Blended learning is seen as a good way to provide learning opportunities for an authentic activity with real world relevance (Oliver, Herrington, Reeves, 2006) like non-linear editing in Adobe Premiere CC.   In this professional development course, my main goal is to impart a new skill to our faculty or staff.  To reach the variety of different learning styles that comprise our faculty and staff, we will use a multi-modal framework for our design approach for this Introduction to Adobe Premiere blended course (Picciano, 2009).  Because this is voluntary, I won’t be grading any assignments, but I will have ways for students to assess themselves as they go.  The quiz at the end of each module is just a reinforcement exercise and students see the correct answer as they go. Evaluation is an important part of the ADDIE model of instructional design, and it is seen as a way to increase student engagement in e-learning activities (Hess, Greer, 2016).  Many learners are goal oriented so the rubric has a point system for each module so they will receive a score just not a grade.  The scores will follow the rubric linked in Module One and pasted below.
The class relies on online content developed by Adobe. Web application learning can rely heavily on the vast material that is online (Wingard, 2004). Adobe has two tracks for beginner and advanced learners so students can follow the links provided but have the option to learn more. I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed so Module One is very pointed with some additional links. Cognitive science tells us we don’t have to cater these options for our students to learn best, but that by selecting the best modalities to present the content they’ll learn the content effectively (Holden, Westfall, 2010).  Adobe has vetted these materials and improved them over the 20 years I've been working with Premiere. Although there is good content on YouTube and I make use of some of those links, Adobe's content is excellent and provides students a single resource from the developer.

By blending this course we are trying to take advantage of the strengths of the blended environment. We are reducing the amount of live teaching while optimizing learning and maintaining collaboration (Wingard, 2004). Using web based instruction, video and a live teaching session we can take advantage of video as a learning trigger. A blended course also allows for self-paced learning for our faculty and staff who have varying schedules and time commitments. Professionally, they do get the incentive of these classes counting toward a one-step increase in pay. Details on this benefit are available on the College's HR website.
Each week, students can get peer and professor support synchronously and asynchronously for these activities.  Although the expectation is to have the work turned it at the end of the live session, no work is due until the start of the next week.  That is to give students time in and out of class to get help, improve on what we learned in class, and for them to learn at their own pace.  It is important that blended learning for authentic activities like this provides a variety of forms of assistance for learners (Oliver, Herrington, Reeves, 2006).

Although this course has a learner centered approach, it will not just pander to the students’ wants but will take into account institutional goals (Anderson, 2004).  Multimedia is an important part of our blended and e-learning so professors have to expand their skills to meet these new ways of learning (Gurvitch, Lund, 2014).  We will try to take advantage of our single live session to tailor some elements to the students, because while visual stimulation, active learning, or class room interaction works for some, it may not work for all (Picciano, 2009).

This course has combined asynchronous videos provided by Adobe with synchronous learning in our one live session each week.  Because faculty aren’t editing professionals, the step-by-step videos and the video on the Premiere interface allow them to work at their own pace at home.  Those lessons combine demonstration and drill and practice (Holden, Westfall, 2010).   If the students hit an impasse there is instructor guided discussion and peer-to-peer help in the discussion and problems forums.  Although blended learning is good for teaching authentic activities like this, the learners are being asked to engage in unfamiliar activity so it is important to provide strong support in the online forums and in class (Oliver, Herrington, Reeves, 2006).

Not all of the learners are expected to have the same skill base and they won’t be judged against each other.  The live session at the end of the first week is to provide an opportunity to see where everyone is.  With only a 3 week course, we can take advantage of the staff being familiar with each other on some level and do shorter introductions.  The time can be spent working one-on-one, having the peers who are more advanced help those who aren’t, and allowing for review of each other’s work.  If someone hasn’t done any of the assignment we can use that live session time to get them started. By the end of class they could have something to work off of for the next week; where as, if we start at the beginning of the week that person is would be a full week behind and working alone on their own.  I’ve found peer-to-peer motivation to work well in Professional Development courses.  Faculty may not care what someone in professional development thinks, but they don't want to look bad to their peers. Blended learning has expanded so much I believe people have become used to house a lot of the materials online so time in the classroom isn't spend on handouts and distributing materials (Wingard, 2004). The live session at the end of the week allows the instructor to combine some lecture with simulation because the students will be able to follow along working on their projects in the digital lab.

Some of the issues I’m trying to work around are the skill gap, complexity of content, and level of domain (Holden, Westfall, 2010).  To address these issues, the learners’ complexity and quality of their work won’t matter as much as becoming familiar with Premiere and being able to grow their skills on their own after the course is over.  Cost and availability of Premiere are concerns so I often reference “working at home” and that is to say working on their own time on a campus. My last concern is about cognitive load and the strain a web class can put on faculty and an instructor from a technical and execution stand point. That concern is one argument for having the live session first. My counter point is that faculty are familiar with web-based learning, Blackboard, and most have taught blended classes. If these problems come up, I can use the limited face-to-face time to address them after week one.
Despite these concerns, creating a class like this in a blended environment should take advantage of the positive expectations faculty have of blended courses. Evidence has shown connectedness and the accommodation of difficult schedules can be a primary benefit they acknowledge (Wingard, 2004). Without pre-assessment the instructor must keep the conversation and skill development improving, and this class will need to adapt and grow with the different students.

Reference:

Anderson, T. (2004). Toward a Theory of Online Learning. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University Press: CA.  Retrieved from:
https://ufl.instructure.com/courses/346610/files/36932941/download?wrap=1

 

Gurvitch, R., & Lund, J. (2014). Learning in the current generation. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(5), 8-17. Retrieved from http://db08.linccweb.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.db08.linccweb.org/docview/1530598502?accountid=45782

 

Hess, A. N., & Greer, K. (2016). Designing for Engagement: Using the ADDIE Model to Integrate High-Impact Practices into an Online Information Literacy Course. Communications In Information Literacy, 10(2), 264-282.

Holden, J. T. & Westfall, P. J. (2010). An Instructional Media Selection Guide for Blended Learning.  USDLA, USA.  Retrieved from:  https://www.usdla.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AIMSGDL_2nd_Ed_styled_010311.pdf

Mayer, R. Moreno, R. (2003). Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.

Oliver, R., Herrington, J. & Reeves, T. (2006). Creating authentic learning environments through blended-learning approaches. In C. Bonk & C. Graham (Eds). Handbook of Blended Learning. New York: Pfieffer.  Retrieved from: http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Feder677spring2010.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2Fcreating%2Bauthentic%2Blearning.pdf&ei=dFTzU4qDK8eG4gSU8oDQAw&usg=AFQjCNFI-rqwtmRfaTi8rscQz0pWX_gYwg&bvm=bv.73231344,d.bGE

Picciano, A. G. (2009) Blending with Purpose: The Multimodal Model. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Volume 13: Issue 1, 7-18.

Wingard, R. (2004) Classroom Teaching Changes in Web-Enhanced Courses: A Multi-Institutional Study. Educause Review, January 1, 2004. Retrieved from: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2004/1/classroom-teaching-changes-in-webenhanced-courses-a-multiinstitutional-study

Zerdick, A., & European Communication Council. (2005). E-merging media: Communication and the media economy of the future. Berlin: Springer.