Blended Learning:towards a meaning for today

Blended Learning Literature Review

01 March 2006

History

A sense of déjà vu• 1986 WEA, Ruskin College and the Open University blended learning

programme for adults, without qualifications, returning to education• a mix of distance (DL) and face-to-face (f2f) learning: evening/weekend

courses with residential learning sessions and distance learning support• summer schools and monthly tutorial-group meetings were typical f2f

interventions in a predominantly DL mix• 1990s corporate training

• short courses blended with pre-course readings and post course activities such as action-learning sets and project-based learning teams

• course participants receive electronic materials (i.e. spreadsheet-based project finance models, trading simulations, technical process modelling, etc.), on portable media, initially floppy disk and later CD and eventually through web services

• 2000 web-based DL and training is “blended back” with supplementary printed manuals and optional f2f seminars (“at a location near you”)

Driscoll

Four meanings of blended learning

• To combine or mix modes of Web-based technology • e.g., live virtual classroom, self-paced instruction, collaborative learning,

streaming video, audio, and text to accomplish an educational goal.

• To combine various pedagogical approaches• e.g., constructivism, behaviorism, cognitivism to produce an optimal

learning outcome with or without instructional technology.

• To combine any form of instructional technology • e.g., videotape, CD-ROM, Web-based training, film with face-to-face

instructor-led training.

• To mix or combine instructional technology with actual job tasks in order to create a harmonious effect of learning and working.

Oliver and Trigwell

Three meanings (drawing on Driscoll, Harrison, and Whitelock and Jelfs):

1. the integrated combination of traditional learning with web-based online approaches...;

2. the combination of media and tools employed in an e-learning environment; and

3. the combination of a number of pedagogic approaches, irrespective of learning technology use..

Hoyle

• The mix is in the diversity of people that can be blended

• I would also want to widen access to all those other learning activities. I want sales and customer services staff, shop floor production workers, nurses, support workers and people from all levels within our organisations to benefit from properly structured inputs from skilled coaches, to have a chance to be part of an action learning set and to benefit from supported work-based projects where the learning gained from the task is more important than the output of the task itself.

Valiathan

Focus for learning, or ‘intended’ learning:

1. skill-driven learning, which combines self-paced learning with instructor or facilitator support to develop specific knowledge and skills;

2. attitude-driven learning, which mixes various events and delivery media to develop specific behaviours; and

3. competency-driven learning, which blends performance support tools with knowledge management resources and mentoring to develop workplace competencies.

McShane

Temporal dimension

• learning technologies enable blending synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning

Schrittesser

• blending an apprenticeship approach to learning with a reflexive approach to learning

QAA

This model considers three modalities.

• Collaboration is the extent to which the learning programme is dependent on learners working together to learn or work individually.

• Collocation is the extent to which the learning programme is advanced and propagated through face to face sessions where the learners are gathered in a room for lectures or seminars, or through distributed (distance) learning.

• Computerisation is the extent to which information and communication technologies (ICT) is used in the learning programme

Blended learning: 3-Chi collocationhi collaboration traditional laboratorylo computerisation

hi collocation whiteboards in classroomshi collaboration virtual field tripshi computerisation

lo collocation CACL, online forumshi collaboration “Learning to teach online”hi computerisation

hi collocationlo collaboration video link lecturehi computerisation

lo collocationlo collaboration “traditional” DLlo computerisation

lo collocationlo collaboration CBT traininghi computerisation

Mode 1 – baseline course administration and learner support (e-LearningStrategy Action 6a)

q Baseline course administration and learner support (chosen from thefollowing): use web to distribute course information and carry out courseadministration, e.g. aims and objectives, assessment criteria/proformas, pastexam questions and model answers/assessment sheets, timetablingannouncements, reading lists, tutor contact details, course evaluation tools,FAQs, additional web resources, links to field level resources, course/modulehandbook, lecture notes.

Mode 2 – blended learning leading to significant enhancements to learning andteaching processes

q Communication q Assessment and feedback

Provide improved tutor-student,student-student communications,mainly using discussion boards oremail. Enable students, especiallyin disparate groupings andlocations, to exchange information,ask questions and discuss issuesrelating to the course.

Provide improved feedback tostudents on their learning viacomputer assisted assessment foreither formative (self-assessmentand monitoring of progress) orsummative (examination andgrading) purposes or both. Mayinvolve electronic setting,submission and return of studentassignments using digital artefactsand proformas where objectivetesting inappropriate.

q Collaboration q Quality learning material

Provide a platform for collaborativestudent projects, involving sharedresponsibility for resources andoutcomes. Students usecommunication tools and shareddirectory to collaborate on taskprocesses and outcomes.

Develop flexible access to highquality, reusable learning content,which may include structuredgateways to web and otherresources with accompanying self-paced independent learningactivities, interactive tutorials withfeedback, simulations, study andlearning skills resources andactivities fostering independentlearning.

Mode 3 – on-line course/module

q Develop course/module primarily on-line, incorporating all or most of theabove, for flexible delivery, allowing learners to learn at times and places oftheir choosing. Likely to include learning materials, communication betweentutor and students, assessment and monitoring of progress, learner supportand course administration.

Modes of Engagement

Mode 1: baseline admin and support

Mode 2: Blended Learning

Mode 3: FDL

Summary

This leaves us with the possibility of blending

• delivery different modes (face-to-face and distance education)

• technology mixtures of (web based) technologies

• locus authentic/work-based and class-room based learning

• pedagogy different pedagogical approaches

• chronology synchronous and a-synchronous interventions

• roles multi-disciplinary groupings of learners

• focus different aims

• direction instructor-directed vs. learner-directed

Blended learning is ubiquitous

• most standard practices in post compulsory education now involve a mixture of approaches

• providers of face-to-face training enhanced their courses with on-line elements and preserve the values of the face-to-face experience

• providers of distance-learning courses converged on a blended model from the other direction, offering optional printed manuals and supplementary face-to-face workshops

2 different conclusions

Driscoll

• The point is that blended learning means different things to different people, which illustrates its widely untapped potential

Oliver and Trigwell

• The fact that this model is already prevalent within practice in higher education means that the term is redundant

A reason for the acceptance of blended learning

Innovation fatigue• The past ten years have seen institutional learning and teaching

practice impacted upon heavily by learning technologies. • e-mail, portals, virtual learning environments, computer aided

assessment• If e-learning is reified as unidirectional, transmissive, computer-based

learning, • any "blend" is bound to find greater acceptance by academics• anything that allows non-e into the blend is more acceptable than

all e• Blended learning

• preserves "... pleasurable opportunities we have for face to face contact with our students."

• makes "... person-centered learning and teaching more effective and feasible by enriching it with elements of computer-supported learning"

The problem

• When we try to pin down the meaning of any modification of the term “learning”

• e-learning

• blended learning

• distance learning

• work-based learning

• etc

• we will ultimately have to address what is understood by learning

Theories of Learning

1. Associative, whereby people learn by association• initially through basic stimulus-response conditioning, later through the

capacity to associate concepts in a chain of reasoning, or to associate steps in a chain of activity to build a composite skill

2. Cognitive constructivist, whereby people learn by active construction of ideas and building of skills

• through exploration, experimentation, receiving feedback, and adapting themselves accordingly. Cognitive constructivity leads to integration of concepts and skills into the learner’s existing conceptual or competency structures.

3. Social constructivist whereby people and groups learn with the support of dialogue and in the process of collaborative activity.

4. Situativist, whereby people learn through participation in communities of practice

• progressing from novice to expert through observation, reflection, mentorship, and legitimate peripheral participation in community activities. Situativity leads to the development of habits, values, identities and skills that are relevant to and supported by that community.

(from Beetham)

Theories of Knowledge

1. Positivism: the “traditional” empirical-idealist view• Reality is objectively “out there”• Positivists aim to construct value-free laws arguing from the observation of

phenomena to the creation of theories (the specific to the general) in order subsequently to explain other phenomena through deductive reasoning (general to specific), rules and procedures. ...

2. Social perspective: the new orthodoxy (Goodman, 2003)• Knowledge is emergent rather than given or discoverable, it arises from

social practice and is constructed.• There is variation in what is known and how it is known and this variation is

context-dependent. ...3. Tacit communitarianism

1. Commonsense epistemology of normalisation which adopts forms from both the social perspective and positivism in order to reproduce a culture through its many tacit codes. ...

• New critical (post-foundational) approach • Acknowledges the cognitive disconnect in much learning and teaching

practice. Learners assert their desire for student-centred programmes, yet ask, “is it on the exam?”

(from, Oliver, Roberts, Huggins)

Leads to more blending…

• Learning styles

• Associative, Cognitive Constructivist, Social Constructivist, Situative

• Approaches to knowledge construction

• Positivist, Social Perspective, Tacit Communitarian, New Critical

but … simply hides the politics of the situation

Blend of covert and overt curricula• Overt curriculum of the industrial era

• “3 Rs”: reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic.• Covert curriculum

• punctuality, tolerance of repetition and subordination• compliance important for the functioning of industry

• Overt curricula are presented as being beneficial for all.• Covert curricula benefit particular positions

• dominant elites or their powerful oppositional forces...

• Overt benefits of e-learning • flexibility, community and individualisation

• Covert possibilities, against• flexibility, a return to piecework and insecurity. • communitarian, normalisation and a re-expression of hierarchies.• individualisation, tolerance to surveillance and a willingness to surrender

personal information to anonymous, autonomous agents

10 Dimensions of blended learning

• delivery

• technology

• locus

• pedagogy

• chronology

• roles

• focus

• learning

• knowledge

• politics

Thank you!Thank you!

Benchmarking at Brookes

groberts@brookes.ac.uk+44 (0) 1865 484871+44 (0) 7711 698465http://www.brookes.ac.uk/virtual/http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/