Session Take Aways:
- Blend Your Own Faculty Development Program Using Open Components from the Blended Learning Toolkit
Speakers: Kevin Thompson & Linda Futch, Univ. of Central Florida- Great resource with downloadable templates with blended best practices, http://bit.ly/blendkit
- Comparing Traditional and Blended Learning: Evidence From the ClassroomSpeakers: Geri Mason & Baine Craft, Seattle Pacific University
- They captured both qualitative & quantitative data based upon Garrison & Vaughan's categories within their surveys.
- Their Conclusion: Blended learning doesn't help (in regards to retention, but maybe facilitate more group cohesion), but it doesn't hurt (Univ. needs more classroom space, professor needs to take a sabbatical)
- Confirmed that no new materials were developed for the blended course, which I personally viewed as a major item they should have addressed when transitioning to a blended environment and may have impacted their findings.
- Noted that their course catalog didn't indicate "blended" as a designation and some students took that by surprise.
- K12 to Higher Education, Two Perspectives on Planning for the Digital Future
Speakers: Kurt Kiefer, Stephen Sanders, Johannes Britz, Wisconsin Dept. of Ed & Univ. of Wisconsin- Planning process included focus groups and questionnaires. They mentioned investing in infrastructure and bandwidth as an important foundation.
- Faculty development is key.
- Digital content repository has also been a focus.
- End goal is to save teachers time and money while providing a global education for students.
- Online and Blended Learning: Maximizing the Investment
Speakers: Mary Niemiec & Laura Pederick, Univ. of Nebraska & Univ. of Wisconsin Milwaukee- Online programs are normally driven by a cost recovery model and income is used to fund resources (e.g. student support, instructional design, etc.)
- Blended programs have less new $$. Therefore, there is a need to look at allocation of resources to support a blended model.
- Defining K-12 Blended Learning: The Roles of Leaders, Teachers, Students & Parents
Speaker: Allison Powell, International Association of K-12 Online Learning- Main theme throughout the presentation focused on addressing diverse learners through differentiated instruction with a combination of face-to-face instruction coupled with independent online digital instruction.
- Model blended schools shared: Rocketship Education, New York School of One, Carpe Diem School, New Line Learning Academy.
- Start Strong: Residential Support for New Students of Blended and Online Education
Speaker: Joanne Dolan, Rasmussen College- Found many students apprehensive with online courses. Optional learning center/tutor program to support students with a goal of getting students off to a strong start (reduce anxiety).
- 30 minute session with experienced blended and online students; will start by asking students to log into their courses and assess their level and support needs. Ensure students leave with something concrete and useful.
- Improvements: brought advanced students (probed needs, e.g. APA formatting, reference pages) in and adapted program to focus on nursing students.
- How to Successfully Evaluate Blended Learning
Presenters: Chuk Dziuban & Patsy Moskal, University of Central Florida- Common term that arises is "quality" and is difficult to measure (clarity, authenticity, unity, suspense, economy, depth, proportion, vividness, emphasis, authority, flow & precision).
- UCF Blended Learning Toolkit survey instruments, http://blended.online.ucf.edu/evaluation-resources/survey-instruments/.
- Designing an Inquiry-Based Approach to Blended Learning
Presenter: Norm Vaughan, Mount Royal University, Canada- Dennis Littky, The 3R's of Engagement: 1) Relevance, 2) Rigour, 3) Relationships, http://bigpicture.org.
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Optimal Flow: the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.
- Daniel Pink, 1) Autonomy, 2) Mastery, 3) Purpose.
- Dimensions of engagement: social engagement, academic engagement, intellectual engagement
