Chapter 4 Reading Response

Not much new information learned this week from what I have already known about Blended learning design.  One thing educators need to keep in mind is that “online materials are central to a blended course’s success” and that the materials should be an extension of the assessment process.  They should also be student centered.  I am still planning to facilitate my course(s) into learning modules as indicated in the reading, and having the online portion cohesively integrated with the F2F portion.

I was introduced to some new technology techniques as presented in Table 2 (Preparing for blended e-learning – 5 learning activity techniques, Littlejohn and Pegler, 2007).  Hot Potatoes was a new site to explore.  The matrix also provide an opportunity to address the five types of learning activities:  Assimilative, Adaptive, Communication, Productive, and Experiential.  For my course, assimilative activities will include students viewing teacher created video clips and publisher created lessons information.  For the Adaptive and Experiential activities students will work with “Gizmos” and graphing calculator software.  The students will also complete module content discussion boards to address communicative learning activities.  I am still exploring ideas for Productive learning activities, but one possibility will be having students create videos of problem completion on virtual whiteboards.