Blended Learning Offers the Best of Both Worlds

Imagine EFL students doing oral presentations for an authentic audience from different countries or listening to presentations by a group of invited guest tutors from all over the world. Through blended courses (courses that include an online component as well as face-to-face [F2F] classroom activities) at Universidad Simón Bolívar, in Caracas, Venezuela, students have increased their exposure to the target language, learned how to use Web tools, and gained flexibility in how and when they learn. Nearly four years ago, after I joined the online community of practice called Webheads in Action (Stevens 2005; see the review in Essential Teacher, Spring 2004), my professional practice changed from teaching purely F2F to teaching blended courses because of these benefits. The English for Architecture and Urban Planning Program at the university has always been student centered, following a content-, task-, and collaborative learning-based approach (see González and St. Louis 2002). To enhance the program with an online component, I designed some blended courses. Authentic Materials, Field-Specific Practic