At the moment I am not working as a teacher, but certainly in a next opportunity I will have even more elements to work on blended learning in a more qualified and more intentional way to effectively complement the face-to-face classes, meeting the definition of Blended Learning by Garrison & Vaughan (2008, p.148):
“The organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches”.
It is interesting to realize that Blended Learning is not just providing online learning activities but “to extend thinking and discourse over time and space” (Vaughan et.al. 2013, p.09). This expansion of the classroom beyond physical space is what has always enchanted me regarding the use of ICT for teaching and learning. One way to provide better support and structure for students would be to form what the authors mentioned above define as Community of Inquiry, in which students are respected in their ideas and needs and in which collaboration is encouraged.
Below, 7 principles that according to Vaughan et.al. (2013), provide a map and guide to creating and sustaining purposeful communities of inquiry:
*Video elaborated on canva.com
Another important point to be taken into account is the Teaching presence, which is not the same as teacher presence and presupposes that everyone is responsible for the social and cognitive presence in the learning environment. I believe that the care with the design of the learning path for a blended learning situation that respects the needs and interests of the students can be a first step towards the success of a course that has as its premise the online and the face-to-face environments.
Vaughan et.al. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments, Chapter 1 “Conceptual framework”