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Lessons in blended learning:
Implementing an online

learning platform in the

adult education sector

Astrid Krake

The setting
In many classrooms, the days when a printed coursebook was the learners’ only aid
are quickly vanishing, and teachers and administrators alike are faced with questions
of how to integrate different materials into their classrooms. This is true not only for
language schools with predominantly younger learners: adult education institutions
such as the German ‘Volkshochschulen’, with their reputation for adhering to more
traditional approaches, are increasingly looking for ways to incorporate online
resources into their teaching.

The Munich Volkshochschule (MVHS), the biggest German institution of its kind, caters
for the needs of approximately 4,000 learners of English per term. Their learning
backgrounds are as manifold as their reasons for learning English: while some wish to
increase their employability by improving their language skills, others are motivated
by more personal reasons such as a relative whose partner speaks only English or
the wish to be able to communicate when on holiday. The MVHS course offering
reflects these different needs: learners can choose between General English at
A1 to C2 levels of the Common European Framework for Languages, Business
English as well as Cambridge exam preparation, with General English amounting
to approximately 65 per cent of the courses offered. The needs to cater for in this
section are the most extensive. Therefore, learners of General English can opt for:
■ ■ Intensive courses (10 hours/week, one level in 5 – 6 weeks).
■ ■ Twice-a-week offers (6 – 8 hours/week, one level in one term).
■ ■ Fast-track courses (once a week, three hours, one level in two terms).
■ ■ ‘Traditional’ courses (once a week, 90 minutes, one level in three to four terms).
Assuming that learners who need to progress quickly opt for more intensively-paced
learning, and knowing that professional commitments, business trips, illness or
other reasons can prevent them from coming to class, MVHS sought ways to keep
the attrition rate low and to become more attractive to new target groups, among
them younger learners accustomed to being surrounded by technology in their
everyday lives.

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