What is Blended Learning at NIC?
- Teaching and learning activities occur in the on-campus classroom and in digital formats using a variety of learning technologies and digital resources.
- The course has scheduled and required in-class instruction and contact time between instructor and students.
- The course also has regular digital interactions between the course instructor and students.
- The amount of time for the digital activity vs. the in-class activity is set by the instructor and varies by course.
- Students should refer to the course meeting schedule or outline for more details.
- Blended courses often have content delivered in digital formats leaving the in-class time for application activities, experiential and hands-on learning along with specific assessments.
- There are defined expectations and deadlines for completion of assignments and other course related activities both for the on-campus classes and digital interactions.
- Students may have to work in groups with other students or do collaborative activities.
- Group activities may be done during in-class and/or via digital format interactions.
- Mid-terms, tests, and quizzes including any final exams will take place digitally via a variety of formats.
- If a final exam is scheduled for the course, the exam will take place digitally on a certain day/time according to the institutional exam schedule.
- There may be optional real-time office hours as part of the course.
- More info: Digital Learning Formats for 2020/2021 – Characteristics and Components (PDF)
Blended learning has many elements that need planning, organization and execution to appropriately engage students in successful blended learning experiences. Here are some tips:
- Use in-class learning experiences for hands-on, applied and pratical experiences.
- Use in-class learning experiences for assessments and demonstrations of learning that need to be observed, done with materials or in environments that have specialized resources.
- Put all content engagement, reading, watching, passive learning experiences to the digital format.
- Have students engage in small assessments (e.g., a short quiz, post in discussion forum, video summary) prior to arriving for in-class learning. In this way you can see where you may need to re-teach or re-emphasize certain learning that may not have been successfully obtained.
Resources for Instructors
Best Practices for Designing Blended Courses | Webpage from Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
Blended Learning | Webpage from Centre for Teaching and Learning, Concordia University
Getting Started with Designing a Hybrid Learning Course | Webpage from Center for Teaching Innovation, Cornell University
Blended and Online Learning | Website from Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning | University of Calgary
Blended Learning | a free e-book by Jackie Doherty