8. Your comments so far …
I am actually surprised at the wide definition of blended learning
as I previously thought it was just a combination of face-to-face
and distance online learning. I was surprised to hear that mixing
different types of technology,for example and asking students to
work on tasks outside the classroom can also be seen as
blended learning.
The disadvantages are that it may not suit everyone and not all
learners like the idea of this type of learning. (Esohe)
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9. Your comments so far …
After reading the background reading … I think I have recently
been incorporating a basic blended learning approach to my
teaching even if not fully aware or not in a planned way!
There are many advantages for business students that are time
poor and sometimes miss classes or don’t get the time to do
homework. Blended learning is an approach that focuses more
on student needs, what Pete Sharma calls ‘learning on the
move’. It fits into their lives and makes use of the many
interactions they have online and the time they spend on their
phones etc. One disadvantage might be that it could be more
time consuming for teachers outside the class and increase
learners’ expectations of access to teachers 24/7! (Judy)
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10. Your comments so far …
… I didn´t always strike the right balance. I spent too much time
on the technology because I hadn´t prepared well enough: I
hadn´t considered, for example, the fact that some of the
vocabulary in a podcast or video would be unfamiliar to the
learners and I didn´t take the time to pre-teach it, instead I
decided to go replay the podcast many times, picking out a word
or two which they didn´t understand each time and explaining
what it means. (Claire)
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11. Your comments so far …
Depending on their profession most of my students take
advantage of the links I send them, only a few say that they
don't like using computers outside of work. On the whole I feel
that it is a great learning approach for the students,
encouraging them to do more independent learning and helping
them improve in a lot of the skills including pronunciation. I can
only see the usual drawback of using technology which is that
the computers tend to crash a lot and are not all that reliable.
(Anabel)
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12. Your comments so far …
… wikis would be great (for working collaboratively on writing
reports and emails for example) but I’m not sure if they would
work with my students who are mainly 1-1 or small groups in
company. Getting them to do homework is hard enough, most of
them are just too busy and English is not high on their list of
priorities. (Derek)
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13. Your comments so far …
… the new generation are a different species. The term 'digital
native' was coined by Marc Prensky to talk about the recent
generations who grew up with technology. It's not just a case
that they are used to technology, but that growing up with it, and
learning with it, entails a different kind of brain development than
we had … In brief, they think differently and learn differently, and
it has been discussed that traditional education may be invalid
for this reason. But I'm a hardliner. (Richard)
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14. Your comments so far …
The next stage, real-time online learning with Chinese students, is
a work-in-progress with a Chinese company based in the UK.
Before the course becomes available on an interactive teaching
platform, I need to work on some aspects and priorities for online
teaching and learning that will be new to me:
• explore the possibility of a course/learning management
system (Moodle or Blackboard);
• become aware of the importance of adapting language and
writing style and visual design basic;
• design the course by using the standard element of the
classroom syllabus as a point of departure to create an online
syllabus.
(Patrice)
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15. Your comments so far …
Based on the definitions, I would say that I have adopted
technology for teaching and I am doing some blending learning,
but that I am not at the cutting edge. In nearly all classes I use
podcasts, videos, links to online materials, and links to existing
grammar/vocab exercises. Most ambitiously, I have created two
blending learning environments using SharePoint. This allowed
me to supplement the 90-120 min per week lessons and create
a bank of tutorials and reference materials. However, the
participant profile meant that implementing collaboration, wikis,
and discussion was a step too far. (Charles)
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16. Your questions
I've been wondering how to deal with the numerous inequalities
that blended learning can give rise to, if a course is
supplemented with online content that should be tackled in the
learner's own time. Inequalities concerning
• internet access vs non-access
• high digital literacy vs low literacy
• motivation for using edutech vs lack of motivation
and so on.
How to keep the class proceeding at roughly the same pace,
and ensure that everyone is completing the necessary pre- or
post-lesson tasks and getting the full benefit from what's on
offer? (Lynn)
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17. Your questions
What are bad examples of blended learning apart from using it
without good tasks? (Esohe)
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