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Ideas for blended learning
Ideas for blended learning - 3 - Shared outputs
Ideas for blended learning - 3 - Shared outputs

Different ideas for creating a shared output of learning with artefacts and concept maps.

Caitlin Foran avatar
Written by Caitlin Foran
Updated over a week ago

In blended learning, you could use the online course as a sort of storage system for summary notes or concept maps.

Examples

In this example, we ask learners to first reflect (and write) on their own on what they remember and will be able to contribute (as with the think part of a think-pair-share). Then, we use an in-page discussion to post a photo of the group's concept map. This is a handy way of making sure that map is available to learners even if they weren't able to make the face-to-face session.

Image showing example of essay type task
Image showing example of in-page discussion

You don't always have to do a concept map, there is a range of options for creating a group summary of the week or concept. The example below shows some tasks for affinity mapping (categorising concepts into like groups). As with the previous example, we can do this with a collection of tasks, or if you find that's too many... just one or two of those tasks.

Image showing example of file upload type task
Image showing example of essay type task
Image showing example of essay type task

Image showing example of in-page discussion

Benefits

Creating group summaries or concept maps...

  • Helps learners visualise or present large and/or complex concepts by breaking them into smaller and simpler parts, (showing the connections between).

  • Makes learners more active contributors, helping to develop cognitive skills such as categorising and prioritising, critical and creative thinking etc.

  • Help recall and connect prior knowledge to new information.

  • Acts as a stored summary of a week/topic and won't ever be lost (unlike notes in a folder can be).

Variations

  • Have learners create a concept map at the beginning and end of a topic, then ask them to reflect on what they've learned and how the concept maps differ.

  • Give learners a concept map with "mistakes" in it and ask learners to identify what doesn't fit and re-draw the map.

  • Have learners co-create a concept map or summaries in smaller sub-groups. You could even assign each group a different part of the topic. This could be face-to-face, in a video conference or using a collaborative tool like Mindmeister or Google drawings.

  • Get learners to share concept maps and look at things like: In what ways are they similar/different? Are there concepts or connections they forgot they knew that they can add now?

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