23 Strategies for Crafting a Module Blueprint

Chapter Objectives

• Consider management, planning, sequencing, and guiding principles of blended learning instructional strategies
• Evaluate rubrics, design tutorials, and planning tools to guide you toward developing these blended learning course activities or module redesign
• Craft a blueprint for blended learning activities that you can implement in your course

In this chapter we begin by presenting instructional strategies (or course activities and sequences) that make blended learning work to achieve the learning objectives you set for your course. Our goal is to consider how the classroom and online course components interact to engage students in deeper learning experiences.

Next, we shift our focus to a set of resources that begin to bring together key parts of previous chapters in this section as we work toward planning an actual blended learning activity, module, or course (whichever is most relevant to you!). We’ll examine a few templates for course design and start to lay a foundation for the final chapter in this section (where we will solidify plans that can be implemented in your course).

Throughout the remaining chapters in this section, we’ll be using materials from a variety of sources including the BlendKit, which was prepared by the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) with funding from the Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC). It is provided as an open educational resource under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Observe & Consider

Professor Greg Downey in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism has developed several online and blended learning opportunities for his students. He discusses his motivations for creating these opportunities and the benefits, efficiencies, opportunities for deeper learning that he has identified over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bqjQHWzIrs