Blending learning for the small residential liberal arts
campus
A carefully constructed blended learning environment can be
greater than the sum of its parts or the “best of both worlds.” That is,
activities involving the students’ acquisition of foundational material can be outsourced
from the classroom as homework with exercises or quizzes with immediate
feedback to help the students test their understanding of the material. Careful
construction entails making sure that the content is not only as clear as
possible but also is presented using the appropriate (easy-to-use) technology. In
other words, technology should be in the background and facilitate the learning
objectives for the teaching of that particular content. Another important point
is making sure the production quality is high for the online materials, so that
students’ full attention is on the content and not elsewhere.
I work at a small residential liberal arts institution,
where we are developing flipped classroom components. Part of my interest in
taking the BlendKit—beyond enhancing my team’s ability to provide support for
faculty consulting us for help with instructional technology—is to explore the
range of possibilities with blended learning for institutions like ours, where
students work closely with faculty to develop a broad intellectual experience.
How much face-to-face contact is required to maintain our current level of
close contact between instructor and students? How much deeper can in-class
learning go with well-constructed preparatory materials that students navigate
on their own? What kinds of activities could be done in an online environment
to deepen learning that would rival face-to-face contact? How can we leverage
student comfort in engaging online for greater collaboration and peer-to-peer instruction?
How can institutions like ours share what they have to offer to a broader
audience without engaging in practices that would cause us to stray from the
core mission? I believe it is possible but will take much exploration by thinking
outside the box. Although it is a challenging time for education, the situation
encourages us to rethink what we value and want to preserve and what could take
another form that may lead to even more personalized education for our students—the
heart of our mission. In this sense, design really is “re-design” as McGee and
Reis noted.
I have been pondering the possibilities not only with
“space” (face-to-face vs. online) but also with “time” that instructional
technology affords. How can learning become more self-paced? How will that
affect the traditional academic calendar? How much flexibility will there be in
the timeline of what constitutes a “semester” if some students grasp material
more quickly than others or if others need more time to absorb content? Understanding
where redesign provides flexibility is key to the success of blended learning. How
can content be best presented in different formats with available resources to
provide flexibility? How can we help teacher-centered instruction move toward
student-centered for greater flexibility?
In addition to supporting faculty and students, our team
trains students in an on-campus professional development program in technology,
so we are planning to take our 6-week, 8-hours-a-week training sessions,
“rotations,” to create examples of blended learning courses. We are in the
process of revamping the program and shortening the time for rotations, so
creating blended learning environments that can deliver foundational content in
a shorter time frame (or with a more flexible timeline for the student) will
help us transition.
We’re all living in an era of change and evolution in
education, and I am really excited to explore the possibilities to help us
adapt for the future!
