy

e-facilitation strategies

e-moderation strategies

Focussed on teaching staff and students


LEARNING SPACES


LEARNING SPACES

Physical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that enhance learning

Physical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that motivate learners

Spaces where both teachers and students optimize the perceived and actual affordances of the space

Spaces that promote authentic learning interactions

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DIVERSITY OF LEARNING SPACES

Physical Virtual

Formal Informal InformalFormal

Blended

Mobile Personal

Outdoor Professional Practice


FORMAL & INFORMAL SPACES


FacebookFlickr

YouTubeTwitter

I

FormalFormal

Informal

Informal Virtual Learning Spaces

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Formal Virtual Learning Spaces

Informal

Moodle Sakai

Blackboard


PERSONAL LEARNING SPACES


FLEXIBILITY OF LEARNING SPACES

Flexible learning and teaching spaces allow adaptability over time for different uses. Spaces need to be used for students who are both physically present and students who never visit the campus. In addition homes, cars, buses, hotels, cafes become mobile spaces where the student undertakes learning. Studying subject materials while travelling to work via train or bus may represent the learning space for some students


Learning Space Affordance Example

Residential School

Practical workPeer interaction

Sense of belonging to university

Practical work on IT networks

Practiceauthentic learning

community of practicementor/mentee

applied learning in discipline

Learning Commons Informal learning 24/7Discussion about

lecturePeer learning


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Tools Affordance

Learning Management Systems (Moodle, Sakai, Blackboard)

information access, interactive learning, networked learning, student-

generated content

Teleconferences, videoconferences, Skype synchronous

Podcasts, vodcasts asynchronous

Web-conferencing tools (e.g. elluminate, wimba) participation

web 2.0 tools (YouTube, Facebook, blogs, wikis, Twitter, Flickr, etc)

social networking, student-generated content


REDEFINING THE SPACE31


http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/flexible-learning/

http://www.ascilite.org.au/




http://www.ascilite.org.au

http://www.ascilite.org.au

National Learning and Teaching Forum - Redefining Blended Learning

Education

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