Blended Learning Formats

[Helen DolanParticipant]

Hello all,

I am new to the CoI forum and am looking forward to sharing knowledge and experiences with everyone! For my first post, I’ll dive right in with a question that I’ve had for some time now.

As a grad student, I have been enrolled in a number of blended learning courses. In some cases, the course is configured such that some of the students are in the classroom with the professor while others (distance students) join the weekly class online via Blackboard Collaborate. All students participate in the Moodle asynchronous discussion threads. In my experience, the ‘division’ between the in-class students and the online students has been very problematic. There exists a widespread sentiment that the in-class students are developing a closer relationship with the professor, and that the online students are at a distinct disadvantage as a result (favouritism, professor ‘not paying as much attention to us,’ etc). I would be interested in learning whether this sort of format is common among Canadian universities, or whether most universities employ an “either/or” set-up; i.e. “everyone is in class or everyone is online” — not a combo of the two. (I should note that the asynchronous Moodle threads have been generally well received as a component of blended learning. The problem rests in the weekly classroom / Collaborate sessions.)

I would be most grateful to hear others’ thoughts and experiences!

A little bit about me: I am enrolled in the Master of Arts (Communications) program at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. I am currently preparing the proposal for my thesis, which will examine the creation of community among graduate students in blended learning environments. Through a comparative mixed methods approach, I hope to explore graduate students’ experiences of community in blended learning environments at two Canadian universities: MSVU and another university of a similar size (TBD). Among the relationships that I aim to elucidate are the impact of students’ experiences of community on course satisfaction, academic performance, and the development of cohesive learning communities through blended learning approaches.

Many thanks!
Helen Dolan
helen.dolan@msvu.ca
helenkdolan@gmail.com

[Madelaine BefusKey Master]

Hello Helen

I’m aware that University of Victoria (BC) offers what they term a “multi-access” option. Dr. Valerie Irvine in particular has spearheaded this initiative. You’ll find her blog and papers here: http://edtech.uvic.ca/virvine/

Madelaine

[Helen DolanParticipant]

Hello Madelaine,

Profuse apologies for the delayed reply! (I am not sure how I missed your response, but I am pleased to have discovered it now!) In any case, thank you so much for directing me to Dr. Irvine’s website. The multi-access learning framework directly conforms to the environment that I described in my initial post. In particular, we employ the Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels as described in Realigning Higher Education for the 21st-Century Learner through Multi-Access Learning (Code, Irvine & Richards, 2013).

I look forward to exploring Dr. Irvine’s blog and publications in greater depth, and apologize again for my tardiness in acknowledging your very helpful reply! It is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Helen Dolan

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