Design Resources and Templates
Blended lesson design template – Outcomes, Assessments, Activities (Google Doc)
Learning Management Systems
There are numerous learning management systems out there. Your institution probably provides and supports one for faculty use.
Canvas by Instructure
Canvas by Instructure offers Free for Teachers accounts, no strings attached.
CourseSites by Bb
Blackboard CourseSites also lets teachers user try Bb Learn for free.
Moodle
Moodle Cloud offers free course web sites for teachers on their open source learning management system.
Wikis and Web Sites
Teachers can create their own web sites using free or open web sites or wiki services. Here are some examples:
Blogging
Some LMSs advertise “blogs”, but these are typically little more than glorified class journals. Real blogs are individually-owned spaces where most publishing is made available for the world. Today’s blogging platforms balance power with simplicity, making it easy for most people to get started creating and sharing. Here are a few favorites:
Forms and Surveys
In addition to formal, institutional course evaluations it’s wise to gather student feedback on your blended course via your own form or survey. We reference BYU’s Mid-Course Evaluation as one example. Here are a of free platforms you can use to design and deliver your survey:
Open Educational Resources
There are many places you can find openly-licensed resources to use in your blended course. Here are a few sites that collect or aggregate open educational resources:
Users of the Canvas learning management system can find OER directly, through Canvas Commons.
Academic and Research Journals
Many academic and research journals interested in education and technology publish articles on blended learning. Here are just a few that seem to do so regularly:
- Computers & Education
- The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
- International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning
- The Internet and Higher Education
Preventing Plagiarism
Many teachers who practice authentic assessments or project based learning believe the best way to stop student plagiarism is by implementing practices that engage students in the work of learning. Here are some references:
Best Practices for Preventing Plagiarism – Webster University
Academic Honesty in the First-Year Experience – University of Sydney
An Instructional Approach to Practical Solutions for Plagiarism
More Resources
Soon after the first edition of Essentials of Blended Learning came out, the University of Central Florida began offering a MOOC on blended teaching, now available as BlendKit on their web site.
More resources to supplement the book are coming soon, so check back!