Converting to a Blended Learning Environment

The Scenario: 
A training manager has been frustrated with the quality of communication among trainees in his face-to-face training sessions and wants to try something new. With his supervisor’s permission, the trainer plans to convert all current training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. In addition, he is considering putting all of his training materials on a server so that the trainees have access to resources and assignments at all times.


Summary of Action Plan:


Creating an online course or converting a face-to-face training to a blended course takes much pre-planning. The trainer needs to take into consideration many aspects of distance learning, such as, software. Dr. Piskurich explains the role of the online instructor as being incredibly important. In this case, the trainer is the designer of the course, and the facilitator. The trainer must be able to understand the software being used and be able to keep up with all the activities he or she is having the students do. He or she must plan and be familiar with the whole lesson plan before starting the course. 


What are some of the pre-planning strategies the trainer needs to consider before converting his program?
1. Software familiarity
2. Learner characteristics


What aspects of his original training program could be enhanced in the distance learning format?
1. Discussion forums
2. Instructional activities involving technology
3. More choices for students 
4. More ways to assess student learning


How will his role, as trainer, change in a distance learning environment?
1. Update all materials to an online server
2. Become an online facilitator


What steps should the trainer take to encourage the trainees to communicate online?
1. Give statistics of blended learning success
2. Prepare a presentation and orientation before starting the online portion
3. Show how easy it is to access information for the course
4. Give the option of signing in online instead of in person at times




References: 

Piskurich, G. (2012) "Facilitating Online Learning" Laureate Education, Inc.      Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Zvacek, S. (2012) Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, Fifth Edition Pearson Education, Inc.

Free Online Course Analysis: Open Culture

Open Culture 
http://www.openculture.com/

Open Culture is a site where you can choose out of four hundred twenty-five free online courses from top universities. They are mostly formatted as video lectures on YouTube Vimeo, or iTunes. The site also includes audio books, movies, language lessons, eBooks and cultural icons. The site is funded and supported by advertisements and suggested links.

Open Culture seems to be carefully pre-planned with easy-to-navigate web pages. It is set up successfully for a distance-learning environment by having all material accessible on the Internet. Most of the classes are simply video lectures, so they do not follow all the recommendations for online instruction from the course text. Page two hundred forty three lists everything that should be included in a syllabus: course logistics, course policies, instructional activities, assessment information, and additional information. The course text explains recommendations for courses that require credit or a grade.

The course I chose to navigate is Introduction to Visual Thinking. It does not have course activities, but simply lectures with different images, presenters, and videos within the eleven video lectures. The main presenter is speaking to a face to-face class, and is recorded for the distance learners. Since it is a free course, it seems like it is set up to help students gain more information possibly for another course, or just for fun. The course online is not set up with a syllabus, course activities, or assessment.

On page one hundred seventy three, the course text outlines Foley’s general principles of good design. In Open Culture, the target audience seems to be well known. Anyone who wants more information on visual thinking in general or someone who is looking for an idea for art making would benefit from this course. Foley also expresses the need for the content of subject matter to be delivered. This course could have more of a specific summary of its parts. It only has a title to let learners know what might be included in the course. If students are choosing the course for fun or to gain information for something else, they need more information before beginning the course.

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Zvacek, S. (2012) Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education, Fifth Edition. Pearson Education, Inc.

http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses