Blended Learning and Online Tutoring: Planning Leaner Support and Activity Design

222 Pages·2008·1.13 MB·English

by  Janet Macdonald

Blended Learning and
Online Tutoring
Planning Learner Support and Activity Design
Janet Macdonald
GOWER e-BOOK
Blended Learning and Online Tutoring
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Blended Learning and
Online Tutoring
Planning Learner Support and Activity Design
Second Edition
JANET MACDONALD
© Janet Macdonald 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Gower Publishing Limited
Gower House
Croft Road
Aldershot
Hampshire GU11 3HR
England
Gower Publishing Company
Suite 420
101 Cherry Street
Burlington, VT 05401-4405
USA
Janet Macdonald has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
MacDonald, Janet, 1950–
Blended learning and online tutoring : planning learner
support and activity design. – 2nd ed.
1. Blended learning 2. Distance education
3. Telecommunication in education
I. Title
371.3'58
ISBN-13: 9780566088414
Library of Congress Control Number can be obtained from the Library of Congress.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall.
CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Preface to Second Edition xv
1 Introduction 1
Distance technologies: potential and pitfalls 1
Blended learning and blended teaching strategies 2
What this book contains 4
Who this book is for 5
A personal reflection 6
PART I APPROACHES TO BLENDED LEARNING
2 Tutor-Mediated Support: Reflecting on Present Practice 11
The SOLACE project 11
Blending support strategies 12
Supporting the group 15
Supporting the individual student 16
Convergence of campus-based and distance contexts 17
Summarising contact with groups and individuals 18
In summary 20
3 Tutors’ Perceptions of Effective Intervention 21
What makes for good quality? 21
Intervention quality and media choice 26
Which qualities do you value? 28
In summary 30
vi BLENDEDLEARNINGANDONLINETUTORING
4 Blended Learning and Pragmatism 31
A survey of current practice 31
Common components of blended learning 33
The teaching and learning environment 34
In summary 43
5 Blended Learning and Pedagogy 45
The contribution of asynchronous support 45
The contribution of face-to-face support 47
Pedagogy meets pragmatism 51
In summary 52
PART II ONLINE TUTORING
6 Supporting Students Using Asynchronous Tools:
Forums, Wikis and Blogs 57
What tools are available? 57
Models of asynchronous support 58
Group size 59
Summarising the options for asynchronous support 75
Not working well? 75
In summary 77
7 Handy Techniques for Moderators:
Online Asynchronous Groups 79
General techniques 79
Techniques for particular tools 83
8 Supporting Students Using Synchronous Tools:
Chat, Audio Conferencing and the Rest 89
What tools are available? 89
Models of synchronous support 92
In summary 100
9 Handy Techniques for Moderators: Online Synchronous
Groups 103
General techniques 103
Techniques for particular tools 105
CONTENTS vii
PART III DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT LEARNERS:
ACTIVITY DESIGN
10 The Experience of Blended Learning 111
What are the practical implications? 111
What makes a competent online learner? 114
Does online learning suit all students? 118
In summary 120
11 Course Design for Blended Learning 123
Keeping students on course and in tune 123
Constructive alignment and learning design 128
The roles of assessment 130
In summary 133
12 Developing E-Investigators 135
Advantages of electronic resources 135
How do students come to be e-investigators? 136
Deciding on relevance 140
Searching for information 140
Using resources appropriately 143
In summary 147
13 Developing E-Writers 149
Writing to understand: note-taking 149
Writing assignments 153
Practising for exam writing 158
Collaborative writing 159
In summary 160
14 Developing E-Communicators and Collaborators 161
What is involved in online communication? 161
Starting off 162
Online collaborative learning 164
In summary 174
15 Staff Development for Blended Learning 172
Practical considerations for tutors 177
Practical considerations for staff developers 178
viii BLENDEDLEARNINGANDONLINETUTORING
Approaches to staff development 180
In summary 166
Appendix 1 Blended Learning Case Studies 189
Bibliography 193
Index 199
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Components of blended learning 34
Figure 6.1 Use of a wiki for alumni support on an Open University
course 73
Figure 8.1 Online synchronous tools for teaching languages 95
Figure 8.2 Librarians On Call. The library runs a help service for
enquirers using text chat 99
Figure 10.1 The learner’s experience of e-learning 113
Figure 11.1 Example learning contract 127