What is blended e-Learning ?
The term blended learning is used to describe a solution that combines several different delivery methods. These can be a mix of various even-based activities such as face to face classrooms, live e-learning and software sharing, and self-paced learning.
The teaching methodology has been developed through many stages. We can categorise these stages in 3 distinct forms: in-campus, distance learning and virtual teaching (e-learning).
Traditional Universities:
The oldest method of teaching that is universally adopted all over the world is to offer lectures face-to-face in classrooms or theatres. Of course workshops are also carried out in laboratories and classrooms as well. The problem of this method was felt in the last decades of the 20th century. The demand for higher education increased sharply but the traditional universities could not catch up with the same paste.
Open Univerisities:
In order to solve this problem, the distance learning methodology was introduced and open universities were formed based on this idea. The main objective was to encourage students to follow the course by using self-paced material usually in written format and in some cases, audio/video materials up to 5% of the total content. Although this method proved to be cost effective and provided higher education to those who could not attend classrooms due to their working situations or otherwise, nevertheless, was not entirely successful in achieving quality students.
Virtual Universities:
By introduction of world-wide-web in Internet and spread of its network to almost any home, distance learning materials have been transformed into web based formats. The new technique was called e-learning and virtual universities have been created using this method of delivery. In e-learning, self-paced courses are offered to students. They can log into the course, read through all of materials and answer some questions online. Then students proceed to the next lesson and so on. Although this technique is highly successful and has been adopted or being adopted by many universities, it is not a perfect one. The online courses were not engaging and they were not motivating enough students to stick with it and finish the class. The social aspect of classrooms is missing in this method. This deficiency has been fulfilled to some extent by introduction of live classrooms via Internet.
In this approach, the entire class does not have to run in real time. One can blend the self-paced (asynchronous) e-learning with the live classes (synchronous) together to make an advanced virtual classroom. This can engage students and make them feel a part of “class” but with some extent of freedom in self-paced study. Ways of incorporating live e-learning experience are to have chats, discussion threads, group work, and real-time class meetings with whiteboards and file sharing.
Synchronous e-learning imitates a classroom,
which means classes take place in real-time and connect instructors and
students via streaming audio or video or through a conference room.
Asynchronous e-learning lets a student
access pre-packaged training on his own time, working at his own pace
and communicating with the instructor or other students through e-mail.
Some vendors specialize in e-learning packages that run over a company's
servers. Others use an application service provider model and handle everything
from creating a training course to storing the information. Asynchronous
simply means that the students and the instructor do not have the need
to be working at the same time for the establishment of a teaching- learning
transaction.
In distance education environments, students have an educational relationship mostly separated in time, place or both. Typically, media are classified in print, audio, video and electronic. Print, as in correspondence education is asynchronous; audio could be synchronous, such as an audio conference, or asynchronous, as an audio tape. Video could be asynchronous (a video tape) or synchronous (a videoconferencing session). On-line learning is mostly asynchronous because the courses and instructions are available 24/7 and the students can read and post messages anytime. However, with the increasing use of Virtual Classroom features for learning, some communication online occurs synchronously. In addition, audio and video streaming could be used in both ways, as a live or recorded learning activity.
Integrated Universities
| What is Integrated Universities? |
The future of e-learning lies in a more practical
concept called blended
eLearning. According to most industry experts the
delivery method of choice for some engineering and managerial courses
that involves soft-skills and IT training is still the classroom.
It is worth mentioning that Instructor-led training has been the
primary method of training for decades. But what is new is that
this approach has been supplemented by such activities as reading
books, doing research, using self-paced training material offered
on videotapes or CD-ROMs, and direct interaction with tutors for
workshops to form an integrated blended eLearning method that enjoys
from benefits of all previous worlds. Determining the right blend of technology-delivered and classroom-based learning is almost like perfecting a recipe, writes Justin Hearn. We, at ITU, think we have perfected a recipe for offering European standard higher education to students in the developing countries. This approach was first introduced by Dr SMA Shahrestani in 1987 and was adopted by UNESCO in the same year. It was then tested partially in TEMPUS programmes for 10 years (1990-2000) and in ICIS courses since 1990. The result was discussed with the General Secretary of FUIW in January 2001 and consequently an agreement under “FUIW Chair Program” was signed in July 2001. |
| Advantages of blended eLearning |
The following figure shows the advantages of an integrated blended learning
scheme created by ITU since 1987 and developed further to include
advances of Internet to form blended eLearning: ITU uses the classrooms of the traditional
universities, the distance learning methodology Some advantages of bleded eLearning are as follows:
(b)
It offers considerable flexibility and time saving because students can
choose where and when to study using the teaching
learning materials.
(c)
Students have regular interaction with the Module Leaders via E-learning. This enables them to discuss
and clarify anything they could not understand from the teaching
learning materials.
(d)
Direct face to face interaction with Local Teachers who can help students
in their own language. Workshops are initially discussed with local
teachers before their submission to the Module Leaders.
(a)
Students have fast access to the Programme
Manager. Students can choose the title of their dissertation to fit in with their
interests and expertise. They can also choose the time of submitting
their dissertation after the satisfactory completion of all taught
modules.
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| Further Study: |
There is a book titled “Blended
eLearning” by Dr. Larry Bielawski and David Metcalf,
Ph.D, examines the current “state of the art” and takes a broad
look at the latest instructional techniques, tools, and strategies
that will help you to more effectively realize the benefits of e-learning.
Moreover, the following are links which you might
find useful: Blended e-Learning, by Dorie Henrie www.easternlincs.org/newsletter/
winter2002/Blendedelearning.htm Blended Basics, How to pick from the best of both delivery worlds, by Justin Hearn http://www.n-email.net/TRIMAX/blended_basics.htm Blended Learning Models, by Purnima Valiathan http://www.learningcircuits.com/2002/aug2002/valiathan.html Blended eLearning software
developed by filenet www.filenet.com/English/Customer_Center/
Global_Learning_Services/eLearning
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