scholarly journals Blended Learning Strategies for Engaging Diverse Student Cohorts in Higher Education

Author(s):  
Josh McCarthy

This article explores blended learning strategies within teaching and learning higher education as a channel of addressing learner diversity. Three case studies were critically examined to highlight the efficacy of various blended learning techniques to improve students' learning experience. These blended learning techniques include online peer and staff feedback for formative assessment; online video and audio feedback for summative assessment; and a flipped classroom teaching model. Culturally, educationally, and socially diverse first year student cohorts participated in this study to provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages of each blended learning technique. Data on the effectiveness of these pedagogical and technological innovations were gathered through online surveys to address students' reflection of learning experience. Findings of these case studies are significant in light of the growing diversity found within student cohorts in higher education; as well as an increase in technology-driven teaching innovation and student-centred learning techniques.

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksej Heinze ◽  
Chris Procter

This paper examines the introduction of blended learning on a part-time higher education programme for mature students. The interpretive work draws on four action research cycles conducted over two years with two student cohorts. Discussion is based on observations, staff and student focus groups and interviews examining the students’ expectations and experiences. The initial focus of the action research was on the introduction of technology into the teaching and learning experience. However, the advantage of an interpretive approach is allowing the findings to determine the course of the research. During the first action research cycles, the focus of the research changed from the use of technology in blended learning to the role of the practitioners involved. The authors advocate the key role of reflective practitioners in facilitating blended learning and suggest that action research is a useful framework.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masitah Shahrill ◽  
Mohamad Iskandar Petra ◽  
Lin Naing ◽  
Joanna Yacob ◽  
Jose H. Santos ◽  
...  

PurposeThis paper aims to share how it was possible to change the way business was conducted in a short period in order to continue the academic semester and seek alternatives to manage the day-to-day university affairs in the midst of a pandemic crisis at a higher education setting. As a result, the authors’ experiences have created new norms and opportunities for the university.Design/methodology/approachThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Brunei Darussalam is an evolving situation with extraordinary challenges for staff and students of the university. Although the campus remains open and essential services were continuously provided, the university had to implement and adapt to new norms instinctively to minimise the potential pathways for community spread of the coronavirus and at the same time minimise interruption in teaching and learning.FindingsFirstly, structured blended learning will be the basis of teaching and learning, alongside ensuring the highest quality of online education and successful achievement of the intended learning objectives. Secondly, blended learning will open more opportunities to offer programmes in a more flexible, personalised, student-centric and lifelong learning manner, with the option of taking a study hiatus at students' convenience. Thirdly, there will be more global classrooms and the exchange of online modules with international partner universities. Fourthly, short programmes such as the Global Discovery Programmes will be modified and improvised to become an online learning experience. And finally, there will also be the opportunity to understand and consider the physical and mental well-being and durability of the university community in overcoming a national crisis situation.Originality/valueThis paper is intended to be a conceptual paper where the authors describe novel experiences during the pandemic. The authors’ views, interventions and experiences may result into a new model for higher education that will reposition students to the new global markets and economy.


Author(s):  
Hamimah Ujir ◽  
Shanti Faridah Salleh ◽  
Ade Syaheda Wani Marzuki ◽  
Hashimatul Fatma Hashim ◽  
Aidil Azli Alias

A standard equation on teaching workload calculation in the previous academic setting only includes the contact hours with students through lecture, tutorial, laboratory and in-person consultation (i.e. one-to-one final year project consultation). This paper discusses teaching workload factors according to the current higher-education setting. Devising a teaching workload equation that includes all teaching and learning strategies in the 21<sup>st</sup> century higher education learning setting is needed. This is indeed a challenging task for the academic administrators to scrutinize every single parameter that accounted for teaching and learning. In this work, we have discussed the parameters which are significant in teaching workload calculation. For instance, the conventional in-person contact with the students, type of delivery, type of assessment, the preparation of materials for flipped classroom as well as MOOC, to name a few. Teaching workload also affects quality teaching and from the academic perception, the higher workload means lower-quality teaching.


Author(s):  
Aleksej Heinze ◽  
Chris Procter

This paper examines the introduction of blended learning on a part-time higher education programme for mature students. The interpretive work draws on four action research cycles conducted over two years with two student cohorts. Discussion is based on observations, staff and student focus groups and interviews examining the students’ expectations and experiences. The initial focus of the action research was on the introduction of technology into the teaching and learning experience. However, the advantage of an interpretive approach is allowing the findings to determine the course of the research. During the first action research cycles, the focus of the research changed from the use of technology in blended learning to the role of the practitioners involved. The authors advocate the key role of reflective practitioners in facilitating blended learning and suggest that action research is a useful framework.


Author(s):  
Min Chi Low ◽  
Chen Kang Lee ◽  
Manjit Singh Sidhu ◽  
Seng Poh Lim ◽  
Zaimah Hasan ◽  
...  

The learning approach is always being the concern of educators to increase the quality of engineering education. Engineering education is essential in order to nurture quality engineers and prepare the workforce for country development. Coming to Industrial 4.0, modern engineering education has combined ICT technology to meet the demand of Education 4.0. This paper aims to review blended learning to enhanced engineering education using flipped classroom approach. The paper starts with an overview of the current trend of engineering education, which encourages using blended learning approach. Blended learning was developed to overcome the advantages and disadvantages of traditional learning and online learning, which brings a better learning experience to students. From the review, the blended learning using flipped classroom approach have positively assisted students in their learning. Future ongoing research is recommended to explore the potential of flipped classroom approach use in supporting engineering education specifically in the context of Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Tom H Brown

<p class="Paragraph1"><span lang="EN-US">The paper of Barber, Donnelly &amp; Rizvi (2013): “An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead”  addresses some significant issues in higher education and poses some challenging questions to ODL (Open and Distance Learning) administrators, policy makers and of course to ODL faculty in general.  Barber et al.’s paper does not specifically address the area of teaching and learning theories, strategies and methodologies per se.  In this paper I would therefore like to reflect on the impact that the contemporary changes and challenges that Barber et al. describes, have on teaching and learning approaches and paradigms.  In doing so I draw on earlier work about future learning paradigms and navigationism (Brown, 2006).  We need a fresh approach and new skills to survive the revolution ahead.  We need to rethink our teaching and learning strategies to be able to provide meaningful learning opportunities in the future that lies ahead.</span></p>


F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Barbara Macfarlan

Making material available through learning management systems is standard practice in most universities, but this is generally seen as an adjunct to the ‘real’ teaching, that takes place in face-to-face classes. Lecture attendance is poor, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage students, both in the material being taught and campus life. This paper describes the redevelopment of a large course in scientific practice and communication that is compulsory for all science students studying at our Melbourne and Malaysian campuses, or by distance education. Working with an educational designer, a blended learning methodology was developed, converting the environment provided by the learning management system into a teaching space, rather than a filing system. To ensure focus, topics are clustered into themes with a ‘question of the week’, a pre-class stimulus and follow up activities. The content of the course did not change, but by restructuring the delivery using educationally relevant design techniques, the content was contextualised resulting in an integrated learning experience. Students are more engaged intellectually, and lecture attendance has improved. The approach we describe here is a simple and effective approach to bringing this university’s teaching and learning into the 21st century.


EAD em FOCO ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica Monteiro ◽  
Rita Manuela Barros

O nosso trabalho pretende descrever o processo de desenho e implementação de objetos de aprendizagem orientados para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de resolução de problemas, numa escola superior do ensino politécnico português. Com a apresentação de um caso prático, demonstramos a utilização de um objeto de aprendizagem elaborado no âmbito de uma unidade curricular de Informática e Sistemas de Informação de um curso de licenciatura na área da Saúde, cuja metodologia de implementação se baseou na Problem Based Learning. Enquadrados num modelo de ensino-aprendizagem sustentado na participação ativa dos estudantes e orientado para a resolução de problemas por meio das TIC, o recurso ao método dos 3E permitiu o desenvolvimento de objetos de aprendizagem diversificados e consonantes com o processamento diferencial de informação dos estudantes, garantindo os resultados de aprendizagem definidos.Palavras-chave: Tecnologias da informação e da comunicação, Metodologias de ensino, Objetos de aprendizagem, Ensino superior.? The Information and Communication Technologies and the Development of Problem Based Learning Strategies on Higher Education in the Health AreaAbstractOur work aims to describe the process of design and implementation of Learning Objects to develop strategies for solving problems in a higher education Portuguese institution. We demonstrate a case study prepared under a "Computer and Information Systems" curricular unit of a health course, whose implementation methodology relied in Problem Based Learning. Framed in a model of teaching and learning supported the active participation of students and oriented towards problem solving through ICT, the use of the method of 3E allowed the development of Learning Objects and in line with the students' different information processes, ensuring the settled outcomes. Keywords: Information and communication technology, Teaching methodology, Learning objects, Higher education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Maha Al-Freih

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.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin K. Hill ◽  
Jill W. Fresen ◽  
Fawei Geng

Lecturers in higher education often consider the incorporation of web technologies into their teaching practice. Partially structured and populated course site templates could aid them in getting started with creating and deploying webbased materials and activities to enrich the teaching and learning experience. Discussions among instructional technology support staff and lecturers reveal a paucity of robust specifications for possible course site features that could comprise a template. An attempted mapping from the teaching task as understood by the instructor to the envisaged course website properties proves elusive. We conclude that the idea of an initial state for a course site, embodied in a template, remains useful and should be developed not according to a formula but with careful attention to the context and existing pedagogical practice. Any course template provided for the use of lecturers should be enhanced with supporting instructions and examples of how it may be adapted for their particular purposes.Keywords: course template; learning platform; pedagogical dimensions; course site properties(Published: 17 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18665 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18665


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document