Towards Blended Learning Rita Headington University of Greenwich
Setting the scene ‘Getting to grips with e-learning’ EBR Programme –Participants: trainees, tutors –QTS standards –Teaching, learning and assessment Potential role of e-Learning
Scribbens and Powell (2003)
Blended learning ‘Bringing together traditional resources with ILT-based opportunities to create a coherent planned approach across a whole programme or towards a given learning outcome’ Scibbins and Powell (2003)
Issues from the 2004 pilot New ways of tutoring Quality and regularity of participation Tutor as model To assess or not to assess? Does it blend?
Developments for Fortnightly f2f sessions Introduction of new OLC areas Editing it myself…with support! Introduction of OLC to trainees Parallel OLC for tutors
Difficulties during Late start Non-attendance of mentors Non-involvement of tutors Technical hitches
Evaluation methods Statistical information Questionnaires Unstructured interviews
Statistical information Trainees OLC –Used mainly at weekends –Regular participants –Many more lurkers –2 tutors weekly, others viewed occasionally Tutors OLC –Not used!
Questionnaire findings - trainees Increased and regular participation Used mainly for –individual learning –community support –information gathering
Interviews with tutors who’d used it (+) Very useful resource Good to see students sharing Participants used workshops well Links with taught sessions No ‘lost’ dates and resources Transferable to other programmes
Interviews with tutors who’d used it (-) Use immediately after training Time for use needs to be built in Problematic for appendices Didn’t exploit Submission Centre Wouldn’t be happy to mark on-line Not useful for emergencies
Comments from tutors who didn’t use it Couldn’t get in so I gave up Screen kept freezing Don’t have the time What was the password again?
What we’ve got right Introduction with task for immediate involvement Built into the programme Supporting learning community Adapting to changing needs One-stop-shop for resources and current information
What we need to work on Technical hurdles Enhancing trainees’ learning experiences Increasing tutor involvement
Everard and Morris (1990)
What next? Tutors as e-learners Broadening the palette of teaching skills Critical mass –trainees - on the way –tutors - some way to go
Towards blended learning? ‘Bringing together traditional resources with ILT-based opportunities to create a coherent planned approach across a whole programme or towards a given learning outcome’ Scribbins and Powell (2003)