What is blended learning? We grappled with the definition and concluded that it could be ‘anything we want it to be’.
To me, blended learning is like a smoothie – a mixture of several nutritious ingredients carefully titrated (balanced) to cater to customers’ preferences and optimize health benefits. The product is constrained by the ingredients that are available.
Similarly, blended learning is a mixture of different instructional methods/pedagogies and technologies to engage students and deliver optimal learning outcomes. It is constrained by the technologies available and the competencies of the instructor to apply the pedagogies. Pl see the dashboard below showing the 7 continuums. 1) Teacher-centered to student-centered. 2) Theory-based to practice-based. 3) Discovery learning to constructive learning. 4) Physical to digital. 5) Synchronous to asynchronous. 6) Self-directed to collaborative learning. 7) Cognitive to affective learning. There is no prescribed formula. It is a DIY project [Cleveland-Innes, 2022]. Each course has to be carefully designed by blending the appropriate ‘ingredients’ to suit the particular learning context. The dashboard provides a more structured way to plan a course by moving the ‘needle’ along each continuum.