What is blended instruction? This is an important question to you if you are considering the time required to complete a master’s degree in a program implementing a new approach to teaching. This page will give you a better understanding of blended instruction and links to other resources you can explore on the topic if you need to go deeper.
Blended Instruction is a combination of online learning & face-to-face instruction. The blend in UAB’s new secondary program will be at least 50% on-line instruction in each education class you take. (An exception to this may be methods courses in art, French, music, and Spanish. They may be taught in a traditional, face-to-face fashion.) Remember, though, that your 12 hours of graduate-level content, such as graduate courses in English or mathematics courses, will NOT be delivered in a blended format.
On-line learning brings flexibility to the blend. Much of the online work will be asynchronous, meaning class assignment and interaction does not have to be done at the same time in hyperspace. You do your work at your ‘best’ time. If you’re best time is 5:30 a.m., then that’s when you can choose to work. If you are a night owl and would rather wait until the house gets quiet and work late, that’s when you’ll do your on-line work. On-line learning also decreases your trips to campus. In your education course, you can expect to attend classes on campus at least 50% less often. That’s a big benefit in the midst of busy teacher schedules and today’s high gas prices!
Does the on-line portion of blended instruction work? Well, if you clicked the link to blended instruction just now, you just did a little on-line learning. You were working at your own pace, pursuing a question that you were interested in, and you explored an on-line resource to find an answer. Hopefully, this taste of on-line learning gives you a little confidence that on-line learning might work for you.
The chief tool faculty will use for supporting your on-line learning will be the Blackboard course management software. UAB has it’s own Blackboard site which you will get access to once you enroll in your first course in the program. Blackboard pulls together almost all of the on-line learning tools that you and your instructors need for a course. When you click into your course’s Blackboard site, you’ll be able to see all course documents, including the course syllabus, web-based resources for your coursework, and how to contact your professor and fellow students. Your professor may also implement other features of Blackboard, such as threaded discussions, live chat-rooms, and course announcements. Many teachers like yourself have already found one big advantage of having a UAB course supported by Blackboard: all your course materials are in the same place. Whether you’re working from home, school, or UAB, you can get to any course materials your professor has provided on Blackboard by simply logging in. If you’d like to know more about Blackboard, check out their overview video; it’s was developed for instructors, not students, but you should get a chance to look under Blackboard’s hood to see some of the features that will support your virtual learning.
The secondary faculty do not want to go fully on-line, however. We value deeply our face-to-face interactions with our students, both in and out of class. That’s why we’re going blended. We want to give you the benefits of on-line learning while retaining the value of more traditional ways of learning. Nothing on-line could ever replace the value of one of those great discussions that happen as teachers and their professor hash out educational issues and questions when they’re gathered in the same space and time. The face-to-face portions of the course will insure good interaction with your professors and other students.
In fact, you can expect in the Blended Masters Program to have increased, not decrease, interaction with your professors. You’ll see them when you meet on campus for classes, but you’ll also interact with them several times throughout the week via via email, chat rooms, and threaded discussion.
Hopefully, you’re beginning to see that the Blended Masters Program is something that adds value to traditional instruction. We’re going to keep what works from traditional approaches to learning, especially face-to-face class sessions, but we’re also going to tap in to the new paradigms of learning that on-line approaches allow. We think you’ll find a match with your learning style, and you’ll also begin to get a picture of how your Net Generation students like to learn, in case you’re pondering how better to meet their needs. We really hope that the blended approach creates a true learning community among cohort members, one that develops fully due to the richness of face-to-face interactions and the 24/7 accessibility provided by on-line interactions.
Help us discover a new paradigm of learning. Gary Becker, Professor from the University of Chicago and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Economics has said, “We’ve had, until the growth of the Internet, teachers standing up in front of a bunch of students and lecturing to them with some give and take. The Internet has the potential to be the first major change in this process since Socrates” (Uskov, 2003).
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ALLAHUMMA YA ALLAH BERIKANLAH KEJAYAAN DUNIA AKHIRAT PADAKU , AHLI KELUARGAKU DAN SEMUA YANG MEMBACA KARYA-KARYA YANG KUTULIS KERANA-MU AAMIIN YA RABBAL A'LAMIIN “Ya Allah, maafkanlah kesalahan kami, ampunkanlah dosa-dosa kami. Dosa-dosa kedua ibu bapa kami, saudara-saudara kami serta sahabat-sahabat kami. Dan Engkau kurniakanlah rahmatMu kepada seluruh hamba-hambaMu. Ya Allah, dengan rendah diri dan rasa hina yang sangat tinggi. Lindungilah kami dari kesesatan kejahilan yang nyata mahupun yang terselindung. Sesungguhnya tiadalah sebaik-baik perlindung selain Engkau. Jauhkanlah kami dari syirik dan kekaguman kepada diri sendiri. Hindarkanlah kami dari kata-kata yang dusta. Sesungguhnya Engkaulah yang maha berkuasa di atas setiap sesuatu.”
