Blended learning is a style of education that combines traditional face-to-face teaching methods with online learning. The online and in-person learning experiences parallel and complement one another, providing a comprehensive learning experience. This page will give you an introduction to designing for blended learning.

Why design blended learning courses?

A course that applies blended learning is a course in which learning activities and assessment activities are carried out in both the physical and the digital learning environment. A blended course involves scheduled face-to-face class sessions that are accompanied by online materials and activities - essentially a “blend” of both live (synchronous) and online learning.

Blended learning is a dynamic and adaptable educational strategy that can meet the unique needs of healthcare educators and students alike, for several reasons:

Flexible design: Blended learning offers variation in terms of time, place, path, or pace of learning. This is especially useful for healthcare professionals who often have demanding schedules (Cronje, 2022).
Efficiency: By combining the best of both online and traditional methods, blended learning provides an efficient approach to professional development (Shang & Liu, 2018).
Adaptability: Blended learning prepares healthcare professionals for the multifaceted challenges of modern healthcare delivery. It allows for the adaptation of teaching methods to suit the needs of individual learners (Boelens et al. 2018).

Blended learning through Canvas

You are a designer of the learning experience. In this role you select which activities will work best online and which will be best in-person in the physical environment. You should ask yourself, how will I structure my teaching and learning activities? How will I design my Canvas course for a blended mode delivery?

Canvas, KI's learning platform, serves as your tool for implementing blended learning. Here, you'll provide instructions for activities and assessments, fostering discussion and collaboration. Unlike traditional lecture formats, Canvas enables diverse student interactions with course content, prompting thoughtful design of learning experiences rather than mere content coverage in your blended learning approach. As you listen to the video on this page, reflect on how Canvas facilitates blended learning delivery.

Start Here for Blended Learning Design

In this video (4.10 min) Chris Tuffnell introduces the concept of blended learning design.The video underscores the concept of blended learning, integrating both self-directed individual learning and in-person group sessions. Chris warns against content-led design, citing "Course bloat". The alternative, outcomes-focused design, prioritizes clear, measurable learning goals, guiding decisions on assessments, content, and activities. Chris also suggests that AI technology can speed up your planning process.

Your choice

If you prefer to read the transcript for this video you can open it in preview mode or download the Word file below.

M2.3 Start Here for Blended Learning Design.docx

Tip: If you open the ReadSpeaker TextAid link in the "Module" view you will be able to Annotate the file as well as download an audio version of the file to listen to on-the-go (one page at the time)!

Reflect: Ask yourself

Where can you plan for opportunities for self-directed asynchronous activities that you publish in Canvas?
Which sessions are more meaningful if given synchronously?

Write you reflections in your reflection log.

Using AI to help with course design?

Watch this video where Chris shows you how to Design Your Course in Minutes with ChatGPT (video length: 7'40").

References

Castro-Rodríguez MM, Marín-Suelves D, López-Gómez S, Rodríguez-Rodríguez J. (2020). Mapping of Scientific Production on Blended Learning in Higher Education. Education Sciences. 11(9):494. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090494
Cronje, JC. (2022). From face-to-face to Distance: Towards Flexibility in five Dimensions of Blended Learning: Lessons Learnt from the Covid-19 Pandemic. (2022). Electronic Journal of E-Learning. https://doi.org/10.34190/ejel.20.4.2201
Shang, F., & Liu, C.-Y. (2018). Blended learning in medical physiology improves nursing students’ study efficiency. Advances in Physiology Education, 42(4), 711–717. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00021.2018
Boelens, R., Voet, M., & De Wever, B. (2018). The design of blended learning in response to student diversity in higher education: Instructors’ views and use of differentiated instruction in blended learning. Computers and Education, 120, 197–212. https://libkey.io/libraries/99/articles/183999841/full-text-file?utm_source=api_265