Abstract:

This paper builds on previous work presented at the ICERI conference in 2013 entitled: ‘Finding the Blend’: an evaluation of the balance between online and face-to-face learning and teaching in a blended curriculum (Rawlings-Anderson, Perovic and Sumner, 2013). An extended version of that paper was also published more recently in the Learning at City Journal (Vol 4 no. 1 pp 41-52, 2014) where data collected as part of that research has been analysed in more detail and recommendations for academic practice are made. Where the original paper outlined the design, development and implementation of a blended learning curriculum into the pre-registration nursing programmes in the School of Health Sciences at City University London, the present paper discusses the subsequent evolution of that blended curriculum which has been further refined through close collaboration between staff and students. By evaluating students’ feedback and academic staff evaluations of modules in the new nursing curriculum, further changes have been made which are reported below. This is an iterative process in which staff and students collaborate together to refine and develop the online and face-to-face elements of their programme, as well as negotiating the balance between these aspects. In this respect our work offers a collaborative model for the creation and development of a blended learning curriculum, the process and results of which we believe will be of interest to a wider audience.

It is now widely accepted that blended learning offers an effective alternative to both online and face to face instruction, indeed some have claimed that a blended learning approach is the most effective means for engaging students and maximising their performance (Means et al. 2009). Whilst there remains considerable variety in the definition and interpretation of the term blended learning (Oliver and Trigwell 2005, Littlejohn and Pegler 2007), much of the debate results from the search for an ‘ideal type’ against which particular blended learning design practices can be measured. Rather than engaging directly with this debate this paper proposes an alternative approach to the development of a blended learning model which is characterised by collaboration between students and teachers in an ongoing co-design process, as well as drawing on the reflections of the academic staff notionally responsible for ‘leading’ on the design process.

Keywords:

Blended learning, curriculum design, collaboration.