Search results

The aim of this paper is to explore student views of blended learning in a university setting based on the use of audio lectures, seminars, discussion boards and wikis.

In total, 14 seminar (focus) groups consisting of approximately 20 students each, over a two year period, provided qualitative views of how students believed blended learning would be useful for their degree and future careers.

Students found the blended learning approach very flexible and preferable in many cases to traditional face‐to‐face learning. Key themes in terms of emerging benefit themes included: flexibility and support; motivation and sharing ideas; class interaction and explanation of ideas; better than pure eLearning; communicating and teamwork; developing project leadership skills.

This exploratory study of university students is important because they are aware of the value of blended learning and transferable skills for the workplace. The research is limited because it is qualitative, yet it still provides a useful insight into the benefits and value of blended learning from the student perspective.

There is a paucity of qualitative research on the benefits of blended learning and this paper examines the value of the overall approach for university students and the workplace.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional format which emphasizes collaborative and contextual learning and hence has favored face-to-face course design. However, with the plentitude of online tools which technology offers nowadays, PBL courses can also be effectively offered to students who cannot physically be present at the campus. The change process from offline to hybrid, blended, or online PBL courses need to be carefully managed and the right combination of technology and learning activities selected from the ever increasing available set. Hybrid, blended, or online courses differ in the amount of integration between offline and online activities. A mixed-method design was used to elaborate on how the different (hybrid, blended, or online) PBL courses can be effectively build and taught to create learner engagement. Twelve people (change agent, instructor, and participants) were interviewed and 82 students filled out a course evaluation form. The data was used to describe how a hybrid, blended, or online course was created and how the instructor and students perceived it. Instructional and change management implications for implementation are presented. Instructional implications deal with the needs of the learner, the role of the instructor, and the importance of sound technology integration in the course. Change management implication highlights the need to foster intra-institutional collaboration.

The chapter illustrates why blended learning should be the minimum threshold that teachers of higher education should meet to address the students' dynamic needs, demands, and preferences. It shows how COVID-19 disrupted the status quo of the global education system, warranting schools to transition to online education fully. The chapter starts by addressing the pre-COVID-19 learning strategies. Schools mainly adhered to traditional face-to-face teaching in classrooms. Nevertheless, the COVID-19-related restrictions (lockdowns) coerced them into introducing e-learning, which was a new experience for most teachers and students. This situation made educators realize they can successfully incorporate virtual learning into their pedagogy, allowing them to implement a blended system. Moreover, the section identifies the main blended learning models that teachers can use depending on their choices, students' preferences, and institutions' resources and capabilities. These frameworks are face-to-face driver, rotation, flex, online lab, and self-blend methods. They have different approaches as well as merits and limitations. The chapter contributes to active and transformative learning by introducing more attractive, relevant, and flexible teaching methods. Owing to the flexibility of the models, the number of students enrolling in diverse programs in the post-COVID-19 era has increased. The chapter highlights various strategies that educators can apply to ensure that learners achieve optimal outcomes from blended learning. Moreover, the segment highlights the prerequisites and compatibility of blended learning for economics classes. Before unveiling blended learning, professors should ensure that students can access digital devices and the internet and understand the operating software. Thus, educators should at least consider using this model in the post-COVID-19 era.

In this study, researchers applied blended learning program to investigate the success of a blended learning program on satisfaction of the psychological needs, and academic achievement of chemistry students of O-Levels, following curriculum prescribed by University of Cambridge.

Research pattern is quantitative aligned with the quasi-experimental and pre-post experimental design which aimed at examining the efficiency of a motivational strategies adopted with the use of blended learning program on psychological needs satisfaction (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and achievement in chemistry O-Levels Syllabus, at the end of the research program.

Hypothesis testing represented that use of blended learning program has significant and positive impact on academic achievements through the mediation of autonomy. Results also revealed the substantial association of blended learning on other psychological needs (i.e., competence and relatedness); however, the competence and relatedness have no effect on academic achievements in this study. Thus, research concludes that providing an autonomous environment in substitution of the controlled environment promotes learning and produces positive outcomes.

Blended learning or use of Learning Management Systems is being commonly used mostly in the tertiary level of studies; however, blended learning with secondary classes especially in the field of chemistry is yet not studied in detail. Similarly, the usefulness of the motivational strategies to learn chemistry is observed with university-level students, but very rare data about encouraging students at the secondary level have been gathered. Therefore, the researcher designed this blended learning program to enhance students’ motivation towards achievements in secondary chemistry.

The purpose of the present research is to examine the role and influence of modern method of blended learning in the formation and development of professional competencies on the example of the faculty members of Al Ain University from the viewpoint of its students and determine the relevance of the educational method of blended learning in modern society and science according to world situation.

The study sample consisted of 980 male and female students in the second semester of 2019–2020. The comparative analysis of the influence of blended learning on the knowledge level and improvement of professional competencies among students of two faculties was taken into account.

The results of the survey according to chosen criteria showed that the professional competencies required for the faculty members were moderate. According to the results of the survey, most of respondents (75%) are sure that the level of blended learning at their educational institution is high. 35% of respondents think that blended learning helps to develop technological competency as well as self-development (25%), motivation (18%), critical thinking (12%), self-discipline and time management (10%).

The relevance of problematic issue of blended learning is determined by the new conditions of educational process connected with pandemic. The prospects for further research can be based on the results of this study especially the relevance is connected with the study of the experience of using modern method of blended learning in different foreign countries on the basis of surveys and developed programs.

This paper seeks to outline a time‐based strategy for blended learning that illustrates course design and delivery by framing students' learning opportunities in synchronous and asynchronous modalities.

This paper deconstructs the evolving components of blended learning in order to identify changes induced by digital technologies for enhancing teaching and learning environments.

This paper hypothesizes that blended learning may be traced back to early medieval times when printed material provided the first asynchronous learning opportunities. However, the digitalization of contemporary learning environments results in a de‐emphasis on teaching and learning spaces. When time becomes the primary organizing construct for education in a technology‐supported environment, blending possibilities emerge around five components: migration, support, location, learner empowerment, and flow.

This study enables the readers to conceptualize blended learning as a combination of modern media, communication modes, times and places in a new kind of learning synthesis in place of traditional classrooms and technology with the teacher serving as a facilitator of a collective learning process.

The major implication of this paper is that modern learning technologies have freed students and educators from the lock in of classroom space as being the primary component of blended learning, thereby emphasizing learning rather than teaching in the planning process.

This paper proposes a new model of blended learning in which physical teaching environments give way to time. Time and synchronicity become the primary elements of the learning environments. In addition, the authors suggest that the time‐based model as an educational “new normal” results in technologies as enablers rather than disruptors of learning continuity.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development of a blended e‐learning pedagogical model for an undergraduate enterprise programme. The proliferation of e‐learning programmes offers new opportunities and challenges for universities to meet the learning needs of new student markets. However, the use of e‐learning as an enabling mechanism for enterprise education remains largely unexplored within academic literature.

The case study methodology comprises a series of focus groups with key stakeholders in the project, namely online tutors, students and scheme leaders from a number of partner colleges involved in the delivery of the course.

The study charts the evolution of the blended learning pedagogy which was found to best meet the learning requirements of non‐traditional learners on an undergraduate programme. The blended learning pedagogy strategy which was developed replicated the best informal practice that had emerged through each of the partner institutions and the learning needs of the students. Constituent elements of the pedagogy included the provision of structured face‐to‐face events, a range of student supports systems and the creation of a code of practice for online tutors. As a result, a model of best practice for blended learning is proposed.

This study contributes to the literature in terms of proposing a working framework for online undergraduate enterprise education with identification of critical success factors including supportive induction, viable pedagogy and effective support systems. The framework can be utilised by practitioners and theoreticians as a guide to the effective management of pedagogical issues associated with blended online education.

The Catholic Church expects theological institutes, priests and seminarians to be well-informed, critical and creative users of information and communications technology. Currently, most theological institutes use the traditional face-to-face teaching method. An attempt to implement blended learning as an innovative teaching and learning modality for communication theology was made at the Saint Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore, India, using the lab-rotation model for one semester. This paper aimed to study the two important course outcomes: participation and satisfaction.

The course was designed using the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation (ADDIE) model, developed, implemented and evaluated for 21 first-year theology students. The combination of descriptive and quasi-experimental research used an online questionnaire containing statements on a five-point Likert scale. The study evaluated the potentials of blended learning as an innovative modality through student participation and satisfaction.

This research found that a high level of participation augmented satisfaction among the students during the implementation of the blended learning modality. The positive results revealed that future shepherds in the Catholic Church could effectively integrate information and communications technologies (ICTs) in their life and mission and serve digital citizens.

The research was conducted in St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute of Theology (SPPI) for an elective course, Communication Theology, taught once a week. Only two outcomes; participation and satisfaction were studied. The respondents were 21 first-year theology students of the SPPI, which could have limited the generalizability of the results. They were not allowed to use any gadgets. So this research had to adopt a lab-rotation model wherein the students followed part of their course in the computer room.

This pilot experience in blended learning modality will help SPPI recognize the advantage of such an approach and possibly decide to adopt it as one modality in the institute. It may also serve as a model for other Catholic schools and this could trigger the wider adoption of blended learning among Catholic schools. Results of the study can demonstrate to the faculty how blended learning is designed and a sample module can easily guide them on how it may be implemented. Hence, this can equip them already with knowledge and skills about the new modality.

The positive learning experiences will help the professors to further discover and adopt new and existing learning technologies that can enhance the learning atmosphere for post-millennials. They can now innovate teaching and learning strategies to best address the learning needs in their classroom, given the pervasiveness of ICTs in the everyday lives. This study will also provide a new learning option for the students as they undergo a new student-centred learning exercise.

The pioneering effort of integrating ICTs in the form of blended learning in theology curriculum was executed in SPPI. The application of the blended learning approach to teaching communication theology is innovative in that educational technology is not only applied to theology courses but involves the promotion of technology use among future religious leaders. From a long-term perspective, this attempt can transform traditional face-to-face dominated teaching approaches.

The study applied the Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use Theory 2 (UTAUT2) to predict blended learning acceptance by students in universities in Zimbabwe. Blended learning is a heterogeneous mode of teaching and learning that combines face-to-face (F2F) and online modes. Owing to advances in technology, and recently, the advent of pandemics, such as COVID-19, the need for multimodal teaching approaches, such as blended learning, to enhance access to education in universities has become very important.

A quantitative approach that used a structured questionnaire for data collection from a sample of 432 postgraduate students was used. Data validation was done using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The structural equation modelling technique was used for data analysis.

Results showed that out of the seven factors of the UTAUT2, the factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influences, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation significantly and positively influenced the behavioural intentions of students in universities to accept blended learning. On the other hand, habit and price value did not significantly influence university students' behavioural intentions to accept the bended learning mode. It was further shown in the study that behavioural intentions significantly influenced the acceptance of blended learning by university students. In light of the above results, it was concluded that the UTAUT2 could be used to predict the acceptance of blended learning by university students.

The main study limitation was that it was only carried out at universities that had information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure challenges owing to the fact that the economic situation in Zimbabwe is depressed. Limited ICT infrastructure in the universities might have had some impact on the nature of behavioural intentions of students to accept blended learning as a learning mode. Further research could be carried out in countries with better economies that are able to fund ICT infrastructures of their universities and to establish whether the results of the current study could either be confirmed, disconfirmed or enriched.

The paper suggests that universities need to increase investment in ICT infrastructure as well as in capacitating students with the necessary ICT skills for the effective use of institutional ICT when learning using the blended learning mode. Without adequate and appropriate ICT infrastructure as well as necessary ICT skills, students may develop low motivation levels and negative attitudes towards blended learning, which may eventually may affect their acceptance of the learning mode.

There is no known study that has been conducted using the UTAUT2 to establish antecedents of behavioural intentions of students to accept blended learning in the context of Zimbabwean universities. This study therefore opens new ground on factors influencing the acceptance of blended learning in the context of Zimbabwean universities. Also, the results showed that habit and price value do not significantly contribute to the behavioural intentions of university students to accept blended learning, which is not consistent with findings of past studies. This inconsistency opens new opportunities for further studies on the conditions under which these two factors can be used to significantly contribute to the development of behavioural intentions of students to accept blended learning.