Universiteit Leiden

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Blended learning

Blended learning is a well-thought-out mix of online and on-campus learning, tailored to the learning objectives, the curriculum and the student. It contributes to the student’s learning experience and the quality of teaching.

At any time or location, students can acquire much of the knowledge and insight through self-study (independently and in groups). Face-to-face teaching contributes to in-depth discussions, the application of knowledge and insight, and reviewing complex components. Blended learning can incorporate both synchronous and asynchronous activities:

  • Synchronous activities are activities that students take part in at a designated time. The lecturer and students all meet at the same time, either in a classroom or online, to engage in more interactive activities, such as discussions, simulations and feedback. 
  • Asynchronous activities are activities that students complete in their own time and at their own pace. For example, students might watch knowledge clips online or prepare a case study in their own time, which they then discuss later during an interactive tutorial on campus or online.

Blended learning involves a dynamic mix of online and on-campus activities; this mix depends on several factors, such as substantive and didactic factors, the composition and size of the group and the size of the room and digital facilities. When developing blended learning, it is also important to ensure that there is adequate social interaction. Social interaction plays a vital role in student development and is therefore a key factor when it comes to ensuring high-quality teaching. As such, in-person teaching is at the heart of our education, and incorporating online activities in our curricula can enhance the student learning experience and the quality of teaching.

There are several applications available for designing online teaching. You will find more information about them on this page. If you need specific educational advice and guidance, please contact your faculty's teacher support desk. For general questions and advice on using IT in education, you can contact your faculty’s IT and education coordinator.

In a flipped classroom, students are expected to prepare the learning content themselves. For example, you might ask them to watch a web lecture or a video, or you might set another form of online instruction. Then, during the contact moments, you have plenty of time left over to actively work on assignments together. Inspiration and tips for videos can be found in the video toolkit.

Are you interested in flipping the classroom? Please contact your faculty's teacher support desk.

MOOCs and SPOCs are courses that students take entirely online.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course: anyone can follow the course online for free. MOOCs allow students to take university courses in an accessible way. Many renowned international universities now offer MOOCs.

SPOC stands for Small Private Online Course: a student receives a personal invitation to the digital course from the educational institution. Much like a MOOC, a SPOC is entirely online. There are just more constraints in terms of participation; a student has to be invited to take part, be selected or pay for it. The limited number of participants means that, as a lecturer, you can provide more personal guidance and support in a SPOC than in a MOOC. You can also mark essays or group assignments yourself.

You can use MOOCs in your courses. There are three options for doing this:

  • You can download the videos from a MOOC and share them on Brightspace, for example. You will need the MOOC lecturer’s permission for this.
  • Some courses can be accessed by your students at any time. This means you can always refer them to a particular knowledge clip or literature. The advantage is that your students then also answer the in-video multiple choice questions to check their understanding of the material. Again, you will need the MOOC lecturer’s permission to use the material.
  • You can also instruct your students to complete an entire MOOC. To do this, you can arrange for a private copy of the MOOC to be set up for your own students. This is possible for MOOCs on the Coursera platform.

If you want to develop your own MOOC or SPOC, contact your faculty’s teacher support desk.

A knowledge clip is a short video in which the lecturer explains a component of the course material, so that students can familiarise themselves with it before the lecture. You then have more time to dig deeper into the material during the lecture. Some faculties have a recording studio where you can record these clips. 

If you would like to record a knowledge clip, contact your faculty’s video coordinator. Not all knowledge clips have to be professional studio productions – you can also create your own audio or video material, for example, by recording the clips yourself or editing existing material. For tips and examples of educational videos, check out the video toolkit.

Save your videos and share them on Kaltura, the online video system. Kaltura is part of Brightspace, so sharing your videos with students is easy. You can also hide your material in Kaltura from visitors from outside the University. Hidden material is then only visible to visitors who have a ULCN account. To record a video, use Kaltura Capture.

Save your videos and share them on Kaltura, the online video system. Kaltura is part of Brightspace, so sharing your videos with students is easy. You can also hide your material in Kaltura from visitors from outside the University. Hidden material is then only visible to visitors who have a ULCN account. To record a video, use Kaltura Capture.

A web lecture is a recording of a presentation, lecture or workshop that can be viewed online. If you are interested in creating your own web lecture, make sure you read the guidelines for web lectures (in Dutch).

The equipment used for creating a web lecture can also be used to live-stream your lecture. This can be useful, for example, if you are teaching a course or programme that is offered in collaboration with other universities. External students can then follow your lecture in real time. They are sent a link in advance and watch the lecture through their web browser. Please note that not every lecture room is suitable for this.

If you would like to live-stream your lecture, contact your faculty’s video coordinator.

There are several ways to create an interactive video.

  • Apps: you record your own screen. You can then enrich the presentation by adding images, videos and written text. You can also add notes manually at a later stage.
  •  Video editing tools: shorten your video, add an audio commentary, add questions. This way, you can also use your video as a listening exercise or an explainer video.
  • Screencast tool (such as Screen-o-matic): record (screencast) your own screen and all the actions you perform. You can use these tools to create knowledge clips – simply create a screencast of your PowerPoint presentation and add audio, video and text.

If you need help or have any questions about recording interactive videos, contact your faculty’s teacher support desk.

Animations help students to understand and remember the subject matter more easily. You can use various tools to create your own animations.

Need help? Contact your faculty’s teacher support desk.

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