Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

learning and characteristics, and knowing who the people we later spent six months
or so learning with purely online were really helpful aspects and “humanised” the
course’. However, as participants themselves have become more experienced and
sophisticated in blended learning, they are more critical, as shown in comments
such as ‘Blended Learning has plenty of potential but I get the feeling that most
courses utilise very little of the available technology. The entire Blackboard and
blended learning environment was nothing more complex than a forum or blog.
Not exactly cutting edge.’ Another IDLTM graduate, now following a blended learning
master’s course, suggested ‘Changing the focus of the F2F two weeks to hands
on coursework with a variety of tasks would also give notice to the instructors to
differentiate their teaching and make it more engaging for the students’, a view
which was not, however, at all widespread and possibly reflects unfavourably on
the teaching style of some trainers (see the comment below by Dziuban, Hatman
and Moskal (2004: 10) on re-learning how to teach). Overall, the consensus was
that ‘the blended learning model worked well for me …[and]…. I think the online
tasks were useful and although sometimes they didn’t seem connected to the
assignments they were definitely linked to growth as a manager’.
The blending of modalities is illustrated in the work on the first module, on
organisational management. During the face-to-face phase, participants discuss,
compare and contrast their own LTOs in terms of the key organisational concepts
being covered on the module. This work is continued and extended during the online
phase when they elaborate such analysis as set out in the assignment task, and
during online discussion clarify their understanding of concepts and demonstrate
their use in opening up their organisation to new levels of understanding. In turn,
this contributes to the written assignment.
Here is an example of a task as part of the work leading up to the assignment in
the Customer Service Management module:
Participants are asked to read two documents as preparation for the activity
outlined below. Having posted their descriptions, they then comment on each
other’s accounts and the trainer moderates the discussion and provides a
summing up.
A good metric for measuring customer satisfaction is one that:
1. Yields new insights.
2. Is based on user actions (what they have experienced) not just opinions.
3. Is actionable (you can do something to improve the service).
Having read the two documents and done whatever other follow-up reading you
want to do:
1. Describe the survey procedures used in your LTO (you can give actual
examples if you like).
2. Comment on their effectiveness in the light of the three points listed above.
3. Suggest how the procedures could be improved.
Post your comments to Blackboard.
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