Reading Notes: Beetham, MacNeil & McGill. Beyond Blended: rethinking curriculum and learning design
- Alice Walton
- Jun 25
- 4 min read
Beetham. H, MacNeil, S. McGill, L (2024) Beyond Blended: rethinking curriculum and learning design. [Online] available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/beyond-blended-rethinking-curriculum-and-learning-design (accessed 24.06.25)
“Our 2022 report on approaches to curriculum and learning design across UK higher education offered a review of learning and curriculum design across the HE sector. It highlighted a pre-pandemic focus on activities and resources, particularly around enhancing and encouraging use of the virtual learning environment (VLE), with learning design focusing on tasks and sequencing. Support for media production (eg lecture recording, video and audio content) was a clear focus, as well as how students and learners were using digital devices to access resources, to produce notes and maybe develop their skills in some generic software.
Post-pandemic, we are looking at a more holistic, whole curriculum approach to design. There's been a clear focus on different modes of participation and on trying to be as flexible as we can for both students and staff.”
How learning has changed since Covid-19.
Beyond blended learning: What is being blended? What choices are available? What are the pedagogic value of those choices? So that we can talk to students about the value in their engagement.
In a beyond blended approach to curriculum design, two blends of time are considered: asynchronous and synchronous. And place: in place/ and or using an online platform.
Learning design: defining how learning will be supported within each course, module or unit. This is a professional activity that involves defining tasks, tools and technologies, core content, sessions and class groups, assignments and assessments, and opportunities for interaction and feedback. It produces a learning plan and associated materials to support teaching staff and students.
Four Aspects of Beyond Blended Learning.
“These four aspects of learning can be blended in many ways:
Time, pace and timing: synchronous (live, shared time) and asynchronous (independent, own time)
Space: place and platform
Learning materials: tools, facilities, learning media and other resources (digital, print-based, other materials)
Groups, roles and relationships: teacher-led and peer learning, varieties of group learning”
What works for my students?
Can these four modes be shared with my students to help them understand my expectations around their participation?
The four aspects of the beyond blended approach (place, time and pace, learning media resources, groups roles and interactions) work for different types of activities across the four different modes of participation (sync in place, sync online, async in place, async online).
Six pillars for designing ‘beyond blended’ learning
The six pillars are:
Place: learners and educators are always physically somewhere
Platform: learners and educators can always be (virtually) somewhere else
Pace: learners experience time and pace differently (synchronous/asynchronous or responsive/reflective)
Support: learners and educators need support to engage in diverse modes
Students and educators who have diverse backgrounds, abilities and requirements require guidance and resources to adapt and meet their LO to their potential. Support can come from digital tools for online learning, personal assistance, or strategies to develop self directed learning skills.
Flex: learners and educators expect choice and flexibility in mode(s) of learning.
Students can have options, allowing them to decide how their education fits around their personal and professional lives. The flexibility brings balance between education and other commitments, to suit their preference and pace. This also fosters a more inclusive envrionmet for students.
Blend: most learning has in place and online, synchronous and asynchronous elements.
The combination of in place and online components creates a multifaceted educational experience which in turn supports students learning preferences and needs. It benefits students by giving both immediacy and communal aspects to their learning, but also provides learning materials at their own convenience. The result is a dynamic and adaptable education experience.
How are pedagogic principles expressed in design?
AI response: Pedagogical principles are expressed in design by intentionally structuring learning experiences to align with how people learn best. This involves considering factors like attention, engagement, knowledge construction, and reinforcement, all while ensuring clarity and relevance. In essence, design becomes a tool to facilitate effective learning by incorporating these principles into the structure, visuals, and overall experience of the learning environment
Constructive alignment
As well as aligning activities with outcomes (for example using Bloom’s taxonomy [2001] [revised], the SOLO taxonomy [2019]), activities can be aligned with an appropriate mode of participation in learning. The resources in this guide offer a wide range of activities mapped to different sessions and modes.
Learning Cycles:
These models describe a preferred order of activities to support and structure learning. Different modes of participation in learning might be more or less appropriate at different phases of the cycle. For example, a flipped classroom approach might typically start with assimilation activities (asynchronous and online) followed by a consolidation session (synchronous, in place) where students can ask and answer questions, share ideas, practice application and get formative feedback, followed by a review phase (online again). A Kolb learning cycle might schedule on-site activities during the concrete experience and active experimentation phases. These activities could be live or asynchronous (eg students collecting data within an allocated time window, with access to a lab or field site).
Is relevant to my students.
“The learning cycle has four stages: concrete learning, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Effective learning can be seen when the learner progresses through the cycle. The learner can enter the cycle at any stage.”
The Kolb experimental learning cycle is demonstrated in my flipped classroom, I should mention this in the assessment.
Comentarios