Page 60 - BLENDED LEARNING

The blend comes to life
The technological component of the course was made possible by using a virtual
facade of the course: a webpage which was WebCT based and has private access
for all enrolled students.

The blend only comes to life when both instructors and students use it to carry
out the course tasks, allowing for learning to take place at each individual’s speed.
Face-to-face instruction demands students refer to course materials or tasks that
are online, thus becoming a unit. There are three types of use during the semester:
the orientation session, during the semester, and evaluation.

Tools in the blend
The Department preferred to buy already made software that suited our needs
and allowed us to further develop the English programme without becoming
programmers or engineers. Thus, this blend uses a specialised learning management
system for languages (language LMS) known as Wimba (now Collaborate), in-house
designed audio/visual material, and internet projects. Each of these resources aims
at different objectives and thus entails different methodologies and roles for the
participants.

Online lab
The online lab is a language LMS which provides oral communication within a course
or an institution. It is an empty structure that may be developed according to the
type of course. In other words, this tool is a group of skeletons which we, both
instructor and students, help bring to life by creating their complexion, selecting their
attire, and inviting them out. We create their complexion by feeding them different
types of exercises because the software does not have pre-determined exercises.
Also, we dress these skeletons according to the occasion, which means that we
select the course content that we want to teach. Also, we give life to these skeletons,
depending on the way we use them and the role we want them to play in our course.
In this LMS, there are different skeletons, each one identified with a name: oral
discussion boards, drills, voicemail, and oral presentations.

Video and listening
Face-to-face instructions used video and listening input. It is not a new perspective
that video can be used in ELT (Allan, 1985). What is new is the control and creation
of the input since now the instructor does not control the pauses and students
have unlimited access to it. The incorporation of these in the web page changed
the instructors’ role and shifted to a learner-controlled environment. At the moment
we have more than three in-house created videos and are also using selected videos
from web pages or YouTube that address course needs and goals. There is a shift
towards student-created material (see the unedited student production: http://youtu.
be/em30lGMn4t8, and http://youtu.be/58Pj4L0T12k).

Incorporating blended learning | 57