Blended Learning

• The ASTD e-Learning Handbook
  Best Practices, Strategies, and Case Studies for an Emerging Field. Allison Rossett, Editor The Blended Learning section of the ASTD Handbook includes Elliott Masie's chapter, "Blended Learning: The Magic Is in the Mix".
• Blended Learning
  The Educause Resource Center provides links to several resources related to Blended Learning. One of these, a 2004 resource (ID: ERB0407) is currently password protected for ECAR members:
  Authors: Charles D. Dziuban, Joel L. Hartman, and Patsy D. Moskal
  Abstract: "Seven years of research at the University of Central Florida (UCF) has found that blended courses--those that combine face-to-face instruction with online learning and reduced classroom contact hours--have the potential to increase student learning while lowering attrition rates compared to equivalent, fully online courses. This research bulletin reports the results of a disciplined UCF program that has led to a fundamental redesign of the instructional model."
  EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) provides research and analysis to help higher education leaders make better decisions about information technology.
• Blended Learning: What is it and where might it take us?
  This featured article by Richard Voos appeared in Sloan-C View, Perspectives in Quality Online Education, v2, n1, February, 2003. It's opening paragraph states: "Blended learning - a combination of face-to-face and online media, with "seat time" significantly reduced - is an increasing proportion of instruction in U.S. higher education."
• Blended Learning: Why Everything Old Is New Again-But Better
  In Learning Circuits from ASTD (American Society for Training and Development ), Carolyn Gray's article of March, 2006 states: "With blended learning, the tried-and-true traditional learning methods are combined with new technology to create a synergistic, dynamic learning structure that can propel learning to new heights."
• Blended Learning and Sense of Community: A Comparative Analysis with Traditional and Fully Online Graduate Courses
  An article by Alfred P. Rovai and Hope M. Jordan of Regent University. From the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, August, 2004. Abstract: "Blended learning is a hybrid of classroom and online learning that includes some of the conveniences of online courses without the complete loss of face-to-face contact. The present study used a causal-comparative design to examine the relationship of sense of community between traditional classroom, blended, and fully online higher education learning environments. Evidence is provided to suggest that blended courses produce a stronger sense of community among students than either traditional or fully online courses."
• Library - Blended Learning
  The e-Learning Centre's Library contains links to many different topic areas This one is on Blended Learning, which the Centre defines as a: "learning solution created through a mixture of face-to-face and online learning delivered through a mix of media." Links to specific articles and web sites are provided with Reviewer Notes.
• New Models of Learning: Blending Asynchronous and Aynchronous Formats
  The Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning presented a forum on blended learning in 2003. There, a select group of experts was brought together to discuss this issue. The panel was moderated by Rosemary Lehman and included Wayne Pferdehirt, Rick Lillie, Eleanor Goldstein, Jennifer Hofman, and Chuck Kater. Afterwards, all panelists were interviewed. These interviews were videotaped, transcribed and have since been archived. They are available from the UW-Extension Instructional Communications Systems Training Web site. Discussion included the use of blended technologies, the use of videoconferencing and webconferencing for teaching, and examples of how videoconferencing was used for teaching. A handout is also available from the Conference's Resource Library
• Strategies for Building Blended Learning
  From the ASTD (American Society for Training and Development ) Learning Circuits, this article by Allison Rossett, Felicia Douglis, and Rebecca V. Frazee describes possible options for developing a blended learning approach. The authors give several examples where blended learning match specific situations. Published, June, 2003.
• University of Wisconsin Hybrid Course Web Site
  The Hybrid Course Project (1999-2001) was a University of Wisconsin (UW) system funded initiative to help seventeen UW instructors move part of their courses, currently taught face-to-face in a traditional classroom or lab setting, onto the web. The redesigned courses replaced a percentage of the lectures or labs with an equivalent amount of online learning. Included is a link to the article: Introduction to Hybrid Courses, by Carla Garnham and Robert Kaleta, Learning Technology Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, published in 2002.
• White Papers from EPIC
  Epic Group of the UK provides e-learning, blended learning and knowledge solutions. Their web site offers free downloads of white papers on many topics. The 2003 Blended Learning white paper by Donald Clark, CEO of Epic Group plc, "lays out a structure for achieving optimal blends, and identifies the components, criteria, models and tools to be used." The first section contains definition and discussion on what is blended learning.