Blended Learning

6.

Have real-world relevance

Are ill defined, requiring students to define the tasks and subtasks needed to complete the activity

Provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources

Provide the opportunity to collaborate

Provide the opportunity to reflect and involve students' beliefs and values

E-mail and Web forms are used to enable learners to communicate with mentors and workplace assessors.

Face-to-face teaching supports students in understanding their role and the associated activities in the planning and task solution.

Discussion boards, e-mail, and face-to-face experiences provide opportunities for gaining multiple perspectives on the tasks.

Classroom settings supported by Web-based communication provide support to group-based activities and teamwork.

Differing solutions are used to provide opportu­nities for students to compare their work with others and to reflect on the steps taken and solutions achieved.

of the task through the connections to the workplace and workplace mentors, problem support, and various forms of assistance for the learners in their group work and reflective practices.

Conclusion

The use of authentic activities as a context for learning provides many opportu­nities for both instructors and students. But the opportunities come at a cost. Learners are often required to engage in a raft of unfamiliar activities and to take ownership of what is a complex and difficult learning experience. The use of blended learning provides a number of supports for this form of teaching and learning, in both the affordances it offers for using real-life problems and the supports it provides for the learners and their interactions. Strong support for students in their immersion into student-centered learning environments is crucial. This support is particularly important when the students are required to take own­ership of the problem and where they can feel isolated and distant from the rest of the learning community.

Creating Authentic Learning Environments Through Blended Learning Approaches

Well-designed blended learning settings can provide the forms of teacher support and peer scaffolding that many students will need to more effectively engage in student-centered and problem-based tasks. Blended learning also provides the forms of assistance learners need to overcome any initial difficulties and uncertainty. This chapter has described distinct ways in which blended learn­ing provides many supports for authentic activities. It also argues for the use of blended learning in any form of learning design seeking to create opportunities for learners to be immersed in complex and student-centered tasks. Our work suggests a strong need for researchers to continue to explore this form of learning design and investigate design strategies that will guide instructors and designers in the appropriate forms of blended learning they choose to employ.

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