Blended Learning

Management and administration
Effective and efficient management and administration is vital for the success of any course and in managing
your own workload. In a blended learning environment, this is particularly important because you may not
have regular face-to-face contact with all students to deal with any difficulties or issues. On the other hand,
working in a blended learning environment can offer a range of strategies and tools to support the efficient
and effective management of a course.
Managing your course site
In a blended learning environment your course web site becomes a critical focus for communication, teaching,
learning, collaboration and assessment. It is therefore important to have a well-managed site for the effective
implementation of your course. Consider the following issues:
Section 2.2
Designing and developing
‣ ¾ Layout, structure and organisation of your course site
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Everything on your course site needs to have a clear reason for being there and a clear and logical
location. Students need to be able to predict where they will find different types of materials;
If you have a number of content areas, make sure you have a clear and consistent rule for what is
located in each one;
Plan your course structure and the organisation of your site in advance. See the following section
for ideas on site organisation.
‣ ¾ Terminology and jargon
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‣ ¾ Consistency
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Avoid confusion for students by using terminology and jargon that is either already familiar to
them or that is easy to follow and understand;
Be consistent in the use of terminology across all your communications (written and oral, online
and face-to-face) and in naming documents and resources, e.g., lecture notes versus handouts. Even
simple changes can be confusing.
Consistency, consistency, consistency; it is the golden rule for designing a successful blended
learning experience!;
Make sure that you check all elements for consistency - structure, location of similar resources,
colour, headings, terminology, expectations, and requirements. Inconsistency can cause confusion,
alienation and disgruntlement in students, which can all lead to poor learning outcomes and
experiences;
Maintaining a degree of consistency across courses in a program will also help to create cohesion,
student familiarity and efficiency in navigating and locating materials on course sites.
Section 2.2 Designing and Developing
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