Blended learning means different things in different contexts. Understanding what it means at TRU, and what your specific context calls for, is the foundation for everything that follows.
Consider before you read on
- Where are your students located? Where are you?
- Do you or your students need flexibility for other commitments?
- What assumptions are you making about student access to spaces and platforms and what evidence informs those assumptions?
- What are your biases towards one modality or another, and what evidence supports your perceptions?
- What is the current structure of your course, and what is your capacity to make changes?
Decide what can be flexible
Consider what aspects of your course can accommodate flexibility — for example, attendance, participation, and mode. This means recognizing that your students have a broad range of circumstances and that intentional flexibility supports both access and inclusion.
Consider how your decisions support accessibility and inclusion
Beliefs about the effectiveness of particular modalities for learning may or may not be supported by evidence. Be willing to examine your assumptions and check them against what you know about your students’ actual contexts.
Consider your own capacity
Restructuring a course and changing modalities can represent a significant workload. Consider your own time and capacity alongside the supports available to you to complete this work. TRU’s Centre for Open and Engaged Learning is here to help.
Connect outcomes to spaces
Some (not all) learning outcomes may align better with particular learning spaces or modalities, such as hands-on labs, learning from the land, or field school experiences. Review your outcomes and consider whether any have a natural home in a particular modality.