Abstract
We seek to explore the possibilities for meaningful, ongoing collaboration and lasting partnerships that blended learning enables. We will be drawing from our experience as Instructional Technologist and Faculty Director in the Five College Blended Learning Program, as well as from the current literature on blended learning. Besides enhancing student learning with online components, blended learning can also facilitate collaboration across fields, departments, institutions, as well as with off-campus organizations, resulting in lasting learning communities. Dating back to 2004, research has shown extremely positive outcomes in the area of faculty learning communities, including: connections for isolated teachers, establishing networks for those pursuing pedagogical issues, meeting early-career faculty expectations for community, fostering multidisciplinary curricula, and bringing community to higher education (Cox 2004). Although critically important, the potential of blended courses to create and foster diverse partnerships has received minimal attention in the literature. Our session will zoom in on four potential venues for collaboration through blended learning: institutional support, instructional technology support, multidisciplinary approaches, and campus-community partnerships.
Session
Session 4C: Workshop on Working Together: Community and Cross-Campus Collaborations through Blended Learning
Location
Dalton 1
Start Date
5-20-2015 4:45 PM
End Date
5-20-2015 6:15 PM
Working Together: Community and Cross-Campus Collaborations Through Blended Learning
Dalton 1
We seek to explore the possibilities for meaningful, ongoing collaboration and lasting partnerships that blended learning enables. We will be drawing from our experience as Instructional Technologist and Faculty Director in the Five College Blended Learning Program, as well as from the current literature on blended learning. Besides enhancing student learning with online components, blended learning can also facilitate collaboration across fields, departments, institutions, as well as with off-campus organizations, resulting in lasting learning communities. Dating back to 2004, research has shown extremely positive outcomes in the area of faculty learning communities, including: connections for isolated teachers, establishing networks for those pursuing pedagogical issues, meeting early-career faculty expectations for community, fostering multidisciplinary curricula, and bringing community to higher education (Cox 2004). Although critically important, the potential of blended courses to create and foster diverse partnerships has received minimal attention in the literature. Our session will zoom in on four potential venues for collaboration through blended learning: institutional support, instructional technology support, multidisciplinary approaches, and campus-community partnerships.