Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley Tuapawa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Effective Use

Although educational online technologies (EOTs) present an extraordinary range of higher education opportunities, significant gaps in knowledge about their purpose and functionality may impede levels of adoption. As the demand for online learning grows, it is critical that tertiary education institutes (TEIs) address gaps in knowledge by developing their understandings of EOT applications. This paper aimed to identify, and describe the application of a range of EOTs popularly used in blended tertiary environments (BTEs). Through qualitatively designed semi-structured interviews with 13 blended learning experts from New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and a 5-step analyses of data, it verified the use of 35 different EOTs in BTEs, including Adobe Connect, Blackboard, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Their key characteristics were summarised using a multi-dimensional taxonomy, called the Pentexonomy, which synergised a range of perspectives into a robust, contextualised, and multi-dimensional framework for categorising EOTs. An outline of recommendations for the effective use of some of these EOTs was also provided. As EOTs advance and usage accelerates, the outcomes of this research will assist TEIs in their efforts to keep abreast of EOT developments, make informed choices about EOT use, and contribute to the delivery of relevant, meaningful EOT support.

Challenges Faced by Key Stakeholders Using Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 1261-1274
Author(s):  
Kimberley Tuapawa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Traditional Learning ◽  
Technology Usage ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Needs

Traditional learning spaces have evolved into dynamic blended tertiary environments (BTEs), providing a modern means through which tertiary education institutes (TEIs) can augment delivery to meet stakeholder needs. Despite the significant demand for web-enabled learning, there are obstacles concerning the use of EOTs, which challenge the continued success of blended implementations in higher education. As technology usage accelerates, it is important for TEIs to understand and address the current challenges faced by key stakeholders using EOTs in BTEs, and provide appropriate support. This paper identifies and discusses the challenges stakeholders experience in using EOTs in BTEs. Interviews with 13 blended learning experts from New Zealand, Australia and Canada identified the challenges in using EOTs, and the extent to which these prevent widespread adoption and effective use of EOTs in BTEs. The outcomes of this study will enable them to design relevant approaches to tackle current obstacles in EOT usage, and deliver meaningful support to key stakeholders in BTEs.

Challenges Faced by Key Stakeholders Using Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley Tuapawa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Traditional Learning ◽  
Technology Usage ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Needs

Traditional learning spaces have evolved into dynamic blended tertiary environments (BTEs), providing a modern means through which tertiary education institutes (TEIs) can augment delivery to meet stakeholder needs. Despite the significant demand for web-enabled learning, there are obstacles concerning the use of EOTs, which challenge the continued success of blended implementations in higher education. As technology usage accelerates, it is important for TEIs to understand and address the current challenges faced by key stakeholders using EOTs in BTEs, and provide appropriate support. This paper identifies and discusses the challenges stakeholders experience in using EOTs in BTEs. Interviews with 13 blended learning experts from New Zealand, Australia and Canada identified the challenges in using EOTs, and the extent to which these prevent widespread adoption and effective use of EOTs in BTEs. The outcomes of this study will enable them to design relevant approaches to tackle current obstacles in EOT usage, and deliver meaningful support to key stakeholders in BTEs.

scholarly journals The Impact of Faculty Experience with Emergency Remote Teaching: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Maha Al-Freih
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this phenomenological study is to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of remote teaching on instructors’ perceptions of online learning and future teaching practices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze open-ended semi-structured interviews conducted with five higher education faculty in Saudi Arabia. Three major themes were identified: enhancing student engagement; increased awareness of technology affordances and constraints; and moving from emergency remote teaching to technology-enhanced and blended learning. Participants of this study were mainly concerned about finding ways to support active student engagement in this new learning environment, which in turn increased their awareness of the educational affordances and constraints of online learning and technologies. Participants’ deeper understanding of the potential of online technologies in supporting student learning, as well as their own and students’ increased familiarity and comfort with online learning and technologies, served as the main drivers for potential future implementation of blended learning and technology-enhanced teaching practices. With that said, participants were still apprehensive about engaging in fully online teaching, arguing that blended strategies and enhanced-technology integration are more likely to overcome some of the limitations of face-to-face teaching and improve the overall learning experience for their students. Discussion of these findings in relation to the extant literature and their implications for higher education institutions moving forward are provided.

scholarly journals Interpreting experiences of students using educational online technologies to interact with teachers in blended tertiary environments: A phenomenological study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley Tuapawa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Learning Management Systems ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
Phenomenological Interpretation ◽  
Widespread Implementation ◽  
Key Stakeholders

Although educational online technologies (EOTs) have transformed the delivery of learning in higher education, significant EOT challenges have impeded their effectiveness, preventing widespread implementation. The persistence of these challenges suggests that tertiary education institutes (TEIs) have experienced a gap in understandings about the reality of key stakeholders’ EOT needs. This research made a phenomenological interpretation of key stakeholders’ EOT experiences, to establish their current EOT needs and challenges and provide a basis from which to recommend methods for effective EOT support. It analysed the EOT experiences of 10 students and 10 teachers from New Zealand and Australia and interpreted the meanings of the phenomena through an abstraction and articulation of local and global themes. This paper is the first in a series of six publications that presents the local themes. It documents the interpretations of students’ experiences with teachers, in reference to their use of four types of EOTs: online conference tools, learning management systems, blog sites and lecture capture tools. These interpretations, which include descriptions of stakeholders’ EOT challenges, helped to inform a set of recommendations for effective EOT use, to assist TEIs in their efforts to address EOT challenges and meet stakeholders’ needs.

Exploring the student perspectives on the barriers of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shikha Rana
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Student Perspective ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Student Teacher Relationship ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
The Government

PurposeThe present study aims to gauge the perspectives of students on the difficulties they faced during online learning during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) technique.Design/methodology/approachThe current study employed IPA, and it was conducted among the students enrolled for professional courses in the government, private and deemed-to-be universities in Uttarakhand, India, using semi-structured interviews for the purpose of data collection.FindingsThe findings have been grouped under five parts referred to as “superordinate themes” or “barriers” which comprises learning in an online class environment, online learning in the home environment, student–teacher relationship in online learning, technical hindrances in online learning and health issues in online learning. These superordinate themes were further grouped under sub-themes.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study focused on the students of various private, public and deemed-to-be universities of the Uttarakhand region and represents the higher education sector only and did not tap the primary, secondary and vocational education. The students of academic courses or degree courses like arts, commerce, basic sciences and humanities, etc. were not included in the research study. Hence, the study lacks generalizability.Practical implicationsThe research findings of the present study have implications for higher education institutions (HEIs), teachers, students and policymakers.Originality/valueThe present study addresses the methodological gap by offering a new line of research where IPA has been used as the methodology to determine the barriers of online learning in the COVID-19 situation, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, none of the studies have used it so far to ascertain the barriers to online learning from the student perspective.

scholarly journals Conceptual Framework for Teaching Sustainable Development Course in Blended Learning Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Tilagavati Subramaniam ◽  
Muthu Alagan Thangavelu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Framework For Teaching

Purposes: This paper presents a conceptual framework for teaching sustainable development courses in an online learning environment in institutions of higher education.  Sustainability development courses are becoming essential in higher education institutions mainly to educate the younger generations who will be part of the community to make it happen. Higher education institutions are experiencing dramatic shift to cater a young generation of prospective students, to integrate technical innovations in teaching practices and to concentrate on increasing concerns about global sustainability issues. There has been little research to promote an innovative learning in the teaching of sustainable development. The goal of this paper was to create a framework for teaching sustainable development in a virtual learning environment (blended learning) due to the lack of a conceptual framework that could direct this implementation. Findings: Hence, the blended learning method is eco-friendly, whereby protects global environmental resources. For hands-on experiences, students will develop projects to make their campus and community more sustainable. In the process, students learn how to analyse sustainability and able to apply online learning knowledge into practice. Implication: The conceptual framework proposed will support all educators in higher education institutions engaged in the promotion of quality online education in this pandemic circumstance to develop an effective online practise that are aligned with the corresponding learning needs, skills and facilities.

scholarly journals Factors that Encourage Student Engagement: Insights from a Case Study of ‘First Time’ Students in a New Zealand University.

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Barbara Russell ◽  
◽  
Gloria R L Slater ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
First Time

This case study reports on the findings from one of nine tertiary institutions that took part in a project funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) in New Zealand. The research question explored how institutional and non institutional learning environments influence student engagement with learning in a higher education, university setting. Data was collected initially by means of a questionnaire; subsequently more in-depth data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with students randomly selected from those who indicated, on the questionnaire, that they were willing to be interviewed. Respondents were enrolled for the first time in this institution, but not necessarily for the first time in a tertiary education programme. A conceptual model with four strands: motivation and agency; transactional engagement; institutional support and active citizenship was used to organise the data. Findings were analysed against a synthesis of current literature and suggest that factors identified in the first three strands of the conceptual model played a significant role in student engagement with learning; active citizenship, however, did not feature highly in student responses and is an aspect of engagement that could benefit from further research.

scholarly journals Online Courses in the Higher Education System of Iran: A Stakeholder-Based Investigation of Pre-Service Teachers’ Acceptance, Learning Achievement, and Satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 117-142
Author(s):  
Reza Dashtestani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Learning Achievement ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
University Instructors

This study focused on the acceptance level of higher education stakeholders of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) of online courses in Iran and pre-service teachers’ learning achievement in online courses. Three cohorts of participants who were teaching or learning in online courses included pre-service teachers of TEFL (n=104), TEFL university instructors (n=23), and heads of TEFL departments (n=10). A questionnaire was designed. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to detect differences among the perspectives of the participants. Semi-structured interviews were also utilized. Results indicated that there were significant differences among the perspectives of the three groups of participants about online courses. The pre-service teachers appeared to be relatively positive about online learning, while the university instructors and heads of departments showed a lower level of satisfaction. The participants pointed out several challenges, including the lack of rigor of online courses, the incredibility of the certificates, the lack of technological infrastructures, technical problems, the impractical content of the lessons, the lack of human interaction, the low competence levels of online learning students, and employers’ lack of interest in employing graduates of online courses. The participants also mentioned that pedagogical and technological training was required for both university instructors and pre-service teachers of TEFL. The comparison of pre-service teachers’ mid-term and final scores in the online courses showed a significant difference and improvement of students’ learning achievement in online courses with medium to large effect sizes. In the interviews, the participants also confirmed that online courses could improve student learning.

The ‘Pleasure Principle’ in Blended Learning Approaches

2012 ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Paul Peachey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Efficient Technology ◽  
Pleasure Principle ◽  
Online Technologies ◽  
The Uk

Online technologies were met with initial enthusiasm in the UK following the publication of the Dearing Report (1997). However, this excitement soon became subdued due to disappointing outcomes and unfulfilled expectations regarding the online programmes. Considering the importance that the online component has on a blended learning programme, this chapter argues that the challenge in higher education is to get learners to want to engage as opposed to have to engage and therefore a sense of enjoyment should be added to the blend along with a sound pedagogy and an efficient technology. This chapter endeavours to discern some underlying grounded theory based on classic psychology that might underpin the efficient design of a blended learning programme and offers pragmatic considerations that might help to achieve it.

Teachers Conceptions and Approaches to Blended Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 912-934
Author(s):  
Vicki Caravias
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Technologies

This paper presents a critical review and synthesis of research literature in higher education exploring teachers' conceptions of blended learning and their approaches to both design and teaching. Definitions of blended learning and conceptual frameworks are considered first. Attention is given to Picciano's Blending with Purpose Multimodal framework. This paper builds upon previous research on blended learning and conceptual framework by Picciano by exploring how objectives from Picciano's framework affect teachers' approaches to both design and teaching in face-to-face and online settings. Research results suggest that teachers use multiple approaches including face-to-face methods and online technologies that address the learning needs of a variety of students from different generations, personality types and learning styles.

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