Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

So in this way participants move from more practical applications of blended learningtowards the more theoretical exploration of the background. This gives participantsthe opportunity to approach and reflect on theory with a firm background inclassroom practice.Teaching methodologyThere is a mixture of methods, approaches and beliefs that underpin thedevelopment of the course. In some ways the course takes a ‘flipped’ approach toteacher development with the initial online course pushing teachers to completetasks and interact in a very independent way and prepare themselves and lay thegroundwork for the more practical aspects of the face-to-face element of the course.The core content of the online course is based around units containing activelearning tasks. Unlike many teacher development tasks, these are not simply readingor viewing tasks but they call upon the participants to engage with the materials, tryto apply what they are learning within the context they work and to reflect and sharetheir reflections with their peer group.Instead of recommended core texts, the core content of the course includes awide range of online reference materials, but this material is approached in anon-prescriptive way. The range of references and recommended reading drawson ELT websites, blogs and online resource sites as well as online journals.Participants are encouraged through directed reading to critically evaluate what theyread and assess its relevance to their own context and again share their reflectionswith their peers within discussion forums. The aim of this approach is to develop amore inclusive but critical approach to online published literature. This is especiallyimportant in such a fast-moving field where traditional paper-based reading sourcesare often out of date by the time they are published and practitioners need to relymore heavily on less established and authoritative sources of information.Within the core online course tasks participants are encouraged to develop the kindsof digital literacy skills and digital study skills that their own students would need to besuccessful online learners. Many of the tasks focus on helping participants to developsound information management and knowledge sharing strategies facilitated by onlinetools such as RSS readers, social bookmarking and micro-blogging platforms.RSS (really simple syndication) is a common but underused technology whichallows visitors to subscribe to web-based content using a ‘reader’. The reader is apersonalised web page which pulls in content from the sites the user subscribes to.In this way the user can have content from tens or even hundreds of different websitesdelivered to their own personal web page. This helps to keep them informed of anynew content or research within their field without them having to constantly waste timesearching the internet and checking sites individually, although the efficiency of thisprocess depends very much on their ability to identify useful credible sources.Social bookmarking allows users to store and retrieve any links to useful onlinearticles or resources they find. This process is slightly different from normal68 | A blended learning teacher development course