How higher ed can support blended learning beyond the pandemic

The future of blended learning has arrived. A new resource from the Every Learner Everywhere network, Planning for a Blended Future: A research-driven guide for educators, helps educators advance their blended learning efforts beyond the crisis phase of the pandemic to strategically meld course design and learning technologies.

Blended learning in its ideal application offers faculty and instructors within higher education institutions an opportunity to benefit from multiple modes of instruction while providing students with a quality learning experience. Real learning can be achieved when we acknowledge the weaknesses of technology, strengths of togetherness, and the need for thoughtful and inclusive design and planning to blend the two. By using active pedagogies, and by way of thoughtful and inclusive strategic planning, educators can now use technology to create meaningful connectedness across distance.

Using a range of technologies, instructional approaches, and pedagogical practices. Planning for a Blended Future, a collaborative effort between Every Learner Everywhere, The National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), identifies techniques for blended courses and programs for the future of post-inoculation higher education.