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17A thinking-based blendedlearning course in an uppersecondaryschool in LatviaAlexander Sokol, Edgar Lasevich, Renata Jonina andMarija Dobrovolska-StoianCourse backgroundThe course described in this study was offered to students aged 16 –19, who studyEnglish as a second foreign language in an upper-secondary school located in thecentre of Riga, Latvia. They have three 40-minute lessons a week. Many of themtake a graduation exam in English, and are interested in General English. Groups arenormally heterogeneous, from ten to 15 people and the levels range from A2 to B2.The study covers the period from September 2008 to December 2009. The blendedapproach was adopted for the following reasons:■■■■■■To provide learners with extra opportunities for learning (in addition to the officialthree academic hours generally viewed as insufficient in the local context).To improve motivation by integrating the use of ICT into the learning process(the use of ICT increased motivation as it was not widely spread at that time andstudents generally regarded its use in the lessons as a way of making learningmore connected with the real world).To develop skills for autonomous learning and at the same time reduce thenumber of tasks performed by the teacher through delegating them to the onlinemodules. This would allow the teacher to spend more time on individual supportof each learner as technology would provide learners with feedback based ontheir typical mistakes.Description of the blendOnline modulesThe e-learning module of the blend was developed in the framework of aninternational project, New Learners in the New Europe (2005 – 08), supported bythe European Commission (New Learners in the New Europe, 2008). The aim of theproject was to develop modules for online learning that allow for an integrateddevelopment of language and thinking skills of learners. The learning environmentwas created specifically for the purposes of the project and it comprises threemain modules:■■the planning module, where the decisions are made about what is going to belearned and how it will be doneA thinking-based blended learning course | 189