We show you how to create low, medium and high-impact levels of blending and the benefits and target audience to each approach.
Three distinct design approaches
The following presents three levels of blended learning that you can consider for your course. The three distinct design approaches to blended learning are based on the work of Allamary et al. (2014).
In this context, adding or replacing activities can refer to:
- in-class only tasks
- in-class tasks requiring use of digital tools
- and/or online activities requiring use of digital tools.
Low-impact blend
Adding extra activities to an existing course.
Suitable for: trying blended learning, incorporating more digital tools and activities into your course, educators with less course preparation time available.
Example: In a course that mostly consists of face-to-face lectures and tutorials, a lecturer adds an online collaborative concept mapping activity in a tutorial after noticing that tutorial group discussions are being dominated by a few students.
Requirements: This requires students to use a digital tool such as Microsoft Whiteboard or Miro to visualise relationships between concepts covered in recent lectures. Students can complete this activity in groups and then peer review other groups’ maps before a whole class discussion.
How do I start with low-impact blending?
- The activity can be created any time before or during the semester.
- Identify the pedagogical need that the activity addresses and consider its connection to other in class or online activities/content.
- Create the activity and you may like to use the Bite Sized Active Learning Collectionfor activity ideas and tips for implementation.
- Implement the activity and evaluate success. Ensure that the whole course is not overloaded with tasks and activities. Where possible, collect student feedback about the activity.
Medium-impact blend
Replacing activities in an existing course.
Suitable for: incorporating more blended learning without significant change to the course, more incremental changes to the course, educators more familiar with using digital technology for learning.
Example: In a course that is mostly face-to-face with the class learning management site being used for announcements and hosting resources, a lecturer plans for more blended learning for the next semester as they noticed that students struggled with concepts in several weeks.
They decide to adopt a flipped classroom approach to some of the weeks to give students a chance to learn foundational knowledge before class at their own pace and expand on that knowledge in class.
The lecturer asks students to view some pre-recorded videos of key concepts, explanations and real-world applications. They also respond to case study scenarios and questions in the LMS discussion forum. During these sessions, in-class time is used for active discussion and peer commentary on responses in the discussion forum.
How do I start with medium-impact blending?
- The planning for medium impact blending and creation of activities are best developed before the semester starts.
- Identify course components you want to replace with blended learning activities. Ensure there is a suitable balance between face-to-face and online learning (this will vary from course to course).
- Create the activity and you may like to use the Bite Sized Active Learning Collectionfor activity ideas and tips for implementation.
- Book a consultation with an Education Designer for further support and guidance if needed.
- Implement the activity and use course evaluation and ongoing student feedback to evaluate the success of blended components.
High-impact blend
Building the blended course from scratch.
Suitable for: redesigning or building a new course, courses that benefit from more exposure to digital environments and literacy development, educators with a higher level of technological knowledge and confidence
Example: Below is an example of how a first-year course on introduction to sociology can be blended from scratch. This example is intended to offer inspiration for blended learning.
Course learning outcomes:
- Explain key concepts in sociology
- Apply sociology theories and methods to analyse contemporary social issues
- Apply critical thinking and communication skills in various modes of expression, including text and oral
- Collaborate effectively in group work tasks
Components of the high-impact blended course:
- Flipped classroom strategies:
- Pre-lecture multimedia content for students to engage with
- Online quiz to test knowledge before the weekly face-to-face lectures
- Tutorials have a range of active-learning tasks including peer-learning, group work and debates (An example activity is a collaborative mapping exercise where students need to connect and depict different sociological theories)
- Two online student-led seminars to replace lectures (Students must choose a theme and share findings and critical insights from their readings), then present this at the seminar. The seminar structure and variety of presentations are selected by students.)
- Weekly online discussion boards where students engage in peer discussion and respond to questions/prompts
How do I start with high-impact blending?
- The planning for a fully blended course and creation of activities are best done with considerable time before the semester starts.
- Book a consultation with an Education Designer if you would like support with the initial planning of your course.
- Create a plan of how blended learning will take place across the course, and different modes of delivery. For example, will students be using LMS for online activities and tasks and take classes in-person? Or will students have a few online Zoom sessions, and a few lectures and in-person tutorials?
- Identify technologies that are available for blended learning and create the activities. You may like to use the Bite Sized Active Learning Collectionfor activity ideas and tips for implementation.
- Deliver the course and note down successes and challenges.
Tips for blending your course
- Always keep the learning outcomes in mind to ensure that all components of the course are focused and relevant. Using “backwards design” is recommended.
- Aim to increase the overall amount of active learning that takes place, whether in the classroom or online. Increasing active learning does not entail increasing the amount of course content.
- Don’t forget the face-to-face component. Face-to-face time offers the opportunity to carry out activities that can have positive effects on higher-order processing, engagement, and social interaction (Buhl-Wiggers et al. 2023, pg. 167).
- Remember that using technology in the classroom can also be part of the blend.
- The aim of blended learning is not to increase the overall workload, so avoid simply adding new content and activities without assessing your overall course design. Blended courses that increase the workload (the “course-and-a-half phenomenon”) are perceived negatively by students, and increase the workload for instructors as well (McGee et al. 2012, pg. 11).
- Give yourself enough time. Redesigning a course can take around 3-6 months (McGee et al. 2012, pg. 11).
- Have a plan for communicating expectations to students. A blended course will likely be a little different to what they are used to.
References
Allammary, A., Sheard, J., & Carbone, A. (2014). Blended learning approaches in higher education: Three different approaches, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 30(4), 440-454.
Buhl-Wiggers, J., Kjaergaard, A., & Munk, K. (2023). A scoping review of experimental evidence on face-to-face components of blended learning in higher education, Studies in Higher Education, 48(1), 151-173.
McGee, P., & Reis, A. (2012). Blended course design: a synthesis of best practices, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networds, 16(4), 7-22.