Blended Learning

I am involved in yet another academic experiment, blended learning. Truly, this is only a buzz word, like "active learning" or "experiential learning" or any number of other phrases for common sense pedagogy...or more importantly, andragogy. All that jazz has to do with making learning engaging, memorable, fun, etc...and that's what I'd be doing even if I were sans computer. I always have made efforts to make learning palatable for all comers. (I do not always succeed, but I do try.)

Blended Learning is the practice of integrating tools of distance learning and face-to-face technique. I'm sure there are better definitions out there. For me, it is something I've practiced since I first started teaching online and via tele-courses and interactive television. Students are responsible for book-learnin' and for all manner of content absorption outside of/in advance of class. (I made a big deal of this during the first week this term, and a guy asked, "Mr. J, aren't you talking about...homework?" ...and yes I am.) When together in person, we then have the opportunity to share, digest, practice, work together, etc. in any variety of exercises, etc. to enhance, reinforce, restate, etc. what should be happening outside the classroom.

Leave it to my sick, twisted way of thinking. The first thing coming to mind when blended anything is mentioned is the classic bass-o-matic commercial.



Recently, I have had two sections of class that has "gone blended" and I hope never to go back. While students have been slow taking hold of it, those who do seem thrilled. The strategy reminds me of a format my old history prof used, lectures twice weekly (in which he had masses of students and he did not know/care who was there) and then a recitation/discussion break out every other week. The accountability was high in those small sessions, and I would say my learning was far accelerated via that venue than any other in my college experience. (It was over twenty years ago, so no high-tech distance learning technology allowed him to do anything but lecture to drive out content, back then. Now we have online learning management systems, like ANGEL, WebCT, Blackboard, etc. Now we have podcasting, TeacherTube, etc...what Dr. Linder could have done with all that!)

I, too, hope to amp up the accountability and learning curve in those face-to-face sessions. I hope that they will learn to come loaded for bear. I hope they will stump me daily. I, as stated all over this blog, hope to be their coach, and if they show up to practice all hot for English, well then, we can get something accomplished.

Getting folks there, primed, is the trick.

I hope to post more on this in the future as my adventures in Blended Learning continue.