Blended Learning

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Establish your presence and build rapport with students by sharing something of yourself, e.g.,
staff information page, welcoming podcast, or getting to know you activities in the first face-to-face
sessions.
Provide opportunities for students to get to know one and other in a meaningful context, e.g.,
activities that introduce them to each other while being relevant to the course content and purpose.
Suggest that students extend lively discussions that occur in the face-to-face mode into the online
forum. But, don’t just leave them to it – consider how you will make use of these, or integrate the
online discussion back into the face-to-face environment (e.g., you might take a few notes of the key
points made and feed these back to the students at the beginning of the next class).
Consider recording your in-class orientation component (i.e., the first
lecture where much of the course “housekeeping” matters are covered)
using either the lecture capture software or a webcast. In this way students
are able to review this important information at any time. Or you could
pre-record what you want to cover if Lecture Capture is not enabled in the
teaching space that you will be using. For more information, see “Lecture
Recordings” or “Webcasts” in the “Content and Resources” section of this
guide.
Section 2.3
Implementing
Course site orientation
As well as an overall course orientation, it is useful to create an orientation resource for your course site.
Ideally, this introduces students to the purpose of the site and the various elements that they need to be
familiar with and use in their learning.
Purpose, expectations, guidelines and community are all important aspects to consider here and there needs
to be a synergy or mirroring between the physical and virtual environments. You could create an orientation
page by adding a Content area. Often times this Content area is called “Start Here” or “Welcome”. Here are
some suggestions of what to include:
‣ ¾ A short recording where you welcome students and provide some motivating and engaging statements
to stimulate their interest and briefly explain the important parts of the site;
‣ ¾ If you recorded your in-class orientation, you could also upload it here;
‣ ¾ Provide a student version of the course site-map you have created (see “Managing Your Course Site” in
the “Management and Administration” section of this guide). Each of the menu areas could be describe
in further detail to explain their role in the overall course design;
‣ ¾ Guidelines that support the effective and appropriate use of the course site and its various elements (e.g.,
communication protocols, staff and student expectations, etc.).
For more information on creating a new content area, visit:
Ü Blended Learning Support site > Using Learning@Griffith > Administration tools >
Manage course menu
Section 2.3 Implementing
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