Blended courses are a cross between a regular, "in the classroom" course and an online course. Students will meet a few times (usually about half the normal number of sessions) with the instructor for lectures, questions, discussion, etc. The remaining number of weeks will be conducted much like a standard online course with work being done outside of the classroom. Contact with the instructor and other students will be maintained by means of email and the Discussion Forum.
While there are several advantages to this style of learning, there are also a couple of points to watch. Many blended classes meet every other week. This means students who neglect to get points of confusion cleared up will usually stay confused for another two weeks, which makes progress much more difficult.
In a blended course, it becomes even more important to go over material before coming to class. Know what makes sense and what doesn't. Look at any assignments and think about how you might start to work on it. What would be the first five steps you would take? If you don't know, that would be a question that should be asked during the class time.
From the instructor's perspective, there are two basic ways to lead each session. A lecture can be prepared which will address the main points of the material. Specific questions from students can lead to directed discussions, centering on points that this group of students are finding to be the most confusing. The best use of time happens when both of these methods are employed each time the class is together. That means students must come prepared to discuss the issues they are finding to be difficult.