Blended Learning: Best Practices

Teaching a blended course starts with a re-examination of the intended learning outcomes of the course. An instructor needs to design online and in-class learning activities that support these intended learning outcomes and integrate them together effectively with the assessments.

  • Instructors should discuss with students why their course is being taught as a blended course and to prepare them for their role and responsibilities.
  • Mechanisms for helping students who are not used to working independently, or who find using new course technologies challenging, should be in place.
  • Instructors and their teaching assistants need to learn how to facilitate and assess online discussions effectively.

The following are aspects of effective course design and instructor behaviour that can be applied to blended courses; however, they are applicable to all courses whether they are face-to-face, blended or completely online.

  • Intended learning outcomes are measurable, achievable, relevant, concise, and clearly stated.
  • The learning activities and assignments promote the achievement of the intended learning outcomes and are aligned with each other.
  • The course effectively engages students in the learning process through a mix of student-content, student-instructor, and student-student interaction.
  • Course activities respect diverse talents, backgrounds and different ways of learning.
  • Authentic learning activities are used to help students recognize the relevancy of course content.
  • Regular feedback about student performance is provided in a timely manner throughout the course.
  • Course activities promote active learning.
  • The instructor emphasizes the value of time on task and communicates high expectations to their students.
  • The instructor creates and fosters a supportive learning environment for learners.

See Chickering and Ehrmann's "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever" for an in-depth discussion of each of these best practices. Additionally, many of CTE's Teaching Tip Sheets pertain to blended courses, including these: