THE HANDBOOK OF BLENDED LEARNING

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April 2006, Vol. 5 Issue 4

If you are interested in acquiring a keen understanding of how blended learning works in a wide variety of institutions throughout the world, read “The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs,” edited by Curtis J. Bonk and Charles R. Graham, published by Pfeiffer, an imprint of Wiley, 2006.

This handbook features 39 chapters, written by 80 educators from around the globe, segmented into the following eight sections: introduction to blended learning; corporate blended learning models and perspectives; higher education blended learning models and perspectives; for-profit and online university perspectives; cases of blended learning in higher education from around the world; multinational blended learning perspectives; workplace, on-demand, and authentic learning; and future trends in blended learning.
There are two forewords. One is by Jay Cross, who represents the corporate side and is often referred to as the person responsible for coining the term “e-learning.” The other is by Michael Moore, who is well known among higher education distance learning professionals as an author (“Handbook of Distance Education”), editor and professor.

It is interesting to note that Moore explains that the handbook represents “the expansion of a slowly growing political movement that anticipates strategic changes in how national and institutional resources are allocated for the educational enterprise and how they are managed.” He also mentions that great examples of blended learning policies and related resource-allocation issues can be found in “the world’s open universities. . ., where millions of students have learned to study in a blended mode.” (For examples, open university models are covered in chapter 22, “Open Distance Pedagogy: Developing a Learning Mix for the Open University Malaysia, and in chapter 27, “Management Education for the Twenty-First Century.”)

Bonk, who is on the Educational Pathways Board of Advisors, and Graham, explain in the preface that the handbook is “about adult learning in the twenty-first century. And it illustrates “dozens of learning options that combine aspects of face-to-face instruction with online learning in formal academic settings and the workplace.”

This handbook is basically the most thorough book on blended learning on the market today. Not only does it offer a truly global perspective, it should be of interest to professionals on many levels in both the corporate and academic worlds.

For more information, including excerpts, see www.pfeiffer.com/WileyCDA/PfeifferTitle/productCd-0787977586.html

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