Cybernetic Model by Blended Learning Using Technological Applications About Mathematics in Higher Education

Traditional teaching has been changing with the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Blended learning is a new approach that enriches the education of students in order to improve their performance in their different subjects. Mathematics learning is a subject matter that is particularly difficult for students. The present chapter targets the application of a cybernetic model for blended learning in the teaching of mathematics, that is, the elements of communication and control are incorporated into this learning paradigm. It applies to first-year students of mathematics at the university level in the area of engineering. The results show an improvement in tests applied to students before and after the inclusion of activities with technological applications.

Questioning Prompts to Examine Blended PK-20 Learning Environments

The decision to deliver a course or an academic program must address issues of learning outcomes and curriculum, what is to be taught along with choices of pedagogy or how the content is taught, as well as face-to-face or online delivery. The question of whether or not online or blended instruction is more effective than face to face teaching is not about the delivery decision but about curriculum and pedagogical issues. A set of questioning prompts, organized by public school and undergraduate/graduate programs, help educators systematically think through issues of learner differences, learning outcomes, teaching options, including the use of technology and instructional delivery approaches. Best practices are organized by public school and undergraduate/graduate programs. Research questions are suggested.

Transcending Barriers Towards Effective Blended Learning Horizons

The chapter highlights the changing nature of blended learning (BL). In addition to this, the chapter provides various pedagogical considerations drawn both from the research literature and the analysis of effective practices. Thus, by examining specific challenges and opportunities concerning the design, development, and assessment practices in BL scenarios, the chapter unveils a proposal for effective instructional, organizational, and learning decision making. It also makes a call for opportune dissemination of blended learning practices and projects both nationally and transnationally, with the intention of offering an ample and steady scope to scaffold and support educators, learners, and other agents to ensure quality and sustainability of the blended endeavors across time.

Immersing Future Middle-Level Science Educators in a Blended Learning Environment

Current pre-service teachers are considered digital natives in that they have grown up with the use of technology. However, these future teachers often need explicit and modeled experiences to become a digital educator as they will be the future teachers in what has become an increasingly technological world that utilizes digital tools and applications. This chapter delves into the literature related to blended learning and preparing these preservice teachers to utilize technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) within a blended learning environment (BLE). Through immersion in a middle school science methods course that utilized a BLE, preservice teachers were provided with relative experiences for their future teaching career. Lessons learned and reflections from the preservice teachers provide foundational information for future planning.

The Gamification of Code

Teaching an introductory web design course is already a blended environment. Students meet face-to-face, yet have access to a myriad of online resources, YouTube videos, blogs, and forums to support their learning. However, the challenges of learning to understand code can inhibit students and diminish their motivation to look for resources. The authors have attempted to address this issue by focusing on the use and design of games for learning to code, as well as providing video lecture material in combination with the traditional face-to-face learning environment. By using games and gamification in the course design, the authors have found that students are able not only to bridge their knowledge between modalities more smoothly, but that they understand that there are multiple ways to solve a problem and feel empowered to search for solutions in innovative ways.

Building a Conceptual Relational Model Among Blended Learning Aspects in K-20 Education

In this chapter, a conceptual relational model is built addressing the main actors of the K-20 education programmes and the key aspects of blended learning approach. The chapter goes beyond by addressing the K-20 education system in a lenses of technology integration in education, and that the K-20 education system cannot exist in remote. The chapter discusses the way blended learning and its related aspects and approaches are related to the K-20 education system. In its broad sense, the chapter suggests appropriate forces and delivery approaches be used in K-20 education.

Communication With the Blended Student

The ability to communicate effectively, regardless the method, is necessary in all facets of life. In the educational arena, communication between teacher and student has always been a staple of a productive classroom. Unfortunately for today's students and teachers, communication has changed. The days of every student attending a brick-and-mortar classroom are gone. Today's students access technology at a rapid pace via myriad modalities. Some students attend the brick-and-mortar schools, others never step foot inside the facility, while others employ a blended approach to their education. Educators must develop effective techniques to reach these students which engage the learner and reach the course objectives. This chapter focuses on the CoI framework and lists effective communication strategies to communicate with the blended learner. These techniques include a welcome letter, all about me survey, Google forms, email, phone call, text message, reflection assignment, discussion board post, live online class meetings and office hours, and a communication spreadsheet.

Blended Learning for Critical Thinking Skill Training

The purpose of this chapter is to describe an instructional approach that was successfully used for making blended learning decisions for a variety of federal government agencies in order to improve critical thinking skills. The intended audiences comprised adult learners who were operational personnel that required training on new systems to be able to use them to assist in making decisions requiring the application of critical thinking ability. The value of this rationale is its universal applicability because it is not restricted to typical considerations of the logistics of the learning environment, program costs, or training schedule as are most other delivery media determinations. In this regard, it is a collaborative choice based on learner requirements, learning type, and learning environment, rather than institutional need. Additionally, it provides a methodology for matching these considerations to a proper blended learning component mix based on considerations of required level of student comprehension, the nature of the content to be absorbed, and the required proficiency level of the learner.

Cooperative Learning as a Blended Learning Strategy

There is currently a movement in education institutions towards blended learning (BL). The integration of technology in the classroom is likely to be the defining transformative innovation for education in the 21st century. As BL is used more extensively in K–12 schools, educators must develop specialized skills for teaching in blended environments. For the purpose of this study, Cooperative learning (CL) is proposed as a BL strategy. CL is an approach that involves a small group of students working together as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal. The combined blended learning model was developed from a synthesis of BL design models and can be used as a design tool when creating a cooperative-blended learning environment.

Supervisors' Perceptions of Blended Approach for Graduate Thesis Supervision

The uptake of blended supervision remains low in most developing nations. This chapter presents findings from a mini study on the perceptions of Kenyatta University graduate student supervisors and their uptake of blended supervision approach. The study adopted a mixed research design using eight supervisors purposively sampled. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data which were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings show that several challenges impede a positive orientation of supervisors towards a blended approach to graduate supervision. Findings indicated levels of reluctance in adapting the blended approach to supervision. The authors aver that lack of consistent efforts towards capacity building for supervisors' self-efficacy to enhanced use of the blended approach needs to be addressed. The results of this study will be used to inform supervisors' professional development initiatives in order to foster postgraduate student completion rates and for the university to develop a policy to mainstream blended supervision in its institutional structures.