Committing to a Blended Learning Model of Delivery A Post‐Earthquake experiment with Moodle and Facebook Richard Hallum Around 7 to 10 years ago the catchphrase ‘Blended Learning’ came on the education scene (being touted as the next big thing), along with e-learning. In the context of an existing classroom-based programme, this means running on-line delivery alongside the on-campus delivery. Around 2005 I did dabble with Moodle but then let it go. The reasons for this were quite simple: (a) lack of time, and (b) I was not persuaded that there were any advantages. These two are, of course, related. Tutors (like parents) are busy people, so the idea of using Moodle begged the question “is all the time and effort really going to be worth it?” From my perspective, several of the advantages were already embedded into the Diploma programme delivery. I maintained a Server on campus that contained many additional resources from lectures, copies of assessments, equipment manuals for every piece of equipment, and students could hand in assignments electronically to my dropbox. As well as this, the idea of student laptops was already integrated into the programme (since before 2002). A student could bring his /her computer to class and then continue with study on the same computer at home. File transfer between campus computers and student laptops was also provided for so a student could seamlessly exchange assessment projects between the two. The Feb. 22 earthquake necessitated a re-think as to how to deliver the programme without a campus. Until we obtained alternative sites I used Adobe Connect to teach virtual classes. This allowed students to ‘attend’ class online and see the tutor. They could also see and hear any AV content I presented on the screen (eg whiteboard, pictures, videos). Alongside that, a live chat was possible, so a student could type a comment or question during the session. This aspect could be controlled so that all students could chat, or questions were only directed to the tutor. The session could also be recorded for later online viewing. Whilst this method was essential to get classes going again, there were several limitations. One problem was that there was no way of providing handout sheets. Another was the very limited way in which a student could engage/ ask questions. With the technical level 6 subjects that I teach this was a serious impediment to the students understanding. Early on, I saw that to even come close to what we used to offer I needed to use Moodle to compliment the Adobe Connect presentations. Thus, I started using it to put up assessments, and readings. After about 8 weeks we finally found premises we could hire to conduct physical classes again. By this time I had given myself a crash-course in Moodle and was also using it for some online quizzes that students could use for formative assessment. Although we now had a classroom (of sorts!) there was also the issue of students actually being able to attend due to the state of the roads etc. For this reason I decided to keep the Moodle side of the delivery alive. Another important aspect in the overall change of delivery mode was to use Facebook. This was first used to broadcast important announcements to all students, but it soon became clear that it can also be a great learning tool. To use it effectively a Facebook Group was created which had all students, teachers, and student support staff in the group. This is the best way to contact all students in a programme. Previously I had tried by telephoning and emailing. Neither of these methods are a reliable way of communicating with a group of students, as they are quite transient, changing cellphone numbers and email address (even without an earthquake). Facebook is the preferred social communication platform, so they already have an account, and are frequently using it. It therefore was simply a matter of me inviting them