Recommendations for
Making the Most of
Your Blended Course
by Larry Ragan
SPOTLIGHT ON:
Professor Victor Oguejiofor Okafor
Winter 20
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It’s no surprise that more and more instructors we work with are revamping their traditional
courses into an online or blended format; over 4.6 million students were taking at least one online
course during the fall 2008 term, according to Sloan Consortium’s seventh annual report, “Learning
on Demand. Online Education in the United States, 2009.” This represents a 17 percent growth
rate from the previous year, “...with the most recent data demonstrating no signs of slowing.”
Over the past several years, faculty members at
Penn State have been developing and teaching
blended format courses in various colleges and
We wanted to hear more about this trend from the instructor’s point of view. Below, Eastern
departments. Below is a list of recommendations
Michigan University’s African American Studies department head, Dr. Victor Oguejiofor
based on their experiences, using data collected
Okafor, answers our questions regarding the challenges and advantages of running online and
from interviews and conversations with many
blended courses:
of those faculty.
‡ At a minimum, blended instructors should
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Teaching Since:
allow six months lead time for course
1999
development; one year is preferred. Several
A: Prior to designing AAS 313 as an online
instructors voiced an opinion that the need
course, I had developed and taught it as
Courses Taught:
for integration and organization necessitates
‡ AAS 101
a day-time traditional course offering.
a full course redesign; creating a blended
Converting it to an online course took several
Introduction to
course is not as simple as placing presentation
steps, one of which was the transformation
African American
slides or notes online.
of the traditional classroom syllabus into
Studies (wholly online)
‡ Mastering the technology necessary to
‡ AAS 102 Introduction to African
administer the course can be a challenge,
an interactive electronic document
and instructors should set aside time to
incorporating various learning tools of
Civilization (web enhanced)
learn the requisite tools.
‡ AAS 232 Politics in the African American
a typical online offering.
‡ Hold an initial face-to-face kick-off meeting.
Experience (web enhanced)
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‡ AAS 313 Contemporary Africa:
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including a general orientation to the format
The Struggle Prospects for Development
of the course, a review of technology
A: There were several differences. One, I
(wholly online)
requirements, and an opportunity for the
converted my traditional classroom lecture
‡
AAS 505 the African Political Economy
students to socialize and get to know their
notes into electronic Power Point slides. In
peers and their instructor.
(wholly online)
addition to designating reading assignments
‡ Make students aware of what a
from required books, for the online course,
blended course entails. For
I was somewhat surprised to see the online students
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many students, the blended
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format is a novelty.
web-based supplemental materials, including
grades — than their traditional class counterparts.
‡ Provide information on time
what I labeled as “educational websites.”
management skills. Because of
Furthermore, the online students of the
the self-pacing elements of a blended course,
course write more than their traditional
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VWXGHQWVPD\EHQHÀWIURPimproving their
class counterparts. The online students
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skills in managing their work and schedules.
engage in class discussions of materials
‡ Be sure that the face-to-face class meetings
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differently – through both synchronous and
are integrated into the course, and hold value
and
taught
is
AAS
313
Contemporary
asynchronous learning tools.
to the educational experience that connects
Africa: The Struggle & Prospects for
with the online coursework. Students may
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Development (03 hrs). I designed and
become frustrated if they feel that the
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face-to-face sessions are simply thrown
launched this course in 1999 as part of the
into the course, with no thought given
A: I was somewhat surprised to see that
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to the role that the classroom time plays
the online students tended to do better – in
Eastern Michigan University.
within the course.
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Excerpt taken from: Ragan, Larry. Best Practices in Online
Teaching - Pulling It All Together - Teaching Blended
Learning Courses. Connexions. 28 Aug. 2007 <http://cnx.
org/content/m15048/1.2/>.
traditional class counterparts. This applies
not only to upper division courses, but also
to the lower division online course that I
developed later.
Spotlight continued on page 2
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