This book focuses on essential aspects of the theoretical foundations that support blended learning (BL) as a teaching training modality in tertiary education. Analyzing the changes in the world of education that lead to new ways of thinking and learning, it redefines the concept of blended learning at a time of constant growth in many universities around the world. This involves a shared reflection on the role of technology in the current university teacher education programs, as well as on the role that pedagogy plays in increasingly technology-driven contexts. Furthermore, the book presents pedagogical approaches to guide university professors in the design and implementation of blended learning courses. To this end, it describes some of the major models and approaches to BL instructional design, and examines issues related to the quality of BL training and the indicators to measure it, in order to identify those models that contribute to a better understanding of the dimensions that increase its effectiveness.

This is a practical introduction to blended learning, presenting examples of implementation across a broad spectrum of disciplines. For faculty unfamiliar with this mode of teaching, it illustrates how to address the core challenge of blended learning—to link the activities in each medium so that they reinforce each other to create a single, unified, course—and offers models they can adapt.Francine Glazer and the contributors to this book describe how they integrate a wide range of pedagogical approaches in their blended courses, use groups to build learning communities, and make the online environment attractive to students. They illustrate under what circumstances particular tasks and activities work best online or face-to-face, and when to incorporate synchronous and asynchronous interactions. They introduce the concept of layering the content of courses to appropriately sequence material for beginning and experienced learners, and to ensure that students see both the online and the face-to-face components as being equal in value and devote equal effort to both modalities. The underlying theme of this book is encouraging students to develop the skills to continue learning throughout their lives.By allowing students to take more time and reflect on the course content, blended learning can promote more student engagement and, consequently, deeper learning. It appeals to today’s digital natives who are accustomed to using technology to find and share information, communicate, and collaborate, and also enables non-traditional students to juggle their commitments more efficiently and successfully.

Craft a blended learning program tailor-made for your students Go Blended! is a practical implementation guide for educators interested in getting blended learning off the ground. Author Liz Arney is a seasoned developer of blended learning programs at Aspire Public Schools, and she also closely collaborates with district and charter leaders from across the country on this work. Go Blended! offers boots-on-the-ground support for laying the foundation for a blended learning program in our schools and classrooms. Throughout the book teachers with blended learning experience share helpful tips and lesson plans to help educators make purposeful choices in using technology to fulfill students' needs without becoming an end in itself. This useful guide also offers key documents and timelines to support a blended learning implementation and provides step-by-step practical advice for avoiding mistakes. Readers will gain expert insight into both the broad and narrow of blended transition, from sweeping concepts like program goals to nitty-gritty details like teaching routines around technology use. Technology is rapidly changing the landscape of education; teacher effectiveness and student achievement are both tied to the ability to adapt to new technology, and blended learning has become a hot topic in schools across the nation. Go Blended! helps school leaders and teachers take their first steps toward blended learning, putting them in a better position to continuously adapt as the world changes. You'll learn how to: Investigate leadership and staff readiness to "go blended." Learn how to evaluate and purchase the right educational software. Keep the program's goals in mind throughout the development process. Teach lessons that set students up for success when using classroom technology. Tailor the program to the students, not the other way around. Aspire's impressive track record of high performance, along with a growing body of evidence from blended schools across the nation, testifies to the reality that incorporating technology into the classroom can improve student outcomes. But improved student outcomes will only occur when teachers and administrators intentionally tailor technology and curricula to meet their goals. With Go Blended!, you can be confident that you're focused on the ultimate goal of blended learning: increasing student achievement.

Shift to blended learning to transform education Blended learning has the power to reinvent education, but the transition requires a new approach to learning and a new skillset for educators. Loaded with research and examples, Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online. Readers will find: Breakdowns of the most effective classroom setups for blended learning Tips for leaders Ideas for personalizing and differentiating instruction using technology Strategies for managing devices in schools Questions to facilitate professional development and deeper learning

Online and blended courses are becoming increasingly prevalent in higher education settings, and the pressures to incorporate these environments highlights the increased demand to serve a generation that prefers learning through experience or through interacting with learning tools. Challenges arise in assisting instructors in facilitating and designing blended learning environments that will provide effective learning for all students. The Handbook of Research on Blended Learning Pedagogies and Professional Development in Higher Education is a critical research publication that delves into the importance of effective professional development for educators planning and teaching online or blended courses. It also establishes the benefits of technology-mediated learning environments over traditional learning methods. Highlighting a wide array of topics such as online learning environments, active learning model, and educational development, this publication explores technology-based teaching methods in higher education. This book is targeted toward educators, educational administrators, academicians, researchers, and professionals within the realm of higher education.

Provides insight into the practice of blended learning in higher education.

Improving Schools with Blended Learning is specifically designed to address the important issues needed to successfully modernise education within the context of technological change. It does this by first providing a clear roadmap for designing Blended Learning environments able to respond to the technological imperatives challenging schools at present, and then illustrating this roadmap via specific, original research that details the 'how to' aspects of a successful technology-based design process. School leaders, teachers, teacher education students and researchers will all find highly relevant information about how to manage for disruption in the new and informative approach to Blended Learning (BL) they will discover in this book. This book arose from two different research projects the authors have been pursuing over the last 3–5 years, including school improvement research and Blended Learning research designed to investigate the role of technology in effective teaching and learning. By combining the insights gained from these two different research areas, this book is able to present a novel understanding of BL that is both insightful and clearly evidence-based. Improving Schools with Blended Learning also provides several original contributions to specific knowledge in the areas of BL and school improvement that most educators will find highly useful, including the use of BL schemas, a clear and extended BL continuum, how to measure and evaluate the success of BL, how to scaffold teacher ICT knowledge and skills, and a specific process for contextualising applied BL in relation to the ‘disruption’ imperatives of the Knowledge Economy.