Blended learning

What is it?

This term is generally applied to learning and teaching that occurs both face-to-face and through an online interface. The majority of the courses on which I teach have this blend of approaches to a greater or lesser degree. Most of the PGDE and MA modules are face-to-face with materials collated onto the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE) My Dundee to provide further exemplification of ideas and concepts discussed in lectures and workshops or to provide a place to share and store helpful resources and suggestions for practice.

The M.Ed modules use the online environment more extensively, providing opportunities for the students to communicate with each other and their tutor in a collaborative way and to engage in the majority of their learning online.

According to TeachThought (2013, no page) using technology in blended learning should ‘not just supplement, but transform and improve the learning process’. It could therefore be argued that the ‘taught’ Education programmes do not blend learning as technology is often used to supplement not transform learning and indeed the M.Ed ‘distance learning’ programmes probably do not fit TeachThought’s definition either in that there is a lack of face-to-face contact and therefore limited opportunities to develop strong, purposeful communities of learning. How my colleagues and I use the VLE is effective and utilises the majority of its functionality, however, it cannot really be described as blended learning, yet!

Why blend learning?

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2010) studies contrasting blended learning (online and face-to-face instruction) with face-to-face instruction have shown blended learning to be more effective, whilst using online learning or face-to-face instruction singly are no more or less effective than each other. Torrisi-Steele and Drew (2013), however, identify that whilst some studies did agree with the U.S. Department of Education’s contentions, there were no comprehensive explorations of the reasons for the noted effectiveness; for example, the teaching strategies employed or the quality of resources. The U.S. Department of Education’s meta-analysis and review of online learning goes on to identify that online learning which has a collaborative aspect, whether that be with other students or with a tutor, is more effective than independent online learning (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).  The above arguments provide a reason for blending learning but not necessarily a clear picture as to whether the main reason for the effectiveness of blended learning is the ‘blend’ of the learning or whether there are other issues at play.

Torrisi-Steele and Drew (2013, p. 378) suggest that blended learning needs to ‘exploit the attributes of technology and face-to-face teaching… to achieve enriched learning experiences or perhaps create better learning experiences not possible through the use of face-to-face teaching or technology alone’. Whilst their research clearly emphasises how transformational blended learning can be they raise some important issues regarding the ability of staff to use technology to enhance learning and teaching not just supplement it. Hew and Cheung (2014) agree, saying ‘It is not sufficient to merely put course contents on a web site for students to download for a blended-learning course to be successful’ (Hew and Cheung, 2014, p. 5). One of the main issues Torrisi-Steele and Drew (2013) highlight surrounds academics having to expand their knowledge of the technological tools and appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of these tools. Alongside this the introduction of technological tools often requires a complete overhaul of teaching strategies and course design to take account of different modes of delivery and assessment and this is no easy task.

So how could I use blended learning and what benefits would it bring?

In terms of blending learning I have already started to integrate aspects of online learning into my learning activities. The next step is to structure this learning to provide meaningful, integrated activities which use technology for a purpose rather than just a fancy way of collecting information or sharing course content. In considering key activity 3 (see appendix 4), the use of technology has to also incorporate students taking an active role in their own learning and being co-creators of it. For this to be manageable and relevant for everyone then using technology to facilitate tutor-directed tasks (TDTs) in the form of a Glow blog seems a sensible place to begin and for my guinea pigs to be my secondary mathematics students. My reasons for choosing my secondary mathematics students are three-fold: they will be a small group that I can support and monitor more easily; I see them regularly throughout the academic year and therefore this can be become an iterative process of change and improvement; and anything they do using an online learning space contained in Glow can be used as evidence towards their Standards for Provisional Registration (SPR) and continued when they leave university to be used for their professional update.

References

Assessment Reform Group (1999) Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box. Cambridge: University of Cambridge School of Education.

Education Scotland (no date) Curriculum for Excellence: Principles for curriculum design. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/thecurriculum/howisthecurriculumorganised/principles/index.asp (Accessed: 13 June 2016).

General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) (2012) Standards for Registration [Online]. Available at: http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/FILES/the-standards/standards-for-registration-1212.pdf (Accessed: 14 June 2016).

Grow, Gerald O. (1991/1996) ‘Teaching Learners to be Self-Directed’, Adult Education Quarterly, 41 (3), pp.125-149. Expanded version available online at: <http://www.longleaf.net>.

Hannan, A. (2001) ‘Changing Higher Education: teaching, learning and institutional cultures’, Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, Leeds, 13 September. University of Leeds. Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001855.htm (Accessed: 13 June 2016).

Healey, M., Bovill, C. and Jenkins, A. (2015) ‘Students as partners in learning’, in Lea, J. (ed.) (2015) Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Maidenhead: OUP.

Hew, K.F. and Cheung, W. S. (2014) Using Blended Learning: Evidenced-Based Practices. Singapore: Springer.

TeachThought (2013) The Definition of Blended Learning. Available at: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/blended-flipped-learning/the-definition-of-blended-learning/ (Accessed: 16 June 2016).

Torrisi-Steele, G. and Drew, S. (2013) ‘The Literature Landscape of Blended Learning in Higher Education: the Need for Better Understanding of Academic Blended Practice’, International Journal for Academic Development, 18(4), pp. 371-383.