All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

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Students also will take self-guided tours
to physical and virtual public history
sites and will have the opportunity to
conduct hands-on research projects ranging
from video documentation to traditional
research papers.
Blended Learning: Online, Active,
and Virtual (Example 7) – Pat Lefor
and Betsy Braun
As described on an Empire State College
blog (http://commons.esc.edu/cdl-coursehighlights),
written by Betsy Braun:
One popular art course, The Photographic
Vision, employs virtual field trips to
enhance the student experience. Primarily
an overview of photography, its history and
the many genres it encompasses, this course
also teaches hands-on techniques. The field
trips are designed to expose students to a
wealth of historical, educational and artistic
knowledge directly related to each module’s
topic. A visit to the American Museum
of Photography provides a history of the
discipline, as well as unique exhibitions
and research resources. The websites of
individual photographers and galleries
offer high-quality, contextualized images
and lessons in presentation. These, in
turn, assist students as they complete their
own photographic assignments for group
critiques. Throughout the course, students
take full advantage of experts working in
diverse photographic specialties such as
journalism, portraiture and documentation.
At the National Geographic magazine site,
students find professional advice on specific
topics such as taking photos in the rain or
shooting with available light in addition
to the vast archive of the magazine’s
renowned images.
Blended Approaches in
Distance Learning
As is evident from these seven examples,
CDL faculty working in “blended”
environments use an array of methods.
These approaches include:
• Connecting the applied to the
conceptual/theoretical;
• Individual reports and group
discussions;
• Multiple modes of assessment,
including student choice of final project;
• Technology-enabled (online) and handson
(offline);
• Interdisciplinary;
• Text- and video-based;
• Discovery through primary source
documents;
• Map blogs;
• Virtual field trips;
• Blogs and wikis; and,
• Learner-centered activities.
There are other courses at CDL not
mentioned here that are already developed
or are in production that offer a blended
approach to student learning and that also
take into consideration various learning
styles. As the educational landscape and
our students change, we will continue to
look at different resources and tools of
engagement to enhance the educational
pursuits of our students. Such approaches –
some that exist, others yet to be discovered
– will serve them both inside and outside
the academic arena, and open the dialogue
to the way by which “blended” is viewed
in the e-learning/online community.
References
Garrison, D.R. and Kanuka, H. (2004)
Blended learning: Uncovering its
transformative potential in higher
education. The Internet and Higher
Education, 7(2), 95-105.
Heinze, A. and Procter, C. (2004).
Proceedings of Education on a
Changing Environment Conference:
Reflections on the Use of Blended
Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.ece.salford.ac.uk/
proceedings/papers/ah_04.rtf
How do you define 21st-century learning
One question. Eleven answers.
(2010) Education Week: Teacher
PD Sourcebook, 4(1), 32. Retrieved
http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/
2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011