Blended Learning

 

Maybe its just coincidence, well of course it is, but this week seems to have been full of requests and postings coming my way on blended online learning. 

It all seemed to start off with a request to convert some course options for one of the professional programmes to being fully online, in fact students could in theory even take just the online course as part of professional development anyway, and it was that possibility that raised a whole raft of other considerations. So first off, what are the considerations for moving from class based to online delivery, well I have talked about that a lot over the years on this blog, particular the move away from class support materials written in Word to something more eLearning compliant and for that we have been making very successful use of Wimba Create for some time now, I can recommend it. We soon realised however that an online course should have online payment, online enrolment and of course following that, seamless access to the actual Moodle course itself, all through a new web page on our college website. As you will I am sure know, if you have been through this one yourselves, it very soon gets complicated. However it seems not beyond realisation, as online payment and registration has already been successfully tested, and it appears is in need of an early trial, well here it is then, and we move on, great. So this was not so much actually doing from my perspective, but connecting.

 

Getting back to those blended learning postings that I mentioned earlier, the first was headed ‘Navigating the Digital Shift:Implementation Strategies For Blended And Online Learning’ by John Bailey, Carri Schneider, Tom Vander Ark.

While written around the Common Core standard, this little eBook is well worth downloading , though I confess that I am yet to read through all 270 pages of it, so I will be including my usual chapter breakdown. The clear and  central role of enduring commitment required to get these processes in place in order to realise the potential benefits makes for a refreshing read,  rather than the all to often throwing of technology at a very long term need and the inevitable consequences I seem to come across in postings. Please free to reply on this one.

 

 

Finally, if you find yourself being pushed for justify a blended learning option, then this posting

‘7 Top Blended Learning Benefits For Corporate Training’ from Litmos.com and by Christopher Pappas may be just what you are looking for,  providing as is does a brief and concise outline under the following heading:-

1. It offers the best of both worlds. 

2. It enhances corporate training effectiveness.

3. It simplifies corporate training logistics.

4. It is cost-effective.

5. It allows your employees to have control over their training.

6. It enhances employees soft skills.

7. It facilitates corporate training feedback.

 

hope you find it useful , and that’s all for now, but please feel free to comment and you may like to follow my Twitter feed Hash Tag SkipperAbel.