Better blended learning: Outlining development themes

Assumption: Use of an appropriate range of teaching and learning methods (combining face to face and online). That is use Blackboard to develop learning activities that take place online i.e. taking BB beyond a repository of downloadable documents

Area	Objective	Evidence / KPI
Learning design	Development learning activities that take place online and which complement face to face teaching	Increase the use of electronic materials (eLectures) Increase the use on online activities (individual or in group) Increase of use of electronic activities that support teaching face to face eg pre-seminar activities, electronic post-class activities (comprehension self-test, learning journals, discussion boards, group activities online)
Innovation in assessment i.e. beyond exams and coursework	Innovative assessment that develops a wider range of academic and employability skills	Increase in use of forms of assessment other than traditional coursework or examination eg wiki, portfolios, reflection
Assessment for learning	Increase the presence of formative assessment opportunities Develop electronic opportunities for reflection post assessment Develop self-assessment opportunities and pilot self-assessment against standard assessment criteria (rubric)	Increase the use of online self-correcting tests quizzes eg importing existing test banks or developing re-usable quizzes Increase the use of diagnostic testing and self-directed testing
Feedback quality	Developing School/discipline libraries of constructive feedback
Feedback means	Broadening range and opportunities of feedback Increase feedback personalisation eg audio feedback	Increase in the use of formative audio feedback in Grademark Introduce online contact hours (via Microsoft Lync) Increase in peer-marking exercises
Learning from feedback	Develop electronic opportunities to implement the learning that has occurred from feedback Develop opportunities for feedback dialogue	Increase in feed-forward initiatives Provide online office hours for feedback review Introduce action planning, lesson learning activities
Peer learning	Explore peer assessment, peer review feedback, and peer feedback as a form of articulation of knowledge and understanding of assessment criteria	Pilot peer review schemes
Multi-media	Increase use of multi-media eg audio and video Cater for a range of learning styles	Increased use of lecture capture Increase in the use of electronic materials (Box of Broadcasts, JORUM or media-based learning objects)
Personalisation in large course /through discipline	Enhance human face of academic staff Using multimedia to develop personalisation	Add course director pictures and information about staff eg research interest in all BB sites. Increase in use of audio for course-related activities eg introduction to the course, course outline presentation.
Interaction	Increasing interaction opportunities between peers, and between student and staff	Evidence of socialisation strategies in discussion forums; use of social media;
Promoting student learning autonomy and self-regulation, including ePortfolios	Blended action towards developing self-regulated learning skills Develop assessment management via learning journals. Support assessment by portfolio, reflective learning and personal development planning; evaluate suitability of tools.	Increase in self-diagnostic activities, reflection activities, portfolio-type assessment.
Employability	Develop student awareness of skills obtained through curriculum via skill audit, reflection on link between course objectives and activities and employability Integrate employability in the provision of feedback ie provide employability perspectives in feedback	Student able to talk about their skills as … political scientists, lawyers
Collaborative learning	Expose students to group work Developing group work skills Develop strategies for assessing group work (cooperation, accountability, fairness, motivation)	Increase in formative or summative online collaborative activities
Staff development for blended learning, including Learning design	Use learning design as an opportunity to review course objectives and the integration of online learning with face to face activities Develop framework for developing new courses/programmes and reviewing existing courses/programmes.	Increase in number of courses undergoing learning design reviews
Open Educational resources	Raise awareness of possibilities around using and developing OERs in online learning; support staff and students in OER activity.	Increase in use of OERs being used and developed by both staff and students.
Mobile Learning	Raise awareness of Bb9 Learn App and TurningPoint Responseware; support staff in optimising content and developing material for use with mobile devices.	Increase in use of content designed for mobile devices.
Flexible Learning	Review flexible and distance learning courses with a view to developing or applying a revised model of online learning.
Academic advisement	Promote meaningful developmental relationships with academic advisers Electronic submission and feedback on PDPs	Using programme spaces to build programme-long reflective tools or learning portfolios
Student performance and Curriculum review	Develop statistics of most common student learning issues (referencing, insufficient use of primary sources, scholarship, etc), across years	Compile assessment profiles for annual and longitudinal assessment via Turnitin/Grademark reporting tools