Blended/hybrid courses: a review of the literature and recommendations for instructional designers and educators

This article explores some of the literature on blended/hybrid learning and identifies recommendations for instructional designers and faculty. Terminology and definitions are discussed first including the debate between the words “blended” and “hybrid.” A working definition for the article is discussed but the article does not propose a standard definition for the field. The learning advantages of using a blended/hybrid format are identified from the literature including improved grades, retention and communication and teamwork. The recommendations are discussed in four broad categories: (a) face to face and online scheduling, (b) communication, (c) course content, and (d) other recommendations. The article concludes with a call for future research into blended/hybrid learning and how to best construct blended/hybrid courses from an instructional design standpoint.     

The hypothetical: a new training resource for adult educators

The “hypothetical”, a panel game developed and popularised by Geoffrey Robertson on Granada Television in the U.K. and on Channel 9 (initially) and ABC Television (finally) in Australia, has proved to be readily adaptable into a technique for the training of adult educators.

In the television version, participants play themselves in an imaginary scenario invoked by a compere whose role is to provoke them into making decisions about key social dilemmas of contemporary public concern, such as drug trafficking, marriage breakdown, AIDS, police corruption.

In the training adaptation described here, the dilemmas are constructed around issues of concern in daily professional practice. The primary goal changes to the professional development of participants and (if present) of an audience who are also professionals, rather than the goal of mass entertainment or general audience edification as in the television version.

This paper describes the adaptation of this popular 1980's television production into a training tool of considerable power, and gives an account of how it has been developed and used in one institution. It argues that, whereas the hypothetical is clearly a close relative of a number of familiar experiential training techniques, it makes its own unique contribution to the catalogue of training strategies available.     

Multiple learning communities: students,teachers, instructional designers,and researchers

Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) exemplifies a class of pedagogical approaches aimed at having students become reasoners and sense‐makers in various content domains. While the pedagogical practices among these approaches vary to some degree, they tend to overlap in philosophy and general pedagogical style. Hence issues confronted by those attempting to implement FCL will be confronted by those hoping to implement similar activities. The three‐level commentary in this paper begins with specific reactions to the preceding papers, which focused on attempts to implement FCL in different content areas. It continues with a discussion of what counts in FCL: for example, is it a set of participant structures such as jigsawing, or a set of underlying principles? It concludes with a discussion of systemic issues that will be faced by any pedagogical approach focusing on having students engage in reasoning and sense‐making in the classroom.     

The technological gender gap: Evidence and recommendations for educators and computer-based instruction designers

The term technological gender gap refers to the idea that males and females have different technology-related attitudes, behaviors, and skills. This article reviews the mounting evidence documenting the existence of a gender gap, which, if ignored, could render large numbers of female students unprepared to meet the technological challenges of the future. Recommendations for ameliorating the technological gender gap are presented for educators and computer-based instruction (CBI) designers who are interested in providing equitable educational opportunities for male and female students.     

Mind the gap: Enabling online faculty and instructional designers in mapping new models for quality online courses

Distance education has provided the foundation for new generations of learning, including courses delivered through various web-based educational technologies, also referred to as online learning. Many post-secondary institutions face the challenge of creating processes and systems to support instructors who are required to design, deliver, and frequently update online courses. Effective online course design prioritizes a student-centered pedagogical approach through active learning and meaning-making using modern technologies. This requires a wide spectrum of experience, technological skills, and pedagogical knowledge that is difficult to achieve. On one hand of the spectrum, are instructors with experience in online course delivery, learning technologies, and knowledge of online learning pedagogies. On the other hand of the spectrum, are instructors with insufficient experience, technological skills and awareness of online pedagogies. This disparity in instructors’ experiences, skills and knowledge results at times in a gap in ability. By providing a flexible and interactive model of support to instructors, instructional designers can shorten this gap in theoretical knowledge and practical skills. This paper explores the skill gap that some instructors face in the online learning domain and presents selected approaches to support instructors when transitioning to online courses based on the authors’ professional experiences. This paper considers two models of course design support from two unique higher educational institutions in the United States and in Canada, using different learning management systems. The results show that while these models have different contexts, they offer significant insights about common goals, flexible content, and learner-centered course design.     

Problems of,and support for,beginner educators

Abstract

Beginner educators cannot produce their best work and achieve the objectives of the schools that employed them until they have adjusted to the work they are required to do, the environment in which they are to work and the colleagues and learners with whom they have to work. However, it is well known that the transition from student educator to newly qualified educator can be problematic. The best way of supporting and developing novice educators is a clear understanding of their problems and constructive induction programmes that train and sustain them by addressing these issues. The article therefore focuses on the plight of, and support for, beginner educators. It addresses two questions. First, what are the needs and concerns of beginner educators? Second, what strategies can be offered to support beginner educators that will ease their transition into the classroom and reduce attrition early in their careers?     

Community mobilisation,gender equality and resource mobilisation in adult education

Despite an overall improvement in the educational situation of girls and women in India, there are considerable gender inequalities in education. In the last decade, the Government of India introduced the campaign approach to tackle the problem of widespread illiteracy among women and other socio-economically disadvantaged groups in collaboration with the wider support of civil society. This paper attempts to understand the efforts of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), a voluntary organisation supported by the People's Science Movement, for women's empowerment through its innovative approach to large-scale community mobilisation and organisation at the grassroots. It shows both the potential and limitations of the BGVS in sustaining the process of empowerment among poor and vulnerable women in the state-sponsored literacy campaigns, and challenges in linking literacy with livelihoods issues, development and democracy in the context of limited state support and resources.     

Metacognition,elaboration, and knowledge acquisition: Implications for instructional design

The robustness of the effect of precise elaborations on memory and the relationship of these effects to metacognitions about learning was investigated in two studies. Twenty-six naive experimenters administered prepared tasks to 130 subjects. Participants rated the comprehensibility of each sentence as it was read. An unexpected cued-recall test with a confidence rating for each answer given was administered, followed by rating the ease of learning the types of items used in three treatments: precisely elaborated, imprecisely elaborated, and unelaborated base sentences. Both studies resulted in very similar findings: Memory for precise elaborations was 50% greater than for either imprecisely elaborated or unelaborated statements. Comprehension ratings of the three sets of statements were not significantly different. Confidence ratings of correctly answered items were significantly higher than of incorrectly answered items.     

Enrolment purposes,instructional activities,and perceptions of attitudinal learning in a human trafficking MOOC

This study examines learner enrolment purposes, perceptions on instructional activities and their relationship to learning gains in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for attitudinal change regarding human trafficking. Using an author-developed survey, learners reported their perceptions on instructional activities and learning gains within the MOOC, as well as their enrolment purposes. Motivations varied with the majority of learners wanting to formulate a viewpoint or to justify their existing viewpoint, with those taking the MOOC in order to earn a formal certification reporting the highest learning gains. Overall, learners perceived lectures and videos as the most impactful instructional strategy. However, learners who reported the personal project activity as the most effective instructional strategy showed the highest learning gain. The authors discuss the instructional design considerations based on these survey results.     

Striving for empathy: affinities,alliances and peer sexuality educators

Peer sexuality educators' accounts of their work reveal two approaches to empathy with their students: affinity and alliance. ‘Affinity-based empathy’ rests on the idea that the more commonalities sexuality educators and students share (or perceive they share), the more they will be able to empathise with one another, while ‘alliance-based empathy’ is an analytical process of considering the social contexts that shape others' lives. We assess the potential for each source of empathy to equip peer sexuality educators to counter hierarchical models of teaching and learning, effect social change and promote the interests of youth. Because shared identity categories prove difficult to manage and sustain, we find affinity alone does not offer peer sexuality educators lasting opportunities to work with young people. In contrast, developing alliance-based empathy prepares peer educators – indeed, all sexuality educators – to identify inequalities or barriers that others face and seek ways to foster social change. We conclude with recommendations for future research.