“Oh yeah, you blend.”

“Oh yeah, you blend.”


Please take a deep breath before you continue reading.  When I blog usually a whirl wind follows, so consider yourself warned.  :)

The initial question of what one will blend into their "blended course" seems easy enough, but is it a whopper! I have been drafing this blog all week.

Although it seems simple to say, "Blended learning is not simply adding an online component to a face-to face course" it required me to reflect on what exactly did I intend to do for my course.
I love using technology in my courses but I don't want to use it just for "TECH OF IT."
I learned so much about how I have been using technology in class.  I questioned why my students seemed to always need me to hold their hand in using technology. The flurries of frustration revisit me even as I write this, "Do they really need me to show them step by step?"  I mean it seems logical to click the bold letters POST.   So I really appreciated  that students should be able to perform online tasks wi th little prompting.  This meant I needed to reflect on what I was doing within the classroom that seemed to foster my students wanting me to hold their hands "technologically speaking."

So the promt for this blog just seemed to get bigger and bigger with no way to tackle it. So I will try to attempt to explicate my blend ideas.

I would like to create a way to discuss the case studies , lecture, live chat and live discussion. Collaboaration is a must in my classes.

I believe the element of online discussion will be one of the most important part of my blended course.
I feel so much pressure to post something significant and to respond to others in a coherient manner when I participate in online discussions. I think this is good peer pressure and we all need this type of pressure to keep us reflecting on what we know and how to use it.  The discussion element is important also because even if a student does not know what is going on, they can visit other students posts and get a clue. It forces them to become active learners and accept responsibility for their critical thinking process.

It is my belief that when students are involved in online discussions they start to see the connection between what is discussed in class, what they are writing about and the online discussions. This connects with the previous thought about discussion being so important.

The discussion element should follow up what what done in class that week. This way they see the connections and why this type of writing is important.

I also would like to incorporate live chat with students. Virtual Conferencing is something I have been doing for the past 5 years and students really respond to it. I have my reservations about using stickly within the limitations of BlackBoard, but I am willing to try it out.

So what I have decided at this point in time about "My Blend" is I want to use discussion as a means to engage students and virtual conferencing. This leaves many gaps, I know, but one has to start somewhere and this is my begining point.

My ultimate goal is of course to blend, but thankfully I have several months to design my awesome "Blended Course."
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Photo Credit:

Vidani, Peter. "Alexandra Ewing Is on the Internet. (gravityismyenemy: “Oh Yeah, You Blend.”)." Alexandra Ewing Is on the Internet. Web. 18 July 2011. <http://alexandra-ewing.tumblr.com/post/2483027492>.