AG Integrated Courseware

Reach More Students - Get Better Results

Blended Learning

 

AG goes beyond traditional teaching and learning models. We help you create a flexible Blended Learning approach to reach more students and get better results.

· Blended Learning incorporates text and interactive online self-paced learning, with problem solving scenarios and Interactive workshops

· Self-Paced Learning is learner-led with access to a course facilitator

· Workshops are instructor facilitated and geared to problem solving scenarios based on the lessons of the self-paced component

· Problem Based Learning draws from scenarios related to the course content to foster problem solving proficiency, presentation skills, critical thinking and team building

· Learner participation and sharing of related experience is encouraged as part of the group learning process.

 

Problem Based Learning

Definition from the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction

 

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a total approach to education. As defined by Dr. Howard Barrows and Ann Kelson of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills. The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career.

Results
Students involved in problem-based learning acquire knowledge and become proficient in problem solving, self-directed learning, and team participation. Studies show that PBL prepares students as well as traditional methods. PBL students do as well as their counterparts from traditional classrooms on national exams, but are in fact better practitioners of their professions.

 

Related Links

Strategies for Building Blended Learning
Excerpt from a paper by Allison Rossett, Felicia Douglis, and Rebecca V. Frazee

 

A blend is an integrated strategy for delivering on promises about learning and performance. Blending involves a planned combination of approaches, such as coaching by a supervisor; participation in an online class; breakfast with colleagues; competency descriptions; reading on the beach; reference to a manual; collegial relationships; and participation in seminars, workshops, and online communities.

 

A study by Peter Dean and his colleagues found that providing several linked options for learners, in addition to classroom training, increased what they learned. In 2002, Harvard Business School faculty DeLacey and Leonard reported that students not only learned more when online sessions were added to traditional courses, but student interaction and satisfaction improved as well. Thomson and NETg released a 2003 white paper that reported speedier performance on real world tasks by people who learned through a blended strategy—faster than those studying through e-learning alone.

 

 

Blended Learning Model

From the Royal Roads University Website

Blended learning describes the combination of on-line learning and short residency periods that make up the delivery model for many programs at Royal Roads. This model minimizes disruption to the work and home lives of learners and fosters team-based learning – on and off campus. The short residencies on our beautiful heritage campus in Victoria, B.C. give you direct interaction with other learners and senior faculty members. The initial residency also includes team-building exercises and guidance to the online learning program component to ensure that distance never has to mean isolation. Royal Roads has developed unique interactive and collaborative tools that foster teamwork even when learners are scattered across the country or around the world. We use technology to extend and, in some cases, improve interaction and communication among learners and with faculty members. For more information, see Is RRU Right For You?

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