{"id":26,"date":"2019-03-04T17:15:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T22:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/guidetoblendedlearning\/chapter\/chapter-1-blended-learning\/"},"modified":"2020-01-13T16:33:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T21:33:24","slug":"chapter-1-blended-learning","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/guidetoblendedlearning\/chapter\/chapter-1-blended-learning\/","title":{"raw":"CHAPTER 1 : Blended Learning","rendered":"CHAPTER 1 : Blended Learning"},"content":{"raw":"\r\n\r\nThis chapter is an introduction to blended learning: how it is defined, how it emerged, how it is being used and what it has to offer, as well as challenges you may encounter when implementing a blended learning approach in your teaching practice.\r\n

The Growth of Blended Learning<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\nThis guidebook presents new ways of thinking about teaching and learning to help you better prepare your students to learn and develop into 21st-century global citizens.\r\n\r\nAccording to the U.S. Department of Education (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009), a blend of classroom and web-based teaching and learning offers access to the widest range of learning modes and methods for developing student skills and expertise as learners (Cleveland-Innes, 2017). Many findings on blended learning show an increase in learners\u2019 ability to learn collaboratively, think creatively, study independently and tailor their own learning experiences to meet their individual needs.\r\n\r\nThis guidebook also provides information about some of the technology tools you can use to support in-person delivery in a seamless, truly blended way. Through careful, thoughtful blending and with consideration for technological skill levels and Internet access, learning for anyone can now take place with greater flexibility and convenience.\r\n\r\nInnovative educators have for many years been creating new delivery methods in education by combining elements of in-person teaching with technology-enabled learning to bring people together virtually. Since the late 1990s, when simple learning management systems began to emerge, blended learning has grown very quickly. There are now many possible combinations and permutations, but it took time for this to occur.\r\n\r\nWhile computers became part of everyday life for most in the early 2000s, education was slower to integrate computer technology. When it did, technology use was often limited to supplementing the usual teach-by-telling approach. As computers and the Internet demonstrated opportunities \u00a0for connecting people in multiple locations as well as for more interaction, more visuals and greater access to information, innovation increased but in fragmented, uneven ways.\r\n\r\nSoon, Internet connectivity and browser development allowed broader and more user-friendly resources for anyone wanting to learn. Web-based learning replaced CD-ROM materials. \u201cRather than having to distribute CD-ROMs to learners, organizations could simply upload material, e Learning assessments, and assignments via the web, and learners could access them with a click of a mouse button\u201d (Pappas, 2015b).\r\n\r\nToday, computers, tablets and smartphones are available to the majority of the world\u2019s population, and technology-enabled learning has become more varied and accessible. More and more institutions and teachers are adding web-based learning to their delivery methods, and learners have access to many applications to support their learning. The mantra \u201canytime, anywhere\u201d has been taken up to describe the new wave of education. However, this notion is being challenged by education practitioners and researchers, who know that learning competence is not universal, student skills are very different from skills needed to participate in social media, and access to broadband Internet is not evenly distributed.\r\n\r\nTeachers are still a key part of blended learning \u2014 teachers who have subject-matter expertise and <\/em>basic technology skills, along with the new pedagogies that go with technology, such as constructivism and collaboration. Blended learning expertise provides \u00a0both.\r\n

What is Blended Learning?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\nThe simplest definition of the term blended learning <\/em>is the use of traditional classroom teaching methods together with the use of online learning for the same students studying the same content in the same course. It is a \u201cthoughtful fusion of face-to-face and online learning experiences\u201d (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). There are also blended programmes<\/em>, in which students study some courses in face-to-face classrooms and other courses are delivered fully online.\r\n\r\nIn other words, blended learning is a term applied to the practice of providing instruction and learning experiences through some combination of both face-to-face and technology-mediated learning. During the technology-mediated components of these learning experiences, students are not required to be physically together in one place but may be connected digitally through online communities. For example, one blended learning course could involve students attending a class taught by a teacher in a traditional classroom setting while also completing online components of the course independently, outside of the classroom, on an online learning platform.\r\n\r\nClassroom instruction time may be replaced or augmented by online learning experiences, and online learning can include varying degrees of interaction or just time alone in independent study and learning activities. However, in a quality blended learning experience, the content and activities of both in-person and online learning are integrated with one another and work toward the same learning outcomes with the same content. The various learning experiences are synthesised, complement each other, and are planned or orchestrated to run in parallel.\r\n\r\nBlended learning is sometimes called hybrid <\/em>or mixed-mode learning<\/em>. These systems of instructional design use many types of teaching and learning experiences and vary in design and implementation across teachers, programmes and schools. The potential variations of mixed-mode learning are virtually endless; a good way to get a sense of the range of possibilities is to consider some examples:\r\n