I've put a fair amount of thought into my approach to blended learning with regard to tailoring my existing materials for my e-learning site. Part of the reason I chose the subject I did was because my lesson prep was already intended for sharing online via the university's Moodle VLE.
While the materials were already VLE-friendly, the VLE in question served the module more as a repository, hosting notes and documents. It wasn't necessarily suitable for a fully blended learning module, so there would still need to be some adaptation to make it fit better.
This begs the question: what actually is my approach going to be? What sort of synergies am I hoping to gain from adopting the blended approach for this module? What advantages will I gain by hosting content in an e-learning site with regards to this specific subject?
According to JISC (LTSN, 2003), a VLE's main elements are:
In many ways my choice of subject fits right in with the e-learning paradigm, almost to the point of self-reference. I'm creating a syllabus about the development of websites, to be displayed on a website. Further than that, the platform we are using is entirely web-based, so I'm making a website using a website about making websites. Marvellous.
Meta humour aside, the nature of the subject does kind of demand an appropriate use of the web. Failure to leverage the advantages on offer would strike me as a major missed opportunity and a waste of the technology.
One target I am aiming for with my approach is to lessen the 'home and away' effect of a mixed physical/digital syllabus. Many e-learning sites (including our own Moodle implementation at work) don't really take advantage of the opportunities available. They drive a wedge between the two concepts, casting the online element to the background reduced to a file dump and reference for students when they get back home. If they are integrated into a lesson at all it is as a fileserver to download the exercise files beforehand.
True blended learning should, I feel, incorporate the digital element directly into the lesson, and not just so they have the presentation open on their screens. When I'm delivering the lecture, tutorial or whatever I want the students to have this e-learning site open on their computers, using its contents as part of the narrative. As I explain a concept to them they have an interactive example in front of them, as they try out the exercises they can do so without leaving the site. When learners do get home they can pick up where they left off, with the only difference being the absence of the tutor.
What I don't want my site to do is entirely replace the experience of being taught in a physical place. This is not distance learning, the subject teaching should still be centred on the tutor, with lessons and support happening face-to-face. The e-learning site should be a utility to delivery, then a support site for learners at home, in that order. Technically, with a bit of self-led research a student should be able to cover all the indicative content of the module without showing up to lessons, just by virtue of all the materials being available online, but the true learning value of the module should require the direct presence of the tutor.
While the materials were already VLE-friendly, the VLE in question served the module more as a repository, hosting notes and documents. It wasn't necessarily suitable for a fully blended learning module, so there would still need to be some adaptation to make it fit better.
This begs the question: what actually is my approach going to be? What sort of synergies am I hoping to gain from adopting the blended approach for this module? What advantages will I gain by hosting content in an e-learning site with regards to this specific subject?
According to JISC (LTSN, 2003), a VLE's main elements are:
- mapping of the curriculum into elements (or ‘chunks’) that can be assessed and recorded
- tracking of student activity and achievement against these elements
- support of online learning, including access to learning resources, assessment and guidance
- online tutor support
- peer group support
- general communications, including email, group discussion and web access links to other systems, both in-house and externally
In many ways my choice of subject fits right in with the e-learning paradigm, almost to the point of self-reference. I'm creating a syllabus about the development of websites, to be displayed on a website. Further than that, the platform we are using is entirely web-based, so I'm making a website using a website about making websites. Marvellous.
Meta humour aside, the nature of the subject does kind of demand an appropriate use of the web. Failure to leverage the advantages on offer would strike me as a major missed opportunity and a waste of the technology.
One target I am aiming for with my approach is to lessen the 'home and away' effect of a mixed physical/digital syllabus. Many e-learning sites (including our own Moodle implementation at work) don't really take advantage of the opportunities available. They drive a wedge between the two concepts, casting the online element to the background reduced to a file dump and reference for students when they get back home. If they are integrated into a lesson at all it is as a fileserver to download the exercise files beforehand.
True blended learning should, I feel, incorporate the digital element directly into the lesson, and not just so they have the presentation open on their screens. When I'm delivering the lecture, tutorial or whatever I want the students to have this e-learning site open on their computers, using its contents as part of the narrative. As I explain a concept to them they have an interactive example in front of them, as they try out the exercises they can do so without leaving the site. When learners do get home they can pick up where they left off, with the only difference being the absence of the tutor.
What I don't want my site to do is entirely replace the experience of being taught in a physical place. This is not distance learning, the subject teaching should still be centred on the tutor, with lessons and support happening face-to-face. The e-learning site should be a utility to delivery, then a support site for learners at home, in that order. Technically, with a bit of self-led research a student should be able to cover all the indicative content of the module without showing up to lessons, just by virtue of all the materials being available online, but the true learning value of the module should require the direct presence of the tutor.
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