Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

adding things in response to feedback and in response to how the course is used
means we are more able to deliver more options and a greater variety of learning
experiences in a way that was not feasible in the purely face-to-face version of
the course.
However, we wonder if we are barking up the wrong tree in trying to deliver a socioconstructivist
style course, when in fact much of the time participants mutter darkly
about not wanting to work in groups and would prefer a more top-down transmission
mode of delivery.
Conclusion
A blended training course is one where face-to-face and online components are
blended to deliver uniform opportunity in a uniform training provision. Our course,
which we have described as ‘omniblended’, offers participants a resource in which
they can choose how the course is blended to meet their needs. The course attempts
to cater to a range of participants’ learning styles and preferences; it provides
interaction between local teachers following a traditional blending of face-to-face
and online interaction with teachers solely online from a range of teaching contexts
and cultures, negotiating the course simultaneously.
Was using a blended learning approach more beneficial to participants than only
using a face-to-face approach? The results in the Appendix 1 shows the respective
pass rates.
What have we learned about blended learning? The online elements of our courses
enable us to offer a far wider range of learning options, but simultaneously require a
far more complex system of help, guidance and support. Storage, flexibility and access
mean more can be presented and learning pathways can be better individualised,
but that means more work not less for us as course providers. ‘Basing education
upon personal experience may mean more multiplied and more intimate contacts
between the mature and the immature than ever existed in the traditional school, and
consequently more, rather than less, guidance by others’ (Dewey 1998: 8). Guidance
may include guidance as to how the course works, supplementing study skills/time
management, and help with some digital literacies. Both participants and tutors need
support in using various facets of the technologies and as the Open University has
shown, need is not age related (Jones et al., 2010). To be convincing, online material
has to be updated regularly and links have to be checked thoroughly before each
course and there needs to be a fast response to changes on the web that impact
on access to resources. There is no such thing as a ‘finished’ course. The more we
learn, the more we are aware of what more we need to do.
108 | Creating a blended DELTA Module One