Curtis Bonk

This comprehensive resource highlights the most recent practices and trends in blended learning from a global perspective and provides targeted information for specific blended learning situations. You'll find examples of learning options that combine face-to-face instruction with online learning in the workplace, more formal academic settings, and the military. Across these environments, the book focuses on real-world practices and includes contributors from a broad range of fields including trainers, consultants, professors, university presidents, distance-learning center directors, learning strategists and evangelists, general managers of learning, CEOs, chancellors, deans, and directors of global talent and organizational development. This diversity and breadth will help you understand the wide range of possibilities available when designing blended learning environments. Order your copy today!

This study analyzed discussion in an online conferencethat supplemented class discussion using aninstructional method called the starter-wrappertechnique within a traditional graduate leveleducational psychology course. Various quantitativemeasures were recorded to compare instructor andstudent participation rates. In addition, Henri's(1992) model for content analysis of computer-mediatedcommunication was employed to qualitatively analyzethe electronic discourse. Using this model, five keyvariables were examined: (1) student participationrates; (2) electronic interaction patterns; (3) socialcues within student messages; (4) cognitive andmetacognitive components of student messages; and (5)depth of processing -- surface or deep -- within messageposting. Transcript content analyses showed that,while students tended to post just the one requiredcomment per week in the conference, their …

As Bednar, Cunningham, Duffy, and Perry (1995) argued, instructional strategies and tools must be based on some theory of learning and cognition. Of course, crafting well-articulated views that clearly answer the major epistemological questions of human learning has exercised psychologists and educators for centuries. What is a mind? What does it mean to know something? How is our knowledge represented and manifested? Many educators prefer an eclectic approach, selecting" principles and techniques from the many theoretical perspectives in much the same way we might select international dishes from a smorgasbord, choosing those we like best and ending up with a meal which represents no nationality exclusively and a design technology based on no single theoretical base"(Bednar et ai., 1995, p. 100). It is certainly the case that research within collaborative educational learning tools has drawn upon …

According to Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat, worldwide economic trends are flattening. In education, however, opportunities for learning are actually expanding or opening up through a myriad of emerging distance technologies. Curt Bonk’s extension of “The World is Flat,”“The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education” will be released in July 2009. The opportunities detailed in “The World is Open”(TWiO) book can be seen in ten technology trends that spell the acronym:“WE-ALL-LEARN.” From online content in the form of e-books, podcasts, streamed videos, and satellite maps to participatory environments such as social networking, wikis, and alternate reality worlds, technology-based learning continues to open new learning pathways. At the same time, more instructors are sharing their course materials and teaching ideas globally, thereby expanding learning opportunities …

Number 4 2006• EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY 23 enthusiasm for e-learning alternate with a pervasive sense of e-learning gloom, disappointment, bankruptcy and lawsuits, and myriad other contentions. 3 Appropriately, the question arises as to where online learning is headed. Navigating online education requires an understanding of the current state and the future direction of online teaching and learning.The study described here surveyed instructors and administrators in postsecondary institutions, mainly in the United States, to explore future trends of online education. In particular, the study makes predictions regarding the changing roles of online instructors, student expectations and needs related to online learning, pedagogical innovation, and projected technology use in online teaching and learning.

Two developments in recent years have converged to dramatically alter most conceptions of the teaching and learning process. First, technology has become increasingly interactive and distributed, such that individual learners have available the means to participate in incredibly complex networks of information, resources, and instruction. As these technological advancements facilitate interaction across classroom, university, and worldwide learning communities in both real-time and delayed formats, various instructional design and implementation problems spring forth. Second, the conventional teacher-centered model wherein knowledge is transmitted from the teacher to the learner is being replaced by social constructivist and learner-centered models of instruction. These new learner-centered models place emphasis on guiding and supporting students as they meaningfully construct their understanding of various cultures and communities. As a consequence of these developments, teachers need guidelines from educational researchers about integrating collaboration and communication tools into their classrooms. This volume presents research on such collaborative technology as it facilitates, augments, and redefines academic learning environments. The studies illustrate how schools, teachers, and students are discovering, employing, and modifying the numerous new computer conferencing and collaborating writing tasks and tools, and their effects on social interaction and resulting student learning. Documentation is given that will help teachers to make decisions that productively transform learning environments. Three key objectives …

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During the upcoming decade, we will undoubtedly see momentous advances in Web-based instruction (WBI), spurred by new developments in the information superhighway, the design of innovative World Wide Web technology tools and features, and the growing acceptance of learner-centered instructional principles and techniques (American Psychological Association (APA), 1995). Chronicling the" common" Web-based instructional techniques in existence today will likely appear limited when compared to approaches that supersede them in the 21st century. In order to extend the half-life of this chapter, therefore, our goals are three-fold:• ground current examples of Web-based instructional techniques, tools, and practices in learner-centered pedagogy;• provide a menu of Web-appropriate alternative instructional strategies for creative and critical thinking as well as cooperative learning; and• raise the discussion of WBI to issues of learning apprenticeships and student perspective taking.

Time constraints and teaching in crowded classrooms restrict in‐depth dialogical interaction in teaching and learning. Electronic conferencing systems, however, have the potential to foster online discussions beyond class time. Case‐based instruction also constitutes a promising approach in fostering learners' participation and reflection. The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the extent to which an electronic conferencing system, named COW (“Conferencing on the Web”), facilitates pre‐service teachers' communication outside their classroom, when discussing teaching cases from their field experiences, and (b) the potential of COW and case‐based instruction to foster quality discourse and promote students' critical‐thinking skills. The results showed that students' online discourse was mostly an exchange of personal experiences and did not reflect well‐supported reasoning. Future research on the issue …

After more than a decade of extensive learning on the Internet, especially the use of it to supplement and extend learning, it is time to push ahead with new data and predictions related to blended learning. We begin by sharing the results of two studies conducted on the future of online teaching and learning-one in higher education and one in corporate training. The data show a perceived shift over the next decade towards the use of blended approaches in both higher education and workplace environments. Results are also presented regarding survey respondent perceptions of what pedagogical techniques and technologies will be most widely used within e-learning. Importantly, similar data is shared from the perspective of corporate managers and higher education instructors, instructional designers, and administrators. In the second half of this paper, we predict ten major trends and predictions for the future …

Using a case study approach, this study explored the participants' perceptions of building learning communities in online courses in an online MBA program. The findings suggested that students felt a sense of belonging to a learning community when they took online courses in this program. The study found positive relationships between sense of learning community and perceived learning engagement, course satisfaction, and learning outcomes. In addition, interview findings revealed mixed perceptions of both online instructors and students with regard to the values and strategies for building learning communities in online courses. Many instructors have a weak awareness of online community and low value of its learning impact. The existing technology may still be a barrier without the supportive structure to enhance bonding within the online community. To design online courses for a learning community, the …

This study investigated two interconnected conferences formed by students and instructors from two different cultures—Finland and the United States—to discuss case situations or problems in school observations, in order to examine cross-cultural differences in online collaborative behaviors among undergraduate preservice teachers. A conference for Korean students in the following semester was added and analyzed for more diverse cross-cultural comparisons. In terms of the first part of this study, computer log data indicated that there were more cross-cultural postings in the Finnish conference by U.S. students than Finnish visitors within the U.S. conference. In addition, student postings made up nearly 80 percent of these discussions. Qualitative content analyses of computer transcripts were conducted to compare their collaborative behaviors with the conferences. Results revealed some cross-cultural …

Though interaction is often billed as a significant component of successful online learning, empirical evidence of its importance as well as practical guidance or specific interaction techniques continue to be lacking. In response, this study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how instructors and students perceive the importance of online interaction and which instructional techniques enhance those interactions. Results show that instructors perceive the learner-instructor and learnerlearner interactions as key factors in high quality online programs. While online students generally perceive interaction as an effective means of learning, they vary with regard to having more interaction in online courses. Such variations seem to be associated with differences in personality or learning style. The present study also shows that instructors tend to use technologies and instructional activities that they are familiar with or have relied on in traditional classroom settings. When it comes to learning more sophisticated technologies or techniques, instructors vary significantly in their usage of new approaches.The rapid development of computer and Internet technologies has dramatically increased the ways of teaching and learning. Among these new approaches, online Webbased education has become a promising field. In the United States alone, the number of students enrolled in distance education classes has increased from 753,640 in the 1994-1995 academic year, to an estimated number of 3,077,000 in the 2000-2001 academic year (Lewis, Alexander, & Farris, 1997; Waits & Lewis, 2003). While increasing enrollment is certainly …

Jarvis (1992), a long-time proponent of adult learning, contended that “the process of learning is located at the interface of people’s biography and the sociocultural milieu in which they live, for it is at this intersection that experiences occur”(p. 17). Few researchers or educators, however, actually address adult learning from a sociocultural perspective (Forman & McPhail, 1993). In this chapter, we point to changes in the uses of learning tools and institutions across adulthood that may compel educators to consider a sociocultural framework. Such changes have not come without warning. More than a decade ago, Cross (1981) indicated that in addition to traditional academic goals, the learning goals of adults often emphasize intrinsic knowledge, personal fulfillment (eg, job or license), community service, religious well-being, social relationships, novelty, acceptance, and cultural knowledge. Given these social and cultural influences on adult-learning activities, attempts to understand adult learning from a sociocultural perspective should be both inviting and informative.

In the midst of numerous accounting reform reports declaring that the memorization of accounting facts will no longer suffice, global economies have increased the pressure on universities to develop higher-order thinking skill curricula. This paper suggests that a consultative model of teaching can meet these challenges. From this framework, learning environments can be reshaped to support both the creative and critical thinking skills demanded by workplaces of the 21st century. In contrast to the passive reception of knowledge of teacher-centered classrooms, this style of teaching promotes active, student-centered learning. Importantly, a myriad of critical and creative thinking techniques, activities, and examples are detailed for developing accounting curricula in accordance with these views. Peripheral issues related to assessing higher-order thinking as well as cooperative grouping also are considered.