“For us it was a learning experience” : Design, development and implementation of blended learning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to share reflections of the three authors on the process of instructional design and implementation of blended learning for teachers ' professional development (PD) in rural western Kenya. It proposes reforms in provision of teachers ' professional development to enable professional development providers to access specialized skills in instructional design (ID) and blended learning. Design/methodology/approach – The paper resulted from a design-based research including 12 entry and 12 exit interviews, observations of three face-to-face meetings of blended learning sessions and ten classroom observations of teachers implementing new teaching approaches learned through blended learning. Findings – The paper provides insights into the authors ' experiences in this research. They shared the following reflections: engagement in ID empowered them and they are confident that they can engage in systematic instructional design on a larger scale; they gained technical knowledge and skills in authoring content in HTML on eXe open source platform; uploading the content and processing audio and video content was equally enthralling to them. Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to consider incorporating the design-based research, instructional design and blended learning approaches used in this study while conducting related research in their dissimilar contexts. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the design, development and implementation of teachers ' professional development for challenging contexts as a contribution towards achievement of both Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA). Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need to study provision of professional development for teachers who lack opportunities for professional development.