Blended Learning in the World Languages Classroom - The Nuts and Bolts

As a follow-up to my previous post, I thought it might be helpful to give some specifics and logistics for those who are thinking of converting their class to a blended one.

First you need to understand what it means to teach online. I went through an intensive training program through Virtual High School to become an online teacher. But there are many other workshops and conferences you can attend. Another excellent resource is the Blended Learning Toolkit which is made available for free through the University of Central Florida. Take some time to really understand what you're doing and why you're doing it.

Next you need an online environment for students to work in - a LMS (Learning Management System.) I chose Schoology, but there are others out there, such as Edmodo, Haiku and Moodle, all of which are free. I chose Schoology based on this excellent blog post by Jennie Magiera which points out its well thought-out integration with iPads. Your school's web site might also have enough features in Class Pages to manage a blended class. You want it to have the following:

• a document dropbox for student to submit assignments
• a threaded discussion feature
• a place to post links and documents for students

Also helpful would be a calendar, a blog feature, and an online quiz feature.

My class, as I mentioned in my previous post is not technically a blended course. Blended courses are those in which 30% to 70% (these percentages vary depending on the source) of the instruction is delivered online. I decided to meet face to face 4 days a week and online 1 day a week, so it's only 20% online. But it's a good start.

The next thing I did was think of the types of activities that best lend themselves to online learning and work them into my lesson plans each week. I want to have at least one group/collaborative assignment each week.

When all that was ready, I composed a letter to the parents explaining what blended learning is and what it would mean for their children. I was pleasantly surprised that none of the parents had questions or concerns. This week we had our first online session and it went well. The next day in class, we debriefed about ways we could do better, and so it goes.

One more thing you should know - expect to spend about twice as much time on your online classes as you do for your face to face ones. That has been true for my fully online class and I am finding it to be true as well for the blended one. But it is time well spent and you will be amazed at how much you learn. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

I hope you try it.