1. Blended Learning What is BL
Blended Learning What is BL? Why and how can BL be used in teaching Humanities?

2. What is BL?
“The term blended learning is generally applied to the practice of using both online and in-person learning experiences when teaching students.”
The Glossary of Education Reform
Book: Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson - Schools/dp/
Video: Blended Learning to Improve Schools – On Youtube at Google Talks with Michael B. Horn:
No definite methodology; BL should be used to fit the specific teaching situation; everybody blends differently

3. Physical and Virtual Classrooms
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4. BL – Learning “outside the box”
re-examine traditional learning space and pace
redesign a course involving digital tools
integrate 21st-century technology in teaching
BL can improve writing skills and contribute to critical thinking (as long as it is not used to replace traditional ways of learning – writing essays or reading books – but rather to complement them)
students are required to use digital and online technologies --» they naturally acquire more technological literacy and greater confidence using new technologies

5. Examples of BL MOOCs – Coursera - https://www.coursera.org/
Blended Learning at MIT
BL for teaching history – some great projects
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6. Useful apps for BL in the Humanities
1) Network visualization – 2) Network overview - 3) Map-making and geospatial information - 4) Creating websites - 5) Creating fake ‘Facebook’-like pages - 6) Whiteboard-style animation - 7) Blogs and media projects- 8) Organizing research – 9) Video projects – & 10) Presentations -

7. Requirements for BL Technology must be available and working.
Universities must invest in the digital education of their teachers.
BL must adhere to the same goals and disciplines as other learning programs.
BL must include clearly defined outcomes, be effective, relevant, and applicable on the job.
Learning must remain the focus of BL. Use BL ONLY if it enhances learning.

8. Questions and issues about BL
Don’t we all already use BL in one form or another?
How does it contribute to a better understanding of the material?
When and where is BL a useful method?
What support is available for teachers to use BL in a responsible and adequate way?
Could we have more support in terms of using and managing our ICT tools?

9. “Blending” – my experiments and thoughts
My blog posts on BL: in-a-digital-age/ and
“Flipped classroom”
Giving a group of students the task to prepare a session and lead the discussion
Finding online sources for a topic and evaluating them critically
WIKIs – Opera and Politics in Europe, B.A., first-year students
Video projects:
Europe and the Other – B.A., second-year students
Cultures of Nationalism in Europe – M.A. students
Using digital databases like Empire Online -
Using blogs and the discussion board on Blackboard