cert ibet second live session

Welcome to our Second live session!

The course so far

•  Comments •  Impressions •  Difficulties •  Surprises •  Questions

Module 3

Module 4

Blended learning

•  What are the issues? •  Your questions •  Concerns •  Skills •  Successes •  What of the future?

Blended learning

What are the issues?

8

Your comments so far …

I am actually surprised at the wide definition of blended learning as I previously thought it was just a combination of face-to-face and distance online learning. I was surprised to hear that mixing different types of technology,for example and asking students to work on tasks outside the classroom can also be seen as blended learning. The disadvantages are that it may not suit everyone and not all learners like the idea of this type of learning. (Esohe)

9


After reading the background reading … I think I have recently been incorporating a basic blended learning approach to my teaching even if not fully aware or not in a planned way! There are many advantages for business students that are time poor and sometimes miss classes or don’t get the time to do homework. Blended learning is an approach that focuses more on student needs, what Pete Sharma calls ‘learning on the move’. It fits into their lives and makes use of the many interactions they have online and the time they spend on their phones etc. One disadvantage might be that it could be more time consuming for teachers outside the class and increase learners’ expectations of access to teachers 24/7! (Judy)

10


… I didn´t always strike the right balance. I spent too much time on the technology because I hadn´t prepared well enough: I hadn´t considered, for example, the fact that some of the vocabulary in a podcast or video would be unfamiliar to the learners and I didn´t take the time to pre-teach it, instead I decided to go replay the podcast many times, picking out a word or two which they didn´t understand each time and explaining what it means. (Claire)

11


Depending on their profession most of my students take advantage of the links I send them, only a few say that they don't like using computers outside of work. On the whole I feel that it is a great learning approach for the students, encouraging them to do more independent learning and helping them improve in a lot of the skills including pronunciation. I can only see the usual drawback of using technology which is that the computers tend to crash a lot and are not all that reliable. (Anabel)

12


… wikis would be great (for working collaboratively on writing reports and emails for example) but I’m not sure if they would work with my students who are mainly 1-1 or small groups in company. Getting them to do homework is hard enough, most of them are just too busy and English is not high on their list of priorities. (Derek)

13


… the new generation are a different species. The term 'digital native' was coined by Marc Prensky to talk about the recent generations who grew up with technology. It's not just a case that they are used to technology, but that growing up with it, and learning with it, entails a different kind of brain development than we had … In brief, they think differently and learn differently, and it has been discussed that traditional education may be invalid for this reason. But I'm a hardliner. (Richard)

14


The next stage, real-time online learning with Chinese students, is a work-in-progress with a Chinese company based in the UK. Before the course becomes available on an interactive teaching platform, I need to work on some aspects and priorities for online teaching and learning that will be new to me:

•  explore the possibility of a course/learning management system (Moodle or Blackboard);

•  become aware of the importance of adapting language and writing style and visual design basic;

•  design the course by using the standard element of the classroom syllabus as a point of departure to create an online syllabus.

(Patrice)

15


Based on the definitions, I would say that I have adopted technology for teaching and I am doing some blending learning, but that I am not at the cutting edge. In nearly all classes I use podcasts, videos, links to online materials, and links to existing grammar/vocab exercises. Most ambitiously, I have created two blending learning environments using SharePoint. This allowed me to supplement the 90-120 min per week lessons and create a bank of tutorials and reference materials. However, the participant profile meant that implementing collaboration, wikis, and discussion was a step too far. (Charles)

16

Your questions

I've been wondering how to deal with the numerous inequalities that blended learning can give rise to, if a course is supplemented with online content that should be tackled in the learner's own time. Inequalities concerning

•  internet access vs non-access •  high digital literacy vs low literacy •  motivation for using edutech vs lack of motivation

and so on. How to keep the class proceeding at roughly the same pace, and ensure that everyone is completing the necessary pre- or post-lesson tasks and getting the full benefit from what's on offer? (Lynn)

17

Your questions

What are bad examples of blended learning apart from using it without good tasks? (Esohe)

Thanks for coming!

cert ibet second live session

Education