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Blended learning courses - what are they?

Filed under GSLIS Administrative
Posted by GSLIS, April 03, 2008
View all posts for April 2008

Dear GSLIS students:

In the Fall ‘08 course schedule you will notice that a few courses are listed as ‘blended learning’ courses. What does this mean and what is blended learning?

Basically, it’s an effort to combine the flexibility and technology of online learning with the face-to-face interaction of an in-person class. There are fewer face-to-face meetings, and much of the content is delivered online. The number of face-to-face meetings is reduced by at least half. Since much of the content is delivered online, students will be expected to work with wikis, blogs, Web sites, and eLearning, and also to be able to play video-recorded lectures and podcasts, use Skype, and IM, and other such social networking tools.

Two blended courses will be offered at GSLIS West in the Fall 2008: Information Organization (LIS 415 with Professor Candy Schwartz), and Reference/Information Services (LIS 407 with Terry Plum). In Spring 2009, Professors Sheila Denn and Rong Tang will offer Evaluation (LIS 403) and Technology for Information Professionals (LIS 488). Principles of Management (LIS 404), will be offered later on.

In Fall 2008, the blended LIS 407 and 415 will be offered in the same time slot on Saturday morning, but on different Saturdays. This means that GSLIS students can add a third Saturday course in the afternoon where only two were possible before. For students tempted by the convenience of this arrangement, be careful of the workload! Even though a blended course might appear to be more convenient and easier to schedule, because of the blended medium the workload is often greater than face-to-face courses. Also, taking 407 and 415 together is a challenging combination, under any circumstances.

The schedule for each face-to-face class session will soon be listed in AARC for the two Fall 08 blended courses, so that you can see when each class will be offered. For Boston students, the van out to South Hadley will be running on Saturdays in the Fall.

This opportunity for you to take blended courses is the result of a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Sloan Program in Asynchronous Learning, Anytime, Anywhere, Online. The Sloan Foundation chose Simmons for this award to show that a college can offer high-quality blended classes and still maintain the close student/faculty relationships that are such a part of the college experience. This program aims to “make high quality learning, education and training, available anytime and anywhere, for those motivated to seek it” (see http://www.sloan.org). The $225,000 grant will help establish blended learning programs at Simmons The blended classes that are created for the Mount Holyoke campus will eventually be implemented on the Boston campus too, so that all GSLIS students can benefit. Professor Bastian is coordinating the Sloan grant for GSLIS and the blended program.

We welcome your comments about this program, and hope that this grant will increase your choice of learning environments. It is an exciting opportunity for GSLIS.

If you have any questions about the blended program, please contact Dr. Jeannette Bastian at: jeannette.bastian@simmons.edu

Best,

Terry Plum
Assistant Dean, Simmons GSLIS