Is everything a blend?

In my post So what is blended learning? I put forward the following definition:

A blended learning solution mixes social contexts for learning (self-study, one-to-one, small group, larger community) with the aim of increasing learning effectiveness, and/or mixes learning media (face-to-face, online, print, etc.) to increase efficiency, in the context of a particular learning requirement, audience characteristics, and practical constraints and opportunities.

Mark Bethelemy made an interesting response to this:

Clive, it would seem to me that your definition is so broad that it could include any type/method of learning interaction. Which leads to the conclusion that "blended learning" is indefinable, and in fact is meaningless as a term.

You could argue of course that we're not talking about blended learning at all, instead we're talking about blended teaching. And that there is no such thing as blended learning as opposed to any other sort of learning.

There are two parts to Mark's argument and I'd like to take them in turn. Firstly, my definition would indeed be meaningless if it included any mix of learning methods. If it did then a classroom event that included presentations, demonstrations, discussion and role play would be regarded as blended, as would a piece of online content that included a scenario, a game, a simulation and a quiz. If this was the definition then it would not move us forward, but that's not what I proposed. To fit my definition, you would have to go further to mix methods in a number of social contexts, i.e. not all group learning, not all self-study and not all one-to-one.

Mark's second point is right on the mark. My definition is clearly aimed at the design of educational or training interventions, and so would more appropriately be described as blended teaching, blended training or something similar. As Mark says, blended 'learning', would be something else completely and is probably not a useful concept. This is not the first time that, in the quest to appear more learner-centred, we have employed the term 'learning' as a euphemism for 'teaching' or 'training', even when this distorts the message. Thanks, Mark, for pointing this out.