Before the pandemic, I already knew the concept of “blending learning” from a pedagogical course called course design I attended in the beginning of this year. I really like the philosophy behind blending learning. It is useful to deep into the concept of blended learning. According to Garrison & Vaughan (2008), definition of blended learning is “the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches.” The definition emphasises the considerable integration of new technologies in the classroom setting. In other words, it is not only about integrating some online technology into the course, but rather how we implement technology to help students structure their learning activities in a more efficient and effective way. I like the concept of blending learning, to my understand, blended learning fully appreciated the possibilities that new and emerging technologies. Furthermore, it also appreciated new possibilities that new technologies have brough to us in combine with the traditional presentational approaches. Personally, I value the most in the part that new technologies bring to both teachers and students to better interact with their peers and course content.

But suddenly, the covid-19 hit.

Like it or not, seems very teacher needs to adopt the blended learning. The challenges are:1) every course needs to be at least blended no matter whether or not the course considers which part of the course should be assisted by technology and how to be assisted by technology. 2) no matter ready or not, students need to adapt to the blended learning environment.

Even more more challenging part in the covid-19 period is that we have not adapted to blended learning yet and are forced to face the entirely online teaching environment. To my experience, I developed an online course this summer due to the covid situation. I think the community of inquiry is also relevant in the fully online learning environment. In particular, I consider the fresh first year students in the university are directly facing the difficulties in developing a sense of community for learning. They have not met that frequently and they have not formed a learning community yet. However, they are forced to have to face the reality that they need to build the learning community entirely online. How would this be different from the blended learning that part of the classes still depends on in a face-to-face environment.  The useful take away message I got from reading Cleveland-Innes, M. & Wilton, D. (2018)’piece is that as a teacher we need to consider the context of a community of learners. We should emphasize the purposeful inquiry where students collaboratively assume increased responsibility and control to resolve specific problems and issues together. I think task is the key in constructing the sense of community in learning. But somehow, I found the learning tasks is difficult to form if we would like students to focus on the learning subject. In the digital learning environment, students are quite often distracted by various digital tools, no need to mention the difference between the zoom setting and real classroom setting. Also, since the blended learning inherently encourage students to adopt new technologies how can we (both teachers and students) the contents and means. In other words, how could students use new technologies int a reasonable way that help them to better digest the course content rather focusing on too much on the technological part?

Reference:

Cleveland-Innes, M. & Wilton, D. (2018). Guide to Blended Learning. Burnaby: Commonwealth of Learning.