Going Blended: How can I start using the blended approach?
Did you get inspired to go blended with your course, but you don’t know how to get started? Or maybe you don’t know yet what it means to go blended in practical terms. It starts with choosing whether you want to start small or go big.
What is the blended approach?
When using the blended approach, you will rethink when, how, and where teaching and learning will happen. The purpose of this approach is to make the most out of time, location, educational tools, learning activities, feedback, and assessment types. The focus is on designing the following interactions more consciously and efficiently to (better) achieve the learning objectives of your course: student-student interaction, student-content interaction, and student-lecturer interaction. Going blended is about making the most out of the time you and your students have to achieve the learning objectives. It both integrates feedback to students to improve their study performance and feedback from students to improve your course performance.
Either start small
Take a step-by-step approach and introduce small blended learning activities in your course. These can be to solve specific problems related to your course or achieve a goal. For example, “how can I teach to a larger group of students”, “how can I balance the workload of my students and give them clear instructions”, “how can I increase the student engagement”. These are some of the questions you can answer by introducing small adjustments to your course and slowly work your way up the ladder of improvement. These small interventions can already improve your lectures and can potentially support you in the long run on going big. Contact your Faculty Blended Learning Developer for tips and tricks on taking small steps in going blended.
Or go big
Redesign your entire course by reconsidering its constructive alignment. Which learning activities and tools can you use to make effective and efficient use of your time, space, and resources to help your students achieve the learning objectives. In going big you take into consideration the flexibility you offer your students in following your course, how the interactions should be between student-student, student-content, and student-lecturer. You pay attention to how much time and which resources your students need for your course, how you can best structure your course, how they can achieve the objectives within the time they have using the resources they have, and which course design fits best in achieving those objectives. This might be an overwhelming undertaking, however, your Faculty Blended Learning Developer can help you in this process.
Getting started
Whether you want to start small or go big, contact your Faculty Blended Learning Developer. They can guide and support you through the redesign of your course as well as give you tips and tricks on how to take the step-by-step approach. A virtual coffee with him/her is your starting point!
Upcoming: Going Blended: What is the effect of the blended approach?
Previously: Going Blended: Why should I try it?
