OLTD 510 Conference Presentation Preview: How Can a Blended Learning Delivery Model Enhance the Learning for Students in First and Second Year English Courses?
North Island College (NIC) was once a leader in distributed learning with its early adoption of Instructional Television (ITV) as a teaching tool to reach students in small learning centres in isolated communities in the region that the college serves. As ITV technology and connectivity has improved, NIC has become more attached to ITV. Although the college offers some online courses and programs, blended learning is a delivery model that NIC has not explored at all … until now. I have been asked to pilot a blended delivery of a first-year literature course in the winter 2018 semester. What will make the course successful? How will a blended delivery enhance the learning for English composition and literature students? The following are some of the points found in my research that I will deliver in my conference presentation on blended learning in post-secondary English courses:
North Island College (NIC) was once a leader in distributed learning with its early adoption of Instructional Television (ITV) as a teaching tool to reach students in small learning centres in isolated communities in the region that the college serves. As ITV technology and connectivity has improved, NIC has become more attached to ITV. Although the college offers some online courses and programs, blended learning is a delivery model that NIC has not explored at all … until now. I have been asked to pilot a blended delivery of a first-year literature course in the winter 2018 semester. What will make the course successful? How will a blended delivery enhance the learning for English composition and literature students? The following are some of the points found in my research that I will deliver in my conference presentation on blended learning in post-secondary English courses:
- Students will be more engaged than in strictly F2F courses because they feel safe to share their writing in the online portion of the course
- Students find increased opportunities for collaboration and authentic learning
- How a a Community of Inquiry (CoI) approach supports the work of educators open to the growth and formative evaluation of blended learning
- Students need an active online presence by instructors who provide well-timed assessment and feedback
- Students value the availability of team meeting platforms and blogs
- Institutions will aid instructors in the design of blended courses if they define the type of online work and the degrees of hybridity for courses and programs
- Students will be more likely to enrol in a blended course if they know the degree of hybridity
- Instructors need substantial training in how to implement technology and how to design pedagogically sound online and in-class activities
- Students appreciate the ability to view video lectures and presentations in the online portions of blended courses in their own time and setting and the ability to repeat parts of the lecture
- Students find that the collaborative learning and the increased student/teacher interaction in the F2F portion of blended courses provide deeper understanding of content through problem solving