A blended learning approach to teaching

With an increase in the availability of technology in teaching and teaming and an increasingly sophisticated 'audience', Higher Education institutions need to rethink the traditional lecture as the sole means of delivering information. It is evident that today's students are used to huge amounts of stimulation from many sources including computer games, the internet, interactive television and even their mobile phones. The result is that they have high expectations of information and technology. Consequently, posting lecture related links onto an academic's home page or an institutional VLE together with some PowerPoint slides is not enough to capture their attention or interest. As the title suggests, this paper will focus on the development of a blended teaming approach to a specific module (Introduction to Multimedia). There are a few concessions to the module and the associated cohort (1(st) year and 2(nd) year) but effectively the approach could be applied to most modules. The paper looks at the web site content from a pedagogical viewpoint, from the student experience and consequent feedback, and also from a re-useable standpoint. It also presents the findings of a pilot project where student involvement and satisfaction were measurable using feedback and engagement.