One of the hardest aspects of researching my topic was to define it. Blended learning is also called hybrid learning, computer assisted learning, and so many other things that basically meant joining "traditional" learning with something else, most with technology enabling it. This meant that you had to define "traditional" learning and distill everything that has been going on in the classroom since the introduction of computers to the classroom. I have been teaching with a Moodle course that is a companion to my face-to-face course for years. Does that mean I am using blended learning? If I use a Smartboard in class and then post my notebook file on my Moodle page in a forum to add feedback I am blended, but if I don't post it, I am not using blended learning.
I guess what I became comfortable with as a definition is if the learning for the class is facilitated inside the classroom AND outside of the classroom (physical classroom), it is blended, but if it all takes place in just one of the two then it is traditional learning or online learning. As for "facilitated", I am talking about something that is beyond "homework" and assigned readings. For outside the classroom, I am talking about discussion forums, chats, or anything that makes up the "meat" of an online course. For inside the classroom, it could be anything you do in a classroom. The blended really becomes a question of location.
The problem is after going through a bunch of articles on "blended" learning, many people were really only speaking about doing stuff in the classroom, in a different way they normally did, but with computers. In other articles, the broader different of types of learning, experiential learning with regular classroom learning or synchronous online learning with asynchronous. The term blended got tossed around in many different contexts. Ultimately, I went with location and found two teachers that had blended experiences with online experiences blended with face to face meetings.
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