Blended Learning

Looking Back

Teaching a blended course for the first time or trying something new in a course you’ve taught before takes courage. Now that you’re on the other side of it, this is a good moment to pause and ask: how did it go? What worked well, what didn’t, and what would you do differently next time? 

This doesn’t need to be a formal process. It might be a quiet 20 minutes with a coffee and this checklist, or a conversation with a supportive peer. The goal is simply to carry what you’ve learned forward into your next course design.

Reflective Checklist 

Work through these prompts at the end of your course or shortly after grades are submitted, while things are still reasonably fresh. 

Your course structure

  • Did the technologies you chose work for your students in terms of access, usability, and relevance to the learning? 
  • Were there tools that caused more friction than they were worth? Any you’d replace or drop? 
  • Is there anything you’d want to try that you didn’t get to this time? 

Activities and assessments 

  • Did your assessments give you a sense of students’ learning in the course?  
  • Did your learning activities prepare students for your assessments? 
  • Were there assessments that felt misaligned or moments where students seemed surprised by what was asked of them? 
  • What would you change, add, or cut? 

Inclusion and flexibility 

  • Did your design choices support the range of students in your course? Were there moments where you noticed particular students were at a disadvantage? 
  • Did the flexibility you built in get used and did it feel manageable for you? 
  • Are there UDL principles you could incorporate more meaningfully next time? 

Technologies 

  • Did the technologies you chose work for your students in terms of access, usability, and relevance to the learning? 
  • Were there tools that caused more friction than they were worth? Any you’d replace or drop? 
  • Is there anything you’d want to try that you didn’t get to this time? 

Student preparation and communication 

  • Did students seem well prepared for the blended format at the start of the course? 
  • Were your expectations clear across both the in-person and online spaces? 
  • Is there anything you’d communicate differently in your course outline or early announcements? 

Your own experience 

  • What did you enjoy about teaching this course in a blended format? 
  • What felt harder than you expected?
  • What’s the one thing you’d prioritize changing before you teach it again? 

A note on student feedback 

If you collected feedback mid-course or at the end, this is a good time to read it with the blended design specifically in mind. Did students comment on the online components? The pacing? How the in-person and online parts connected? Student perspectives often surface things that are hard to see from the instructor’s side of the course. Consider soliciting quick feedback from students at the end of class or the beginning of the next and take time once a week to reflect on this feedback. Sharing what you have heard, and any resulting changes can be a good way to show you are listening and improve communication.  

If you are interested in learning more search on reflective practice in education. Some resources are below:

  • Reflective Teaching, Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, University of Manitoba 

What’s next? 

If you’re planning to teach this course again, consider revisiting your course flow document with fresh eyes before you start making changes in Moodle. Sometimes the answer isn’t rebuilding, it’s a small structural tweak, a technology swap, or clearer onboarding for students. 

And if you’d like a second set of eyes, TRU’s Centre for Open and Engaged Learning team is always happy to review a blended course design with you.