October 2015

Indiana University Professor, Dr. Curtis Bonk, presented an engaging and interactive talk to motivate educators and learners on the online and Blended Learning environment at the 2015 National Registry Summit on Thursday, September 10 in Washington D.C. Bonk’s presentation entitled, “Learning is Changing: The Basics of Blended Learning and Beyond,” emphasized best practices he has seen around the world and how different methods can be expanded or altered to fit individual’s preferences, learning styles and needs.

The Professor of Instructional Systems Technology in the School of Education at Indiana University and an adjunct in the School of Informatics, educated the audience on blended learning and how its ideas and techniques can be linked to learner motivation, collaboration, interaction and general engagement in the learning process. “We look at Blended Learning as the combination of face to face and online environments,” said Bonk. “That’s when the term emerged.”

Bonk talked about the changes over the years in learning for accountants and sites Ethics Learning as one of the big changes that has happened since Enron. “Blended Learning is impacting the accounting profession in many ways today,” said Bonk.

But does Blended Learning work? Bonk cited a study that shows how Blended Learning increases course scores. “It doesn’t matter if you blend 1% or 100% (of learning), you can impact retention and scores,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what percent they blended. They all improve retention rates. All of them. 25 out of 30 improved their test scores.”

Bonk also provided multiple ways to incorporate easy Blended Learning techniques and listed numerous resources that can be used. He also pointed attendees to his home page to find 27 free videos on online teaching at www.trainingshare.com/resources which can impact how people learn in many different ways.

“Real world,” said Bonk. “Real world activities. Authentic learning. What Blended Learning lets you do is get people into the real world and not just read from books. Not just listen to lectures. Not just come to training. Get them in the mess. Get their hands dirty in the content. Have them manipulate. Do comparison and contrast with real world financial data.”

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