Activity Eight-Blended Learning Strategies- one

 Blended Learning Strategy- Design One Emailed directly to Bronwyn.
 

One subject included in the Certificate of Veterinary Nursing is "Apply skills and qualities of a salesperson in a retail situation" (US 11831). The f2f students are taught in a classroom situation using facilitated sessions, based on power-point presentation, and Role Plays. A focus using real life situations and different scenarios helps cement the theoretical knowledge. Distance students attend Block courses and are either in the veterinary industry or work placement in a veterinary clinic. Adobe sessions are offered to both, and the students can choose to attend or listen to the recording at a later date. Adding to this and including online forums for student’s, takes advantage of a blended learning approach. Engaging in varied platforms such as F2f learning, Role plays and discussion forums on-line will encourage students to discuss similarities and differences in various sales approaches Diaz and Brown (2012).

Looking at the Flexibility Continuum (Casey & Wilson, 2005) the course appears to be moderately flexible. Three dimensions of flexibility are addressed, Content, Instructional approaches and resources and Delivery and Logistics.

 

Dividing the students into small groups to take part in role plays will help those that find large classroom situations daunting. Role plays are acknowledged as a powerful teaching and learning tool in f2f teaching and on-line as it lets the students experience different scenarios in a safe environment with their peers Wikipedia (2013).

Role plays need to be fun and interesting to be effective learning tools. They are ideal when teaching Communication and Customer Service skills. When reviewing the role plays, either by peers or facilitator, students can be made aware of how their actions impact on others and review what they could do differently Piltz (2008).

Although a summative assessment is required by the NZQA, a formative assessment offers continual feedback to the students. Open forums can be monitored to target areas that need more support. By offering different options for presenting the practical part of the assessment encourages students to choose the medium they are most comfortable with.

References:

Casey. J.,& Wilson P. (2005) A Practical Guide to Providing Flexible Learning in Further and
Higher Education Retrieved from:

http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/publications/a-practical-guide-to-providing-flexible-learning-in-further-and-higher-education.pdf 

Diaz,V.,& Brown, M.(2010) "Blended Learning: A Report on the ELI Focus Session" 

ELI Paper 2: November, p. 10 Retrieved from:http://teaching.unsw.edu.au/online-teaching

Piltz, D.(2008) The Purpose of Role Playing in learning. Retrieved from: http://www.thelearningkey.com/PurposeofRolePlayingAug08.pdf

Wikipedia (2013) Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing



 

 

 

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