[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 10 | June 20, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Gary Anderson says, “I didn’t have to travel far to attend the i-Learning Forum across town here in Paris recently. The trade show billed itself as ‘Technologies at the Service of Learning’ and the attendees were mainly Training and Human Resources managers from businesses.
But the afternoon I attended was devoted to ‘Pedagogical Innovations in Language Learning’, a mini-conference which consisted of case studies from companies involved in blended learning, plus information on the products and platforms they used. Our own blended course,Touchstone/Viewpoint, was on display.
Although the focus was on adult continuing education, principally learners in in-company training, I think the principles discussed can serve for all teachers involved in blended learning for learners of any age.
Here are the four principles I took away, first in French – by way of a brief French lesson! – and then with explanations in English:
1. Abandon
All of the case studies mentioned the phenomenon of learners abandoning and simply giving up if they were only involved in individual 100% online learning“.