Teachers' Activities

Answering questions online, videoconferencing

Tracking the design and implementa­tion process of cases, offer advice and feedback, face-to-face discussion

The Handbook of Blended Learning

activity, a face-to-face session will be held. Thus, the tutors can see their students' authentic progress and discuss the content and procedures with them.

In the design process, the curriculum refers to the requirements of curricu­lum content design and the learning management system (LMS) as detailed in the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) developed at the Advanced Distributed Learning Lab (2004).

Assessment Design

The evaluation of the curriculum uses formative assessment in exploring spe­cific records of learning process including learner e-portfolios and computer log data.

Case Two: " Multimedia Technology, " On-Campus Curriculum

This case relates to an instructional reform program at BNU, " Multimedia Tech­nology, " a required course for junior undergraduate students majoring in com­puter science. One of us was involved in creating this course as part of a master's program in the early 1990s.

Preanalysis

" Multimedia Technology" was built on a practical curriculum with many con­cepts concerning broad fields and fast-emerging technologies. Therefore, the cur­riculum not only stresses basic concepts and theories but also targets students' learning skills and metacognitive strategies. The aims are to enable students to learn actively and obtain new multimedia technology skills and experiences as well as to develop an understanding of the basic principles of multimedia. The cur­riculum includes various types of knowledge and different levels of learning activities.

This eighteen-week course typically has about 120 junior undergraduate stu­dents, one lecturer, and two tutors. These students have already taken other com­puter courses. As a result, they have enough knowledge and skill preparation for learning multimedia technology. However, they still lack a personal understand­ing of relevant learning strategies and self-regulated learning (Huang & Zhou, 2003). They are also accustomed to face-to-face lectures in traditional classrooms instead of cooperative learning and complex curriculum-projects.

In response, the major group collaboration project was guided regularly by tutors through a network learning environment, WebCL (Web-based Cooperative

Designing Blended Learning Focused on Knowledge Category and Learning Activities 307

Learning System), which was developed at BNU. Except for the textbooks, we also developed most of the other relevant e-learning resources and provided reference Web sites and bibliographies. (WebCL is a management platform based on cooperative learning developed by the Research Center of Knowledge Engi­neering, BNU. It provides a learning space for each group, including discussion areas, resource management, online chat, group work, online testing, and various tools for communication and exchanges.)

Activity Design

The course uses task-driven group learning to organize activity units in a blended learning format, including seven weeks of classroom instruction and eleven weeks of e-learning. There are four main types of activities: the lead-in activity, class­room lecture activity, e-learning activity, and curriculum-level project-based learn­ing (PBL) activity.

A lead-in activity uses face-to-face instruction such as a typical classroom lec­ture activity. Afterward, the tutor and students kept in contact with each other through the WebCL. In general, their online correspondence has dealt with the learning method and fundamental knowledge. The e-learning activity includes online discussion, case studies, online debates, online testing, and individual con­cept mapping. The course has two key PBL activities, designing a multimedia player and developing an XML-based Web site, which are completed by collab­orative groups during off-line class time. All activities were generated according to the principles detailed above and assigned to either the face-to-face or e-learning delivery methods. The instructional process of the curriculum and organization of the basic activity units are shown in Figure 21.2.

Learning activities at both the unit and curriculum levels contain objectives, definition of performance, and organization and evaluation. The students can check their own learning process records as well as that of their groups on WebCL at any time, and evaluate their learning through reflection. Using this system, the chief lecturer and tutors can communicate with the students individually and in groups through bulletin board systems, e-mail, and instant messaging. In addition, instructors can obtain instant assessment and feedback regarding the performances of each student and each group.

Evaluation

At the end of this curriculum, we interviewed a few group leaders and their mem­bers to learn how they viewed blended learning. In general, the students thought that the blended learning activities offered them a full range of learning

The Handbook of Blended Learning

FIGURE 21.2. SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES IN " MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY."

opportunities and resources that better matched reality. Most students were favorable toward combining network-based and classroom instructional tech­niques. In addition, they felt that with help from their tutors regarding how to col­laborate online, they can learn how to communicate and collaborate with others to complete learning tasks more effectively. These interviews indicated that the online learning resources provided by the platform helped push highly motivated students to expand their knowledge and dig deeper in an area. The formative assessment of student e-portfolios helped reduce the all-too-common goal of sim­ply learning for exams, so students could truly devote themselves to learning. This was an important finding, especially for Chinese students, who tend to overly focus on scoring high on exams and final grades.

Conclusions

Blended learning is having a significant impact on learning in higher education settings in China. It has not only changed traditional instructional approaches but also reduced the pressure brought about by the lack of instructional equipment and experienced teachers. However, blended learning is not a new instructional

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method in China. In fact, with the growth of Chinese universities and social needs brought on by the SARS epidemic, it has existed for three years. But from a systemic view of blended learning design, there is a new and highly unique significance from an encompassing model or design procedure for blended learn­ing because it has many new challenges as well as opportunities.

The two cases in the chapter reflect the conditions of blended learning in China. The procedures are also feasible and can suit different kinds of blended-learning courses. To determine learner adaptations to blended learning, we interviewed students after they finished the " Multimedia Technology" course. They perceived that the activities in the course changed the typical flat instruc­tional method of higher education and gave them more resources and personal choices. They also claimed that the WebCL tool played an important role in their learning process because it provided an effective way to cooperate and commu­nicate. Such results imply that it is vital to select an appropriate learning man­agement system for blended learning. Nevertheless, students are not accustomed to learning without their teacher at their side, causing them to spend more time attempting to understand given contents than in traditional classes. Given these findings, there is a pressing need to explore more effective interactive avenues between online tutors and students.

As we close this chapter, we would like to point out that e-portfolios can play special roles in blended learning settings. First, they can motivate students and help them to shake off their rooted notions of learning for the test. This change has special meaning in the Chinese educational system, which is rooted in teach­ers' telling and students' responding on exams. Second, e-portfolios might even­tually be charged with the role of individual knowledge management so that they can serve as a basis for students to monitor, manage, and reflect on their perfor­mance (Zimmerman, 2002). We find this approach is more beneficial to the two PBL activities of our " Multimedia Technology" course. While these activities may need greater emphasis on self-regulated learning, e-portfolios can facilitate move­ment in that direction. We think the use of e-portfolios is necessary in blended learning, which we believe is superior to other learning approaches in higher education.

References

Advanced Distributed Learning. (2004). Shamble Content Object Reference Model. Available

https://www.adlnet.org/. Anderson, W, & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing:

A revision of Bloom's educational objectives. White Plains, NY: Longman. Gagne, R. M. (1999). The conditions of learning and theory of instruction (4th ed.). Shanghai: East

China Normal University Press.

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