Abstract:

Course design is the process by which teachers create learning environments that, by combining the most appropriate content, instruction and learning activities, facilitate students’ achievement of the learning outcomes. Some aspects of course design are common to all types of courses (e.g. alignment of teaching and learning activities with learning outcomes and assessment), but a few are either especially relevant or specific to the design of blended courses. Such is the case of technology integration.

Blended courses make considerable use of technological tools and, although technology can facilitate certain activities and interactions that would not be possible or so efficient without technological support, technology alone does not necessarily have a meaningful impact in learning. The purpose of this paper is to discuss different ways in which course design can guide technology integration in blended learning environments. By providing practitioners with an overall view of the teaching and learning interactions in the course, the design process can be very useful to integrate technology in a pedagogically sound manner. Some key issues discussed in this paper are the connection between the face-to-face and online environments, the evaluation of the pedagogical potential of technology and the gradual integration and ease of use of technological tools.

Keywords:

Blended learning, technology integration, course design.