Introduction

The word ‘blended’ is not particularly scientific, or even academic. In fact, you might feel that it sounds rather more like an entry from a recipe book. At the same time, it is currently widely in use by practitioners in both academic and commercial sectors, and I believe it has some good common-sense value in bringing to the fore the wide variety and richness of situations in which learning takes place. It can encourage us to stop and think about the whole context of teaching and learning, so that we remember the human element in tutorials, or perhaps incidents such as chance meetings in the corridor, as critical parts of the package alongside any technology-mediated intervention with a group.