Best Practice Guide for Designing and Delivering EPICUR courses
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Blended Courses
Blended Courses
Why Blended Courses?
EPICUR offers students various mobility options that provide a needs-based opportunity to take advantage of offerings at partner universities and expand their own curriculum. One of the options are blended courses.
“Blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences” Garrison, D. R., & Kanuka, H. (2004)
5 key points about Blended Courses in-person or online
- Blended learning courses combine physical and virtual mobility, providing high flexibility in integrating courses into the individual study program while also offering opportunities for intercultural exchange.
- Blended courses offer students a low-threshold opportunity to make new contacts and get to know partner universities, thereby expanding their professional network
- By offering a variety of interactive and multimedia resources that cater to different learning styles, blended learning enhances student engagement and motivation, leading to better learning outcomes.
- Through the possibility of conducting excursions and practical units on-site, learning offerings can be designed in a versatile and practical manner.
- Blended learning promotes students' digital competence by introducing them to the use and handling of modern digital tools and methods, providing essential skills for the modern job market.
Blended Courses in practice
Eucor Teaching Cooperation: This course was a collaborative teaching effort in the field of teacher education. The instructors combined a blended learning scenario with a flipped classroom approach. The course focused on the education systems in the border triangle of Germany, France, and Switzerland. Students were tasked with exploring and comparing the education systems of these countries. During online sessions, each group first analyzed the specifics of their own country's education system and formulated questions for students from the other countries. The direct exchange of ideas occurred during two excursions. In the subsequent asynchronous learning phase, students created posters summarizing the results of their exchanges and presented them in the final online session.
You can access six different blended learning course examples from the Learning Circle resource on Blended Learning. Scroll down to ‘Examples from Practice’.
Links to Blended Courses' resources
- Learning Circle - Blended Learning. A basic introduction to blended learning and flipped learning. Available at https://dkgl.dk/ressourcer/blendedlearningeng/#/ Includes guidance on developing a blended learning course and incorporating flipped learning. And you can follow the 8 steps to designing your blended learning course.
- Geißler, Svenja and Gauss, Michael (No Date) Blended learning - the successful mix of face-to-face and online. Available at https://www.zml.kit.edu/english/6829.php
- https://www.blendedlearning.org/design/
- https://ctl.oregonstate.edu/blended-learning-resources
References
- Garrison, D. R., & Kanuka, H. (2004). Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education,7, 95−105
- Müller, C. & Mildenberger, T. (2021). Facilitating flexible learning by replacing classroom time with an online learning environment: A systematic review of blended learning in higher education. Educational Research Review, 34, 100394.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100394
Inclusive Course Design and Modes of Delivery
Author(s)
This resource sheet has been co-written or written by
- Judith Borel (KIT)
- Donna Hurford (SDU)
Related Resource Sheets
Next steps
If you need further support with developing your course, please contact your local teaching support unit.
If you need further information on offering your course for EPICUR, please contact your EPICUR institutional coordinator.
Local teaching support units
EPICUR Institutional Coordinators
Adam Mickiewicz University
Karolina Choczaj
karmench@amu.edu.pl
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Nikos Kouloussis
nikoul@agro.auth.gr
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Michael Zacherle
zacherle@kit.edu
University of Amsterdam
Tiffany Boersma
t.a.boersma@uva.nl
Universität Freiburg
Charlotte Langowski
charlotte.langowski@zv.uni-freiburg.de
Université de Haute-Alsace
Léa Ziri
lea.ziri@uha.fr
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
Nicolas Fries
nicolas.fries@boku.ac.at
University of Southern Denmark
Ida Thøstesen
ilt@sdu.dk
University of Strasbourg
Pascale Nachez
pnachez@unistra.fr
Further use as OER explicitly permitted:
This Resource Sheet within the Best Practice Guide for Designing and Delivering EPICUR Courses was created by Judith Borel, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, and Donna Hurford, University of Southern Denmark.
Please attribute according to TASLL rule as follows: Hybrid Courses (Best Practice Guide for Designing and Delivering EPICUR Courses), by Judith Borel (Karlsruhe Institute for Technology) and Donna Hurford (University of Southern Denmark). Any icons included are protected by copyright, © The Noun Project, used with permission.
License: This work and its contents are – unless otherwise stated – licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 .
Last edited: 23. Jun 2025, 09:05, Hutz-Nierhoff, Dorthe [dh1076@rz.uni-freiburg.de]