Access and Opportunity: A Comprehensive Strategy for a Blended

Learning Initiative

Mary Niemiec and Tanya Joosten

Overview

• Defining blended for your campus

• Administrative Buy-In and Support

• Faculty training and support

• Student orientation and support

• Evidence of Impact

• Financial Model

Introductions

• Mary Niemiec, University of Nebraska, mniemiec@nebraska.edu

• Tanya Joosten, University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee, tjoosten@uwm.edu

• All of you?

About UWM: Online.UWM.edu

First Last University First Last University

David Cassiday

University of Nebraska-Omaha Cathy Leaker

Empire State College

Aida DiazValencia College Maria Alice Lemos

FGV-Getulio Vargas Foundation

Thomas Fuhr SUNY Potsdam Kerry ThomasCollege of Liberal Arts

Jeffrey GetchellRegis University Trescot Wilson

Bermuda College

Cathy HardisonHeritage University Douglas Zehr

William Penn University

Kathleen HutchinsonMiami University Joseph Zisk

California University of PA

Presentation

• Can be found in digital form at:– http://tinyurl.com/aln2011

• Other resources can be found at:– http://aln2011.wikispaces.com

Defining blended for your campus

Blended course definition: A faculty perspective

• Blended courses – • Integrate online with traditional face-to- face

class activities in a planned, pedagogically valuable manner; and

• Replace a portion (institutionally defined) of face-to-face time by online activity

• (2005 Sloan-C Workshop on Blended Learning)

Web-enhanced0 - 20%

blended21 - 99%

Online100%

blended 121 - 50%

Online withcommensurate

reduction in seat time

blended 381 - 99%

Online withcommensurate

reduction in seat time

blended 251 - 80%

Online withcommensurate

reduction in seat time

Blended course definition: An Institutional Definition

UWM’s Institutional Definition

Blended course definitions: A Pedagogical Model

Activity: Blended definition

• Why does your campus need to define blended?

• Who needs to be involved in defining blended for your campus?

• What is blended? How is it different from face-to-face? Online? others?

• Where will the definition live?

Administrative Buy-In and Support

Areas of needed support

Faculty stipends

Course redesign support

Program development

Faculty training and support

UW-Milwaukee Faculty Development Program:

Purpose | Format | Outcomes

Overall purpose or goals

• Design, develop, teach, and advocate for blended courses

• A practical approach – Get started– Redesign course– Develop course material– Acquire teaching skills

Program format

• Taught in a blended format and in multiple formats during the academic year

• Face-to-face meetings and online assignments

– Model good blended practices

– Experience blended course as a student

– Effective teaching model

• Experienced blended teachers are program facilitators

Schematic of Faculty Development Program

1stface-to-face

session

Out-of-class assignment

and discussion(learning module)

2ndface-to-face

session

Out-of-class assignment

and discussion(assessment

plan)

Out-of-class activity

and discussion (syllabus)

Friday Friday

Wednesday WednesdaySunday

Program activities

• Presentation, demonstration, small-group activities, facilitator feedback, peer feedback, online discussion, consultation

• Emphasis on faculty “active learning”– Discussing– Questioning– Developing

Six Main Program Outcomes

1. Start of a redesigned course– Course redesign plan– Course syllabus– Learning modules

2. New teaching skills and knowledge– Building a learning community– Assessment of student learning

Six Main Program Outcomes

3. Re-examine both face-to-face and online component

4. Faculty know what to expect– Student expectations– Technology issues– Teaching challenges

5. Faculty get their questions answered

6. Faculty make an early start on course development

Program evaluation

• Progressive & summative – Classroom assessment techniques– “Reality check” survey– Anonymous survey at end of program

• Ongoing– Queries from instructors– Follow-up interactions– Formal debriefings– Certificate Program for Online and Blended

• Ten questions • Online vs. F2F - Integration• Designing learning modules

• Decision rubric for content choices

• Learning objects

Course Content

• Progressive/summative• Before, during, and after• Self evaluation• Peer evaluation• Student evaluation

Course Evaluation

• Rubrics• CATs• Templates • Traditional formats

Assessment Plan

• Synchronous/asynchronous• Establishing voice• Discussion forums• Small groups

Online Learning Community

• Managing expectations• Time management• Technology support

Helping Your Students

• Staying organized• Managing workload• Avoiding course and a half

Course Management

Course Redesign

Transitioning to blended Teaching

Eight lessons we’ve learned

1. Incentives & time for participation2. Participants with prior experience using technology3. Blended format for faculty development program4. Involve experienced blended teachers as facilitators5. Plenty of time for participant interaction (face-to-face)6. Provide regular, fast, and positive feedback7. Focus on pedagogy (redesign conversations) more than

technology (support solutions)8. Open door policy: Provide continuous support and maintain

contact

Eight ongoing challenges

1. Identification of blended courses2. Quality control of courses3. Certification of participants4. Workload issues5. Cohorts and stragglers6. Following up & measuring success7. Working with math, computing, engineering, and

the natural sciences8. Scalability

DiscussionIn groups, please consider these questions:

• Identify your role(s) [e.g., faculty trainer, IT support, campus administrator, faculty, etc.]

• What resources or elements of campus culture do you think you can draw on to establish a faculty blended course redesign program?

• What challenges do you think that you will face on your own campus when you consider implementing a faculty blended course redesign program? How might you address them?

Note: Please refer to the “Next Steps” handout for more details.

Student orientation and support

Learner Support and Resources• Tips for being a successful student in a blended course• Quiz to self-assess readiness to be a student in a blended course• Contact information for technical support or Help Desk • Checklist or other method for common troubleshooting tips• Tutorial(s) or aids for how to use D2L tools• Netiquette guidelines• Contact information for the instructor • Link(s) to Bookstore(s) to order textbooks or other instructional materials• Checklist or other method for common troubleshooting tips• Minimum computer hardware and software requirements• Sources for any required plug-ins (and links)• Links to appropriate campus library resources and services (e.g.,

reference librarian, electronic reserve, and online library tutorials)• Access to other campus services, tutoring, enrollment and registration,

adult and returning adults (synchronous support, JiTT)

Student Support

• What units on campus will provide services to students in your blended and online programs?

• How will you determine their readiness?

• How will needed services for blended students be supported?

Evidence of Impact

Sloan Pillars of Evaluation

Access

Learning Effectiveness

Cost Effectiveness

Student Satisfaction

Teacher Satisfaction

Questions of Evaluation

Why?

• Illustrate the impact of blended learning on teaching and learning to a

specific audience

Who?

• Provide multiple perspectives

What?

• Examine multiple variables

Questions of Evaluation

How?

• Gather individual perceptions (Likert survey, narratives) and/or

institutional data (grade and retention data)

When?

• Anticipate a realistic timetable

Possible Methods

• Who is your sample?

• Who is going to analyze?

• What methods will you use?

– Quantitative (Likert surveys, institutional data)

– Qualitative (open-ended surveys, focus groups/debriefing sessions,

narratives, case studies)

• How will you present the data? To who?

Examples of Instruments

Surveys, Narratives, Focus Groups

Sample Likert Survey ItemsStrongly Disagree ---------------------------- Strongly Agree, N/A

Engagement: The blended learning activities in required me to think critically.

Learning: The blended format helped me think more deeply about course material.

Performance: My experience in the blended environment helped me do better on my exams and other assignments.

Satisfaction: I would take another course that is blended.

Sample Open-Ended Survey

• What was one thing that you would change about your experience in a

blended course?

• What was one thing that you liked about your experience in a blended

course?

• How did the blended format impact your learning for this course?

Faculty Narrative SamplePlease tell us about your experience transforming your course into the blended learning model this past semester from start to end. In telling us your story of implementation, please consider the following:

• what persuaded you to use the blended format,• what steps you took to prepare for the start of the semester,• how you used the blended format to better meet your goals, and • how the blended format impacted your class.

Faculty Debriefing/Focus Group

Blended Model Design• What's one thing you did try that worked really well? • What's one new thing that you are going to try to do next time?Challenges and Obstacles• What was the most significant obstacle or problem you encountered

with the blended model? • What's the one thing that you wish you had known *before* you started

teaching using the blended model?Faculty Development and Support• If you could ask your for more help or support in one particular area,

what would you ask for?

UCF Distributed Learning Impact Evaluation

Students Faculty

Reactive behaviorpatterns

SuccessSatisfaction

Demographicprofiles

Retention

Strategies forsuccess

Online programs

Writing project model

Large online classes

Higher orderevaluation models

Student evaluation ofinstruction

Theater

Informationfluency

Generationalcomparisons

Activity: Planning Your EvaluationWhy?What do you want to illustrate and to who? Otherwise, how will the results of the evaluation be

shared and used? Who?What is the size of your implementation? What?What variables are you interested in understanding better? How?What existing data do you have available to you through your institutional research unit or others

(e.g., teacher evaluations, grade performance, student characteristics, retention rates)? When?What timeline do you foresee for this evaluation?

Financial Model

Sloanconsortium.org/blended