Grappling with Reading

We have finally completed the first section. The readings we have been required to do for the course, whilst they have addressed many of the concerns I have with applying modern pedagogical techniques to teaching, is not enough for me to learn what it is the course purports to discuss. I need more.

Blended Learning in Higher Education, written by D. Randy Garrison and Norman D. Vaughan, is the only text thus far I have managed personally relate to. I have experience in taking blended learning courses. Both of the blended learning courses I have taken, a biology and psychology course, contributed credit hours towards an associate in arts degree. This was at least five years ago. I have since not had the opportunity to take the kind of blended course I would have liked.

Whilst we talk about the integration of modern teaching techniques, I have yet to see any of those techniques applied to this course. With reading after reading after reading, there has been nothing applied to the course which directly addresses the style of learning I require. Reading about blended learning is not enough for me to learn about what it is the text covers. Reading works for many students. Unfortunately for me, reading is not a medium that lends itself to my successfully learning the material. I actually need material I can hear. I need material I can watch. All we have done thus far is read. When are we going to incorporate learning techniques for visual learners? 

We discussed how learning works after we read the aptly titled How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. How Learning Works, written by Susan A. Ambrose, Michael W. Bridges, Marsha C. Lovett, Michele DiPietro, and Marie K. Norman, outlines the seven key principles to teaching in a modern pedagogical setting. If only I could get learning to work for me.