Once the competencies and skills to be developed through a curriculum are identified, designers figure out how the individual pieces of the curriculum will be presented and how to pull the pieces into a cohesive whole. This is the heart of blending.

The next sections explore how to do this. The first group of sections explores models of blending. The next group of sections explores issues associated with blending the programs in the curriculum.

Different Approaches to Figuring Out What Material Goes in Which Format and Medium

As many people believe that blended learning is a course design strategy when it is actually a curriculum design strategy, so many people think that a decision about which material to put in a given medium is a decision about media when it is essentially a decision about the content.

After instructional designers have figured out what competencies and skills to cover in the curriculum, they next get a general idea of which formats and media to use to teach particular skills. A format refers to the type of learning program. Although instructional designers tend to assume that the only type of learning program is a course, the truth is, a variety of formats exist, such as demonstrations, cue cards, tutorials, tips of the day, and wizards.

Only after choosing a format should designers choose a medium of communication. In some cases, the format suggests the medium. For example, cue cards (in which users work through an online task one step at a time) are, by nature, online. In other cases, the designer actually has a choice of media. For example, material taught in a classroom can be taught in a traditional or live virtual classroom. Two approaches are popular for choosing a medium: one based on the complexity of the content and the other by the nature of the subject matter. The next two sections explore these approaches individually, and a short section after that explains what happens next.

Choosing a Format Based on the Complexity of the Content

After identifying the content to be taught in a curriculum, many instructional designers then classify the content to figure out how to blend it. One popular classification scheme is Bloom’s taxonomy. This scheme identifies the complexity associated with particular skills based on the action verb in the statement of the skill. Then based on the level of the majority of skills in a particular segment of the curriculum, designers determine the format and medium best suited to teach it.

Choosing a Format Based on the Subject Matter

Another common way of determining how to blend material in a curriculum is based on the type of content. Typically, the type of content refers to the subject matter of the learning material. In academic institutions, content is usually divided up according to subjects, such as anthropology, English, education, engineering, fine arts, history, mathematics, natural sciences, and sociology. In academic subjects, some topics seem more likely to be placed online in part or in full than others. The most popular online programs include computer science and information technology, education (many different sub-disciplines), and business. Continuing medical education has worked well online, although basic medical education (as in preparation for the M.D. degree) has not.

Training organizations divide up content differently. Some common ways of dividing up content include the following (note that some of these schemes overlap with one another):

• Hard and soft skills. Hard skills generally refers to technical skills, usually applicable in a specific context. Soft skills refers to abstract content that has broad applicability, such as negotiating skills, time management, and career planning. Hard skills are often easier to define than soft skills, and the learning material is often more concrete.

• End-user training. This usually refers to training end users of software applications or specialized hardware. Such training focuses on helping learners use the product, but provides little guidance on how to customize the software or hardware or how to troubleshoot problems with it, other than the most common ways of doing so.

• Product training. This refers to training that introduces an audience to a product. Three types of product training typically exist. Customer training teaches customers how to use a product and, if the product is complex enough, teaches customer administrators issues associated with managing the use of the product (such as teaching administrators of large computer networks how to manage those networks). Sales training teaches marketing representatives about the product and how to differentiate it from others on the market and identify and qualify prospects for the product. Service training teaches service representatives how to handle complex installations, customize the product, and troubleshoot complex problems.

• Compliance training. This refers to training resulting from a government or industry requirement, or from a corporate directive. This type of training usually addresses occupational safety and health issues, but may also address banking and healthcare regulations, and quality training (like ISO 9000). • Management training. This refers to training that provides managers with basic supervisory, budgeting, and project management skills, as well as special management topics, such as preventing harassment and implementing new management policies.

• Leadership development. This refers to programs that are intended to prepare high-potential candidates for executive positions. This type of training occurs in community organizations as well as in corporations and government agencies.

• Interpersonal skills. These refer to programs that explain how to interact with other people, such as sales, counseling, management, and telephone skills.

• Basic skills training. This refers to training that addresses a deficiency in skills that workers are otherwise assumed to have, such as basic literacy and numeracy skills.

• Professional continuing education. This refers to programs that continue the development of people within their chosen professions. In some instances, the body that licenses professionals requires that training, such as required continuing education for medical doctors. In other instances, the education is required so that professionals maintain their employability, such as continuing education for programmers and Web developers.

Generally, hard skills, end-user training, and compliance training seem to have the most success online.

Linking the Pieces Together

When choosing a format, instructional designers figure out how to split the skills among individual learning programs or parts of the curriculum. After doing so, instructional designers consider how the individual pieces work together and initially plan the roadmap.

More than the format of the material, the links between the different pieces of the curriculum need to be clear. Which material should learners take first? Second? Where do learners have choices about their progress? The act of preparing a roadmap (visual representations of curricula and the paths learners would take through them) helps instructional designers think about these links.

One common roadmap separates prerequisite content from the main content. In it, learners first take prerequisite material in a self-study format (and, in many cases, have an opportunity to take a test to place out of the material), then move into a traditional or virtual classroom for the main content.

Other curricula have learners start working with a common set of content, then continue with specialized content suited to their area of interest.

Completing the Curriculum Design

At this point, the choices of formats and media are preliminary, and the relationships among parts of the curriculum are preliminary. Designers then explain the curriculum plan that does the following:

• Considers the practicality of the proposed plan.

• Includes a related plan to make sure learners complete the self-study parts of the curriculum.

• Explains why a blended format was chosen.

• Provides a clear roadmap to the entire curriculum.

• In each part of the curriculum, provides backward and forward signposts that clearly explain what should have been completed before starting a program and what programs are available after completion.

• Includes a plan for validating understanding throughout the curriculum.

• Provides consistent support to learners throughout the curriculum.

The next several sections explore these issues in detail.

Consider the Practicality of the Proposed Plan

Until now, educational needs have driven most of the decisions about design. That is, choice about the format of content and the medium of communication have resulted from the nature of the content being taught.

Before committing to these choices, instructional designers need to consider their practicality. Issues affecting the practicality of design choices include:

• Time available for development. Self-study materials generally take more time to develop than ones intended for a traditional or live virtual classroom. Generally, the average time needed to develop one hour of asynchronous e-learning is just under 225 hours (Chapman, 2002) (note that this time is an average; it assumes an experienced development team and minimal media other than the computer, graphics, and programming; extensive use of video could more than double this estimate). In contrast, a typical hour of classroom training requires about forty hours of development time, and a typical hour of live virtual classroom takes about sixty to eighty hours. (Note that these estimates include the time of all members of the development team and assume that although the team has experience developing content, it does not have experience with the subject matter and conducts a full needs assessment.) For projects on tight schedules, content that a designer might have initially wanted to prepare in an asynchronous online format might be presented in a classroom because of the lack of sufficient time to develop it.

• Funds available for development. Even if sufficient development time is available, sufficient funds must also be available for the chosen format.

• Compatibility of the technology and learning environment to the chosen medium. To take asynchronous online learning programs or programs in a live virtual classroom, learners must have access to computers connected to the Internet. In addition, for programs with sound, learners must have access to a location where they can play the sound without disturbing others. If not, practical issues force designers to move content originally intended to be presented online to another format. In addition, although blended learning involves e-learning, the organization sponsoring the blended learning curriculum might not realize a substantial cost savings on its efforts. Although the length of a classroom course may be reduced by moving some of the content online, learners may still have to travel to attend the classroom segments of the curriculum. Although lodging costs are reduced because the classroom sessions are shorter, the largest course expense is travel, and that is usually not reduced as a result of blending courses.

Include a Related Plan to Make Sure Learners Complete the Self-Study Parts of the Curriculum

Although learners and trainers say they like blended learning, one of the practical realities is that learners often do not complete the self-study programs in the curriculum. If the self-study materials are essential to having a highly productive classroom session, instructional designers must provide incentives to ensure learners complete the prerequisite materials.

If the learners are internal or academic students, instructional designers have a variety of incentives at their disposal, such as reports to management for workers and grades for academic learners. But when learners are customers, such as in the case of customer education and continuing education, instructional designers need to find more positive ways of encouraging learners to take the self-study parts. In addition, instructional designers must also have realistic expectations about learners’ likelihood of completing prerequisite material. For example, one organization used blended learning for a customer training course. Management had set a goal of 95 percent completion of an asynchronous online pre-course before the classroom course. When surveyed at the beginning of the classroom course only 65 percent had completed it. Of the other 35 percent, 13 percent said that they could not have completed the asynchronous course—their work did not afford them time to do so. In other words, 100 percent completion is not a realistic target.

Designers may find that they need to provide incentives for completing the entire curriculum. The incentives used for completing the entire curriculum are often similar to those used to encourage learners to complete prerequisite material. For example, external incentives such as academic credit, certification, and qualifications for a job promotion also encourage learners to complete a blended curriculum.

Explain Why a Blended Format Was Chosen

Although learners are likely to support a blended approach, the fact that different parts of the curriculum come in different formats could be disconcerting to them. In the curriculum plan, include plans to make learners aware that the learning program is blended and explain why. Plan to do so through print and online catalogs and similar materials that promote learning programs. For example, if many learners are expected to already know some of the prerequisite material, state that, “Because learners are coming from so many different backgrounds, the program starts with a self-study program that lets learners all work up to an equal level of skill before starting the classroom part of the course.”

Or if the program is a blend of asynchronous and live virtual classrooms, state that “To minimize travel costs, we have moved this program online. But to provide you with variety in the learning experience, some segments of the material are selfpaced, while others are taught in a live virtual classroom.”

One of the major concerns to learners is knowing where to begin the curriculum and where they can go. One of the most effective tools in helping learners figure their way through a curriculum is a curriculum roadmap. An effective curriculum roadmap shows learners the recommended order for covering the material.

In Each Part of the Curriculum, Provide Backward and Forward Signposts

In addition to the roadmap, plan to provide “signposts” in each part of the curriculum that link individual learning materials to those that come before and afterward. At the beginning of materials, show a copy of the roadmap and highlight the material taught in the current section.

In addition, at the beginning of one part of a curriculum, tell learners what they should already know before starting it. Although these are often stated as titles of units that learners should have taken or a list of topics that learners should be familiar with, this material is ideally stated in terms of skills that learners should have mastered. When the content is presented in terms of skills, learners are not just informed of the topics they need to learn, but they also have a tool for assessing whether or not they have mastered the content. For example, in a course on evaluation, the prerequisite skills might be

• Analyze the needs underlying a unit of instruction.

• Develop objectives for a unit of instruction.

• Design a unit of instruction.

• Develop the learning materials according to the designs.

This list of skills is more useful to learners than “You should have taken the modules on analysis, design, development, and implementation.”

At the end of a unit, tell learners two things:

• Which competencies they should develop to continue their learning. These should be stated similarly to those stated in the list of prerequisite skills, but should list skills not yet learned.

• Which parts of the curriculum help learners develop those competencies

Include a Plan to Validate Understanding Throughout the Curriculum

As learners progress from one part of the curriculum to the next, it is essential that their skills be assessed. Content in a later part of the curriculum often builds on content presented in an earlier part. If learners have not mastered the earlier content, the later content is likely to confuse them (and, of course, they’re not likely to master it). Assessing learning at the end of each phase of a curriculum allows learners to validate that they’re ready to progress to the next. If the curriculum does not include a formal test, use informal assessments to help learners ensure that they progress only when they’re ready.

If learners have not mastered one part of the curriculum, rather than recommending that they move to the next part, suggest that learners repeat the current part. Use the incorrect answers to a criterion-referenced test at the end of the unit to direct learners to remediation of interest.

Provide Consistent Support Throughout the Curriculum

Although the different content is presented in different formats throughout the curriculum—web-based, live virtual classroom, traditional classroom, video, and others—some things need to remain constant throughout. One of the most significant is the support available to learners.

Regardless of whether learners are taking a course in a live virtual class or web based format, access to tutoring services and technical support should come from the same place—the same telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. Ideally, learners would deal with the same people for support to ensure some level of consistency in taking the blended curriculum.

A single face of support provides continuity in the program, and continuity is believed to be positively linked with achievement.