What works in Blended Learning?

[Azim Ahmed]

Bersin and Associates provide you with a free paper on "What works in Blended Learning". If you as a teacher are interested in finding out more about eLearning then you will be surprised to know that 'Blended Learning' is replacing 'eLearning' as the next big thing. Download the attached free paper on what works in blended learning...

[Simon Brown]

I haven't even got the hang of e-learning, now I have to leapfrog it into b-learning like a frog into a blender

I downloaded Flock 9.0 into my classroom computer - cool new features

[Azim Ahmed]

Tell me about it Simon - we are moving towards Web 4.0 now (that is if you haven't already heard of it!) - just when I thought I'd come to terms with Web 2.0. But I know the 'frog in the blender' feeling ;-)

[Jared]

I'm going to read over this report in more detail later today but my first impression is that it is a buzz word that will only confuse teachers. The principles behind the paper are inherent in a classroom environment. You guys are probably the model for this kind of thinking so I wouldn't put too much weight on it. It looks to me like "b-learning" is saying you should use the web as a study tool, but introductions and assessment belong to the class. I seriously doubt that's any different than what you're already doing.

When I go over this later today I'll take a serious look at the source and the methods.

[Azim Ahmed]

Thanks for the insight Jared. The usual trend with blearning is to adopt the best methodology available regardless of what kind of course intros and assessments the topic would relate to. I see you point though and if that is the focus then we need to ensure teachers understand the meaning of a good 'blend' :-) Look forward to your views on the paper.

[Jared]

I read this report much more closely and i think I understand what blearning is much more completely. Most of the insights they have are fairly enlightening, but I still think that they need to be taken with a grain of salt. I'll try to go more in depth into what I mean by that.

Blearning is designed for a cooperate environment that is very different than a standard educational environment. I think vocational education is probably somewhere in between standard and corporate education. My reaction to this article, then, is that it's something that is probably worth considering for your purpose but the way they're talking about things can be deceptive. A large portion of this article is focused on determining cost benefits for industry that is so economically developed that a $75,000 educational program is cheep. You also have to consider that these companies are only trying to get a few concepts across to their employees so that they perform better. This isn't the case in most educational programs where you're trying to get a great deal of information across to students on a shoe string. The case studies they're using don't correlate with educational institutions.

While I disagree that the data is relevant to vocational education I think their resultant methods are worth considering because of the close relationship vocational education seems to have towards industry. Understanding technology may be important for the sheer fact that it enables students to use these educational methods implemented by industry. Vocational educators can also reflect on the way many universities have implemented online courses and learning tools. The University in my town uses an online chemistry lab so students can play with chemicals outside of the lab in a way similar to what this article on Blearning has described.

So, I think what is key to take from this article is that educators are well aided by technology when tools are built that reinforce specific skill sets if a specific skill set is the educational objective. This leads to a very appropriate question:

What would software look like that supports your specific educational efforts? If you hired these guys to write software for you, that's the first question they would try and answer. This article sets you up to start wondering and that's why they make the big bucks.