Attempting to realise the potential of blended learning

An initial teacher education case study

Abstract

Although a lot has been written and said about blended learning, realising the potential that has been written and spoken about is challenging. This paper presents a case study of an initial teacher programme where a commitment to providing more interactivity, ensuring media richness and to personalising the learning experience for students led to a reconceptualisation of the delivery and a move to a blended learning approach. The nature of teacher education is explored and considered alongside the potential of blended learning and the question asked: Can an initial teacher education programme be redesigned in a way that realises the potential of blended learning? In attempting to answer this question design, development and implementation issues are explored and the responses to them outlined. The paper concludes with suggestions for other higher education institutions contemplating similar change and some initial thoughts about assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of blended learning in the university based initial teacher education programme that provided the case study for this paper.