Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

Delivery media and instructional strategies
In order to reach these objectives, a Moodle platform was set up where participants
could read articles on assessment, watch videos of experts talking about different
areas of assessment and testing, and link to a variety of other related websites.
All of this could be done after the face-to-face training when the participants had
returned to their workplaces.
The two stages have different focuses; stage one focuses on general knowledge
around testing while stage two has an in-depth look at testing the four skills. So,
in the stage two face-to-face training, participants learn key concepts, how to use
different models, such as Weir’s model of reading (Weir and Khalifa, 2008), and how
to write test items. The e-moderated online courses serve as a supplementary part to
the face-to-face training; helping participants to review main ideas, to put new ideas
into practice via doing assignments that are marked, and to reflect on the returned
assignment and identify areas in their work to be improved.
The third objective was derived from research and our own experience. There is
research into teacher learning that emphasises the importance of reflective learning
(Schön, 1983), so we wanted participants to reflect on their learning in the training
and when back at work. This would enable them to bridge the gap between theory
and practice, to evaluate their own practice, and so achieve deeper ongoing learning.
In addition, we knew that all education authorities we work with want to make sure
that training courses are based on the local context. It was therefore important for
us that the participants took the ideas and learning from the face-to-face training,
put it into practice in their work, reflected on that and discussed and shared the
experience and reflection with others.
The online platform was an opportunity to support that learning process, but, initially
it was just a place to share knowledge, experience and reflections. However, in
hindsight, this was a mistake. We overlooked the fact that most teachers were still
powerfully influenced by a transmission approach to learning, and so the desire to
have a structured online course, that gave a sense of progress, was so strong that
most teachers did not engage in the platform, and many cited the lack of structure
as the key factor. After the first few courses, the platform was changed into a more
structured, e-moderated course. This was hugely important since most Chinese
teachers on the course told us they had an expectation that an authority figure
would explicitly guide and lead them through their learning.
Simultaneously, in other training projects, courses had followed a skill theory view
of learning. It was decided that this approach should be applied to this new online
platform too. Malderez and Wedell (2007) describe a five-step process that begins
with the participant describing an experience, interpreting it, being exposed to other
people’s ideas or interpretations, making sense of that new input, and finally taking
that new understanding into their teaching or work. So, in our course, participants
would review their face-to-face study and their interpretation of it, then read new
articles or get new ideas from videos, make sense of that new input on the forums
and wikis, and finally apply that new understanding in an assignment that would
Reversing the blend: From online to blended | 85