Hertfordshire’s Blended Learning Unit

Experts in Learning and Teaching attended the launch of a new government funded Centre of Excellence at the University of Hertfordshire on Thursday 18 May.

The new Blended Learning Unit (BLU) was established last year through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as a Centre for Excellence in Teaching or Learning. Its remit is to exploit the huge benefits offered by technology to provide new ways of Learning and Teaching.

Professor Peter Bullen, Head of BLU explains: “Broadband connectivity, the internet and low cost computing have changed the ways that we seek and use information, and the way that we interact with the world in our daily lives.

“The University of Hertfordshire is embracing the opportunities offered by new technologies in order to enhance learning and teaching and meet students’ expectations.

“We want to challenge and help academic staff throughout the higher education sector to make use of these new technologies.”

The event was launched by Professor Peter Cochrane OBE, the co-founder of ConceptLabs and previous Head of Research at BT Laboratories.

Congratulating Hertfordshire’s team Professor Cochrane said: “Blended learning can be defined as ‘the contribution of multiple approaches to pedagogy or teaching’. This year we will generate astronomical amounts of information and we have no hope of containing all of this information without technology.

“The fact that work output in the UK has gone up 10 fold because of technology shows just how important technology is. Technology won’t slow down, it will speed up. Education will become shorter; industry will have to invest more. We have to fit in with technology as time moves on.”