Justification

By undertaking the role of an Instructional Design consultant, the student will be initiated to the instructional design principles of blended learning solutions. Through a series of realistic tasks, and supported by a senior Instructional Designer, the student will progressively build up a personal ePortfolio including practical information on this training mode and will develop a blended learning (BL) scenario exemplifying several types of blends. The context in which the training takes place is a government agency, but the instructional design principles are generic and can be applied to other settings.

The general objective of this course is to introduce the student to the ID approach of blended learning and develop competencies enabling him/ her to design a blended learning module on his/ her own and for a specific situation. The competencies to be developed in this course will initiate the student to skills required to provide professional advice on what, when and how to use blended learning solutions. The strategy used is based on critical thinking and dynamic inquiry.

This course has been designed to help the student develop the following competencies:

i) Analyze the characteristics of blended learning

ii) Justify the choice of blended learning as a training solution

iii) Apply instructional design principles to developing a simple blended learning scenario

iv) Document instructional design work on blended learning

In addition, these transversal competencies will be developed:

i) Apply project management skills (planning, tracking progress, assessing and revising procedures and outcomes)

ii) Apply consulting skills to clarify issues

1) Provide a working definition of blended learning

2) Describe different types of blended learning

3) Provide a rational for the use of blended learning

4) Identify major design principles for blended learning

5) Provide examples of blended learning scenarios

6) Provide an annotated bibliography for blended learning