Reading: ‘Best Practices for Use of Blended Learning’

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So I’m thinking about blended learning again. Why? well, why not? It’s not just about the purely ‘online’ is it? One thing I had to do, in getting my brain considering the ‘blended’ approach again after all this time was to differentiate between the ‘flipped classroom’ and ‘blended’ approach.

So I started reading again, and found this aricle (one of many): Best Practices for Use of Blended Learning.

“Blended learning courses, or courses incorporating both online and face-to-face activities, often require more preparation time outside of the classroom for students than traditional face-to-face courses. Blended learning is effective, and students often see the benefit in using a blended learning approach. However, when multiple courses become blended, the amount of out-of-class time needed for preparation may become excessive and overwhelming to manage for students.”

This bit struck me, really hard .. “when multiple courses become blended, the amount of out-of-class time needed for preparation may become excessive and overwhelming to manage for students.” How often do we consider the student experience across a module, sometimes even a semester (2 or 3 modules), but across the whole course (1-4 years)? Ouch.

I found this list the authors produced really interesting, a list of ten instructional ‘best practice/recommendations’ from their research. These being;

  1. Setting the stage
  2. Consistency when team teaching
  3. Timeliness in posting materials
  4. Time on task
  5. Accountability for online activities
  6. Use of structured active learning
  7. Instructor use of feedback on student preparation
  8. Incorporation of student feedback into the course
  9. Short reviews of online material during class
  10. Ensuring technologies are user friendly.

Reference
Margolis, A. R., Porter, A. L., & Pitterle, M. E. (2017). Best Practices for Use of Blended Learning. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 81(3), 49.

Image source: EdTech Stanford University School of Medicine
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