This is the presentation I was supposed to deliver at our Department's symposium in December 2011. Unfortunately, my dear partner Peter left this world that very day. I know he would have liked me to share it with as many people as possible because he's always been very supportive to my career. I owe him my passionate approach for integrating the Internet and technology into my teaching approach so, dear Peter, this is dedicated to you! May you rest in peace!

1. Who’s Afraid of Blended
Learning?
●Cristina Felea, Ph.D.
●
●Dinamica Limbajelor de Specialitate
●Tehnici si Strategii Inovatoare
●Cluj-Napoca, 9 Decembrie 2011

2. Contents
21st Century Using Web 2.0 for
Education Actors Teaching ESAP - a
Blended Learning Case for Research
● Definition ● Subjects
● Why Blend? ● Methods
● Blend Types
● BL in Teaching ESAP ● Results
Conclusions
● Benefits
● Who's Afraid of BL?
● Recommendations

3. Who Are We Teaching?
21st Century Student/Learner Profile
●
●
21st Century Education Actors

4. Who is Teaching?
21st Century Teaching Professional Profile
●
●
21st Century Education Actors

5. Who’s Pulling the Strings?
●
21st Century Decision Makers
●
Local
● Global
●- Ministry of Education - Global higher education
●- University Management
policy-makers
●- Faculty
- EU higher education
●- Department
policy-makers
●- Teaching and research
staff - Global education market
● Formare Continua de tip
Blended Learning
● UBB Online
● ● Calitate si leadership pentru
invatamantul superior
romanesc
21st Century Education Actors

6. What Are We Teaching?

7. Blended Learning
● blended/ hybrid/ mixed-mode

8. Why blend?
● flexibility
● convenience
● learning outcome gains
Blend Types
● Supplemental Model
● Replacement Model
● Emporium Model
Source: Penn State Blended Learning Initiative

9. Current Views on using BL in
Teaching Foreign Languages
● Adults as self-directed learners
● Constructivist approach
● Active learning
● Experiential learning
●
●

10. To Blend or not to Blend? A
Practitioner’s Dilemma
●Tried and tested solutions based on solid
research
●
Encyclopedia of Educational technology.
Blended Learning

11. BL Recipe – It’s All Up to the
Chef!
The cheese
● The souffle approach
sandwich approach
●
●
many ingredients
simple ingredients difficult to prepare
easy to prepare Source: Blended learning Souffle or Sandwich?

12. Using Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching
English for Specific Academic
Purposes - a Case for Research
●
English for Academic Purposes Wiki

13. The Blend
Face-to-face meetings Computer/Internet
in the computer lab mediated (wiki)
- hands on tutorials for online - course management
activities
- self-paced learning
- tutorials for individual and activities based on teacher
group work resources
- core concept presentations - group student activities on
- interactive pair/group work the wiki platform
- communication S2S and
S2T
- discussion forums

14. Hypotheses
On short term
● BL promotes task-oriented and project
based learning based on authentic materials
●
On long term
BL develops learners’ autonomy and
stimulates life-long learning skills (e.g.
collaboration); stimulates change of learning
culture

15. Subjects
● 181 first year students of
the Faculty of Sociology
and Social Work, Cluj-
Napoca, Romania
● distributed in 9 groups:
A2-B1: 3 groups
B2: 3 groups
B2-C1: 2 groups
mixed ability: 1 group
● aged between 19-21
years old

16. Methods
Data are collected by
means of
- wiki usage statistics
- survey-like
interactive worksheets
and forms built with
Google Docs
- students' individual
pages

17. Results
● becoming aware of and developing language
learning skills such as self-assessment,
setting learning objectives, finding
resources;
● overcoming language barriers by accessing
authentic materials and creating content on
wiki
● developing of collaborative skills by means
of project-based learning and group work;
● developing trans/inter-cultural
communication skills

18. Conclusions:
Benefits
Creating, adding to, and
modifying content in a wiki moves
students up into the higher order
thinking skills of Bloom’s revised
taxonomy (Churches, 2008)
Students
● Can contribute anytime,
anywhere
● Develop collaborative skills
● Develop skills in negotiation
and organization
● Develop sense of
responsibility and ownership
(Richardson, 2005)

19. Conclusions: So, Who's Afraid
of BL?
Teachers?
- problems in balancing needs Decision-makers?
with outcomes - administrative challenges
- mismatching content and (lack of awareness, policies,
technology plans, goals, support related
- re-designing courses and/or to blended learning)
programmes - faculty preparedness, and
- discomfort with digital media quality assurance
Students?
- failure to understand the collaborative
nature of the new technology
- lack of autonomous learning skills -> scared
to take responsibility for own learning

20. Recommendations
- Developing new pedagogies by becoming
●
connected to global trends
●
●- Training on a regular basis included in
lifelong learning programmes
●
- Participating in community of practice
●
networks (local and global)
●
- Developing personal learning plans

21. So, what about you?
■ Having a more convenient way to teach would
be important to me.
■ I’m interested in becoming a better teacher.
■ I’m interested in providing a better learning
experience for students.
■ I’m ready for a change of pace in my teaching
career – something new.
■ Actively facilitating online courses appeals to
me, but I have some concerns about it.
Source: Attracting Faculty to Online Teaching.Readiness
Assessment Tools

22. References
● E-learning Papers EU - Special Edition,
Designing for Learning
● Jaqueline L. Cahill, Implementing online or
hybrid courses in a traditional university,
● Judith V. Boettcher, Ten Core Principles for
Designing Effective Learning Environments:
Insights from Brain Research and Pedagogical
Theory
● Fighting Engagement Deficit Disorder
●

23. References
● University of Milwakee. Hybrid Courses Faculty
Resources
● Educause. Implementing Blended Learning, 2009
● Community of Integrated Blended Learning in Europe,
European Project 2008-2009
● Incentives and Obstacles Influencing Higher Education
Faculty and Administrators to Teach Via Distance
● Potential Benefits and Complexities of Blended
Learning in Higher Education: The case of the
University of Botswana
● Australian Flexible Learning Framework

24. Thank you!
The future is the sum of all the steps we take, including those that are
small, ignored or mocked at. Henri Coanda