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Hi, I'm Dr. Bennett, and I want to talk to you about my experience with blended learning.
My first experiences with blended learning were when I enrolled in a Ph.D. program
that was exclusively online. I was skeptical at first, however, to my surprise it was one
of the best learning experiences of my life. As a result of being an online learner, I
was truly inspired to become an online instructor and following my graduation, I pursued a career
in online teaching and I was fortunate to be hired at an online
university, for which I've been teaching for the past seven years.
In addition to teaching exclusively online, I have taught for the past twelve years in
the traditional classroom setting, teaching undergraduate students in psychology.
And all along, throughout those twelve years, I didn't know it, but I was blending my teaching
methods. I was assigning activities that took place
out of the classroom to place students in situations where they
would learn from real-life experiences and as a result, they truly internalized the
course material, content, and acquired in-depth knowledge.
So, I was blending all along, but we didn't call it "blended learning" at that point
"blended learning" is a relatively new term. But based on my experiences, I have some very
helpful tips for you, and ideas about best practices for course room management when
using the blended approach. In the blended approach, we place the primary
responsibility of learning on the learner Thus, the instructor becomes the moderator,
creating opportunities that will facilitate learning through various delivery methods,
that could be experiential learning activities in the community,
it could be reflecting on course content through threaded discussions in the online environment,
in an asynchronous format -- whatever method you choose.
Of course, as in a traditional classroom, in your syllabus, you lay out exactly what
is expected of your students and you can do the same with the blended approach,
through your syllabus, and through your first day of class, during orientation,
you can clearly lay out everything that's going to be done in your classroom.
It's crucial that you lay out for your students what is expected of them.
Many of your students will be in a blended learning course for the first time,
and are a bit concerned about how they will be graded on the blended components
So it's very important for you to detail the grading criteria for each blended component.
Checking in with your students is very important, you can do that by simply sending an email,
asking them if everything is okay, if they need assistance with anything, are they able
to access the course materials and links that might be provided
and just being supportive. It's important throughout the blended components that you
are present. I wish all of you the best as you embark on
this new journey of blended learning. Feel free to ask me any questions in the future
or hunt me down, and I'll be glad to help you out.