Week 02: Blended learning interactions

a) Interactions are a must for a course. Basic interaction is teacher-students (T2S), but students-students (S2S) are also important. ¿What kind of S2S interactions?. It dependes on the type of course (online, blended, F2F) and the subject matter. In a Math class, it could be collaborative exercise or problem-solving. In a History class, it could be a discussion forum or a project.

 b) A blended learning course offers a very good opportunity for interaction, because it combines different learning environments, F2F and online. An example is an online activity that can also be discussed F2F.Also, an online activity with F2F feedback. A good example of that is a course in "Managerial competences", in my institution blended Business Management bachelor's program. Students make online tests about managerial skills, and then instructor interviews each student about results. In this case, F2F communication is best channel to provide feedback.

 c) ¿How much learner control of learning process?. This question assumes, correctly, that learning has to be learner-centered. The point is how and how much control has to be on the side of learner. Four learning environments, presented in the article, are very good guides on how teacher can interact with studentes in learner-centered environments.

 d) My final point is about information management. "How to make sense of information when is fragmented and distribuited and not organized and coherent (like in a textook)". This is related to personal learning envirnoments (PLE), so part of learning process is to have students constructing interactions with resources and persons who have information. A way for that is to have more flexible courses, where students can establish, at least in part, what direction they want for their learning. ¿Textbooks can be discarded?. Maybe not. In some cases, it is not neccesary that students go to diverse sources. Some other times all what the student need is a procedure, and that can be found in a single source.