Building blended delivery capability in vocational educators

Creating sustainability through scaffolding

Abstract

Engaging vocational educators to take the lead in developing blended learning practices that are 'fit for purpose' within an educational and workplace context is challenging. This paper explores literature in the areas of scaffolding; zone of proximal development, mentoring and coaching. It describes the initial experience of a blended learning project team in implementing scaffolding learning principles to engage vocational educators in order to create sustained change that links clearly to teaching, learning and assessment within an outcomes environment. The paper also provides some insights into the implementation of the Blended Learning Project (BLP) through the initiation and execution stages of the student (peer) projects. Through this type of practice the novice is always becoming the expert and the expert is always somewhat a novice. The greatest gain for this project is the development of process capability which is the cornerstone to sustained development in practice and expertise.