Blended Learning: Beyond Technology to Pedagogical Structure Design

• Published in: Blended Learning: Aligning Theory with Practices Vol. 9757; pp. 221 - 232
• Main Author: Hu, Liru
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2016; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Blended learning; Educational equipment & technology, computer-aided learning (CAL); Educational revolution; Pedagogical structure; Teaching model; Teaching strategy
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-41165-1_20
• ISBN: 9783319411644; 3319411640
• ISSN: 0302-9743

Blended learning has become a predictable trend of educational revolution. However, if it is still simply understood as the combination of face-to-face instruction and online learning, such overemphasis on technology will conceal its real mechanism. According to the System Science, structure is the decisive factor for function. Pedagogical structure is the approach or sequence of the spatial and temporal combination and interaction of different elements (e.g. student, teacher, teaching content and media) in a pedagogical system. It is a mutual attribute of different levels of pedagogical system, and depends on elements’ category, number, proportion, and combination modes. The current research on education revolution seldom involves combination modes between different layers of structure which is actually what blended learning aims to. Based on Jacobson’s work, a revised framework of Sequencing Pedagogical Structure (SPS) was put forward by adding two more factors: emphasis of approaches and temporal orientation. It further concluded eleven structure sequences of blended learning system helping address the key issues like “to blend or not to blend” and “what extent to blend”. Finally flipped classroom, a typical blended learning model, was briefly analyzed from a perspective of SPS framework.