Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

5A blended learning teacherdevelopment course for thedevelopment of blended learningin English Language TeachingNik PeacheyCourse overview and contextThe Blended Learning in ELT course was designed for practising classroom teachers,with the aim of developing their understanding of the potential of blended learningfor the development of English language skills.The course is delivered in three parts:■■■■■■The first part is an eight-week 80-hour tutor moderated course delivered onlineusing the Moodle learning management system (LMS) platform.The second part is a two-week 60-hour face-to-face workshop delivered at theBell Teacher Campus at Homerton College in Cambridge.The third and final, optional, part of the course is a three-month 160-hour selfstudy element based around the completion of two to three written assignmentswhich will be assessed for credit towards an MA in Teaching English to Speakersof Other Languages (TESOL) at the University of Nottingham.The course is aimed at English language teachers who already have somegrounding in technology and materials design. It is for participants who want totake their understanding of technology beyond the classroom activity level andinvestigate the potential of blended learning for the development of completecourses. The online element of the course does not strictly have a limit on thenumber of participants that can be enrolled, but the limit for the face-to-faceelement of the course is around 20.The course aims to develop participants’ understanding of the application ofblended learning within English Language Teaching (ELT), so the choice of a blendedlearning course format to do this lends an element of experiential learning to thecourse. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the kinds of methods,approaches and problems that their students will encounter and this should help togive them deeper insights into the process and systems that should help to supportthe students they construct their own courses for.A blended learning teacher development course | 65