The Blended Learning Cookbook by Clive Shepherd, published by Onlignment

About a year ago I bought an iPad with a view to using it for my book reviews and, despite good intentions, I have only used it occasionally for that purpose. There were two problems apart from my natural resistance to change; firstly many new books were not immediately available through iBooks and secondly it was difficult to browse (as I would in a book shop) before deciding which to buy and review. I decided this time to make a more determined effort and both books were in fact available online, though the browsing problem still remains. On the more positive side, it is so much easier when travelling and the visibility and convenience of reading is much enhanced.

This book is short and to the point, which makes it easy to read but lacking in depth. The introduction is well written and makes many good points, arguing that, though blended learning is not new, it has become a more powerful and relevant concept as new learning methods have evolved. He points out that the pioneer of blended learning was the Open University nearly 50 years ago though, from his description of the present OU packages, they haven’t changed much since I worked on them. Certainly the combination of text, cassettes, TV and face-to-face training was well ahead of its time back then.

The title of the book relates to the structure of 28 ‘recipes’ which are effectively short, practical case studies of different types of programme which require different blended combinations, depending on the objectives and audience. This makes it an easy book to dip into rather than to read from cover to cover; it is interesting to observe the different approaches even if many are outside one’s normal orbit, for instance the range extends from technical training for air traffic controllers to courses in basic literacy.

I liked the structure by which each programme was described - situation, strategy, blend, rationale - and the framework for structuring the content - preparation, delivery, application, review. I found myself disagreeing with some of the solutions where the type of programme was familiar to me, but in a positive way. I could usually understand the reasoning, recognising that in practice it is impossible to decide a perfect blend without knowing the context and the audience in detail.

I would like to have seen more focus on some of the practical problems - for instance how to ensure that self-driven learning is carried out by busy and less motivated managers - and, because of this weakness, the book has a theoretical rather than practical feel. There are four appendices which just manage to take the content over 100 electronic pages and these provide more useful structure, based on the framework of Clark and Whittrock that I had not come across before; learning methods are divided into Instruction, Exposition, Exploration and Guided Delivery. These different methods are then related to the nature of the topic and the audience. The pros and cons of different learning media are also covered though this is all rather obvious for the experienced learning professional.

Overall this is an easy read and of likely interest for everyone and of benefit for the less experienced learning professional. And if you have an iPad or a Kindle, it’s only a click away.