BlendKit Course-Week 1

This was the kick-off week for participating in my first MOOC course and this week's topic was Understanding Blended Learning. As I continue my studies in instructional design for online learning, this activity has reinforced my understanding that blended learning is another way of allowing instructors and designers to look for creative ways to engage learners and use a variety of media to address specific needs of students. It also helped me to remember that according to Carmen (2002), some of the key ingredients to creating blended learning include: live events, self-paced learning, collaboration, assessment, and support materials all of which have been presented in this week's learning. While most online designs favor a systems approach, due to its consistency and ease of support, blended learning allows for a "move toward a networked model or, less emphasis on presenting information and more emphasis on building the ability to navigate the information, which equals connectivism," a theory touted by George Siemens (2002). For this week's learning activities I created a course blueprint and mixmap to lay the foundation for creating a blended learning course. Let me know your thoughts!

Carman, J.M. (October, 2002). Blended learning design: five key elements. Agilant Learning. Retrieved June 26, 2011 fromhttp://www.agilantlearning.com/pdf/Blended%20Learning%20Design.pdf

Siemens, G. (2002, September 30, 2002). Instructional Design in Elearning. Retrieved June 26, 2011 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/InstructionalDesign.htm