As an assistant instructional designer I mainly work on the online courses at the U of R. When I first started in my position I found myself very confused by all the different modes of delivery. Blended, Online, Remote, Hyflex, LIVE, Hybrid, etc. I could not figure out the distinctions between them. I always thought it was just me, but after reading Valerie Irvine’s “The Landscape of Merging Modalities” I was pleased to find out I’m not the only one who’s confused. As Valerie says:
“What used to be a simple binary of face-to-face or online has now become so extremely complex that our ability to understand each other is impaired.”
During my undergraduate degree I feel like I was only aware of face-to-face and online delivery methods. I’d never once considered that anything else even existed. Then when I started my career my mind was blown. So many different modes of delivery to meet the needs of each and every learner. And yet with all these different modes I still mainly only had a hand in the one’s that were fully online. That said, there have been a few occasions where I’ve supported LIVE courses, and a few occasions where I’ve supported blended courses.
I never really looked at these courses any differently from online. They often still have content that students have to complete online such as submitting assignments, attempting quizzes, or engaging in class discussion forums. The difference being that instead of reading or watching lectures created by the instructor in advance asynchronously, they take part in synchronous sessions and get class information that way. Due to the fact that my role is mainly just support, and as far as I can remember I’ve never worked on the initial development of one of these classes, I have never gotten the chance to really see the synchronous portions in action, or understand the reasoning behind them.
Now, even though I don’t have much experience with these delivery modes professionally, I truly love the idea of blended classrooms, especially after learning more about their benefits from this week’s readings. “Teaching in a digital age” talked about how online classes can be daunting for new students because it requires them to be very independent and manage their time on their own. With that in mind online course may not make much sense for first year students adjusting to a university workload, but blended on the other hand was viewed differently:
“Blended learning provides an opportunity for the gradual development of independent learning skills”
In blended classes students get the chance to try to do things on their own, while still having frequent synchronous sessions ensuring that everyone in the class is staying on track with the required pace of learning. In this sense it can sort of be seen as a warmup to fully online classes. Some people will try the course and learn it’s not the style for them and that they prefer face-to-face. Others will try the course and wish to have more independence, so they’ll opt for online courses in the future. And then there will be those who find the balance perfect and wish to take more blended courses in the future. The funny thing is as we learned this week, blended classes include a wide variety of possible designs. It’s got to be a bit weird for students signing up for a “Blended” course and having a general idea of what it includes but not knowing what the actual balance of face-to-face content and digital technology incorporation will be.
As much of a benefit as blended can be for students I tend to witness the benefits more for the teachers. “Teaching in a digital age” also talked about how it takes time to learn how to effectively teach online. It can be hard to develop a successful online class without any form of practice to understand what works well and what doesn’t. So, while blended can be a warmup for students, it can also be a warmup for teachers. An opportunity for them to dip their toes in the waters of online teaching, without fully abandoning the in-person methods they’re accustomed to. As I said, in the nearly five years I’ve worked in my position I haven’t supported many blended courses, and yet for the one’s I’ve been part of I’ve seen multiple instructors go from teaching blended courses to working with our team to develop the same courses as fully online instead.
It feels like a perfect middle ground for those who want to try online learning but aren’t sure if they’re capable of handling such a large amount of independence in their personal learning journey. Students can also have very busy lives, so blended can provide flexibility by having fewer synchronous on campus sessions, but also not abandoning those sessions completely as a benefit to those who need the flexibility but still prefer learning in a classroom setting. The more I thought about blended this week the more I wondered why I don’t see more of it in the university. To reference Hannah Montana, it really seems like it’s the best of both worlds.
Hi Josh
I like the way you described how, in your capacity as an instructional designer, you have had to negotiate the intricacies of various learning modalities. It’s encouraging to know that you’re not the only one who finds the different delivery methods confusing—many of us do! Your insights into blended learning are spot on. It appears to strike the ideal balance between the structure of in-person classes and the flexibility of online learning. I completely agree that both students and teachers can benefit greatly from blended learning. It’s a great way to build independence while still offering support. The potential of blended learning is truly highlighted in your reflection, and I hope to see more of it in the future!
Hey Josh,
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. It’s inspiring to hear how you initially found technology and online or blended classes unknown, yet you overcame the challenges and found your way in this technological era. You’ve clearly come a long way since starting your journey.
You made a great point about how planned learning offers an opportunity for graduate development of independent learning skills. I also liked how you brought up the concept of teaching in a digital age and explained blended learning so well. The way you discussed the flexibility of online learning compared to in-person classes was insightful. Thanks for sharing your valuable perspective!
Great post, Josh! I really like the insight from someone behind the scenes who help support a few of the modalities and see how they play out. I commented this on another post, but I feel that some of these modes truly can only work with university students. That independence and drive to work is not fully developed in a lot of our younger learners in the high school and elementary settings. As a high school teacher, I post a lot of my content online for kids to have if they’re away or to view after school when doing homework. Many take that as an opportunity to not come because they say, “it’s posted online” and then they have a funny way of still not doing it. Obviously high school is not a perfect world for this. I feel like university, while certainly not perfect is better for it. The students are paying to be there and that usually motivates them (usually haha) to actually get their work done because their literal future (and bank account) depends on it. I would like to see plans for use or studies on how well it has worked in public schools. Not well-funded private schools. Again, great insights. Lots to think about!
I completely agree that some delivery modes are simply more well suited to university students, but it’s nice to hear that you try to incorporate online elements into your teaching (even if some of the students appear to take advantage of that). While high school students might not be ready for fully online courses, integrating it even through just the presence of an online learning space is sure to have a huge impact if/when they become post-secondary students and decide to attempt their first online course. Thanks Greg!
“Great reflections! I agree, blended learning really does offer that middle ground for both students and instructors. It’s interesting how it can serve as a stepping stone toward fully online learning while still keeping the benefits of face-to-face interaction. Definitely the ‘best of both worlds’ as you said!”