Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

expected to use it appropriately. However, the course design overlooked the factthat several had never followed an online course before, let alone used aMoodle platform. It also ignored the importance of online social engagement.The course was therefore re-designed so that two weeks before the face-tofacetraining, participants had a half day introduction to the platform and wereshown how it works. Then, following the first two stages of Salmon’s (2000) fivestagemodel, they then had two weeks to build a profile, socialise and do somebackground reading for the course.Summary of Salmon’s (2000) five-stage modelStage Student activities Tutor activitiesStage 1Access andmotivationStage 2OnlinesocialisationStage 3InformationexchangeStage 4KnowledgeconstructionStage 5Development• Setting up system and accessing.• Sending and receiving messages.• Carrying out activities.• Reporting and discussing findings.• Conferencing.• Course-related discussions.• Critical thinking applied tosubject material.• Making connections betweenmodels and work-basedlearning experiences.• Use of conferencing in astrategic way.• Integration of CMC into otherforms of learning.• Reflection on learning processes.• Students become critical ofthe medium.• Welcome and encouragement.• Guidance on where to findtechnical support.• Introductions.• Ice-breakers.• Ground rules.• Netiquette.• Facilitate structured activities.• Assign roles and responsibilities.• Support use of learning materials.• Encourage discussions.• Summarise findings and/oroutcomes.• Facilitate open activities.• Facilitate the process.• Asking questions.• Encourage reflection.• Tutor is very active at this stage.• Support.• Respond only when required.• Encourage reflection.• Tutor is less active and handsover to the students.b. The programme was divided into two stages. As mentioned previously, oneof the reasons for this was to facilitate a ‘transformational blend’, i.e. one thatwould achieve a radical change in pedagogy where participants’ attitude to, andadoption of, communicative testing changes, as well as connecting the learningwith the workplace. Another reason was partly cultural. Chinese teachers, asmentioned previously, are used to being led in their learning, but also theyare often not allowed to regulate their own time. They often have to react tolast-minute demands of their head teacher, parents, subject leader, or evencolleagues, and it is expected that requests will be seen to immediately. Thismeant many participants would fall behind with the online study and assignments.Several partners would therefore hold informal meetings of the participants,Reversing the blend: From online to blended | 87