User:Nelliemuller/Blended Learning

Blended Learning

Research on Blended Learning

Doctoral Research Study

• Dissertation
• Conducting Online Interviews

I am researching blended learning in higher education for my doctoral research study. I would like to interview instructors who blend, have blended, or would like to blend (mix) e-learning with face-to-face instruction in campus-based classes in higher education in the U.S. and other countries. The interviews will be conducted online via virtual technologies in 2 or 3 months. If you use, have used or would like to use blended (hybrid) learning or know someone who does/has, please pass on this form or email me. Thank you. --Nellie Deutsch 17:44, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Discussion Question

Is there pressure on instructors to use blended learning and/or integrate technology into the curriculum in higher education? Please elaborate and add current research if available.

Responses

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• I teach at a Mexican university and although we have a fair amount of technology available, teachers by-and-large are not utilizing it to its full potential. Further training and support is needed to show teachers how to better plan, implement, and reflect on instructional and assessment practices through the use of the read-write web. I think the best approach to "pressuring" teachers into using technology is to model and demonstrate how personal learning networks can emerge for both teachers and learners, complementing it with pedagogical tips that are of practical use.--Benjamin Stewart 16:28, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

• Through informal contacts with colleagues (in teaching workshops, for instance), such pressure is discussed in the abstract without direct reference to individualized pressure. "The university wants me to use these tools...", "Students expect us to adopt those technologies because colleagues have used them...", "Technology piles up on top of our teaching loads..." I have personally not felt any pressure to adopt any technology or teaching strategy and my attempts at enhancing online learning tends to be met with relative indifference by both students and administrators. -- Alexandre Enkerli, April 1, 2009. (No joke intended)
  • Thank you for your response, Alexandre. I wonder if there is any evidence of pressure. --Nellie Deutsch 14:38, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

• The University of Carabobo, where I teach English in a teacher training program in the School of Education, is heading towards the implementation of distance education, and there is pressure on professors to use technology. They have to take compulsory courses on the way to use Moodle, and some of the alternatives offered by this CMS. I imagine the pressure, for most of them should be tremendous, as they are "digital inmigrants", and not gained to the idea of using technology for teaching; they are stuck in the chalck - board time.María Irene Albers. April 1, 2009.

• As a part of my research, wherein an attempt was made to develop a training package for teachers to teach in online learning environments in India, I had also been obtained the views of students and staff on the benefits of online education today. While discussing some of the issues, it did come to my notice that online courses are preferred by higher education institutions for the reason that they enhance enrolment, especially by drawing students from other states. This, to some extent, has resulted in bringing better financial dividends to the Universities. In my opinion, there are chances that the pressure to introduce online course are likely to increase as the higher education institutions become aware of the income benefits of online education. Jyoti Bawane, April 1, 2009.

• I am teaching is a small mixed university/high school setting in Mexico. And, I see just the opposite. The teachers and Subdirectors are putting the pressure on Management to modernize and introduce technology into the classroom activities to better align with students' interests, a flattening world, and integration of technology in almost every culture of the world now. Many institutions in Mexico are way behind. Although some Universities are now offering blended learning and full distance learning courses .. and the number is slowly increasing. Where I work, we sort of "sneak" blended learning into curriculum and are now integrating it into new programs awaiting the Education Secretary's approval. Frank D. Stonehouse, April 1, 2009, Morelia, Mexico. http://metamexico.ning.com

• I'm working in Instructional Design at a large university in Australia. The university has initiated a Flexible Learning policy requiring all teach8ing units to have online components. Kim Flintoff, April 3, 2009 Australia - http://www.dramanite.com

• I'm a teacher at URBE in Maracaibo, Venezuela. And the University has been offering subjects online for seven years on the moodle platform. Also the English Department offers EFL and ESP online, and there are many professors that feel the pressure to use the technology and they need to learn how to use CMS. URBE is a University that has the latest technology and each classroom has a computer to be used by teachers to make the learning process easier. Although we have the technology it doesn't mean everybody knows how to use it and I think that put a lot of pressure on them. However I can say that teachers are working hard and learning that technology makes our life in the classroom easier and better.

• In India, at Gargi College of University of Delhi, I have been teaching Botany to undergrads for more than two decades. Gradually technology has entered into teaching methodologies. With new online resources I have been adding and encouraging the web learning methods in my regular Face-to-face classes upgrading with times. This has lead to addition of a Global perspective to my classes. The University is now encouraging all faculty to go in for Blended Teaching. The Lecture Rooms and Labs are being made more technologically advanced. Soon everyone will have to go in for this teaching mode.Dr. Gita Mathur, Associate Professor of Botany. INDIA http://wikieducator.org/User:Gita_Mathur.

• At the College of Education where I work there probably is pressure. In the merger of the CoE with the University of Canterbury, the decision/finding was that teaching took too many contact hours (ie was too expensive), and class sizes needed to be increased. Blended learning (aka Flexible learning) is seen as part of the solution. Along with creative timetabling and some creative staffing options. Some of the issues include: uncertainty on who is to do the work of morphing courses, lack of skills to do the restructuring, keenness among some staff without real access to needed resources. On the other hand, there is some planning and strategising going on that will help: some awards of teaching grant money which is being spent on support for teachers doong redesign work. - Then there is the technology side: we are outfitting some BIG teaching spaces with some real doozy gear. It remains to be seein if the staff development is up to the challenge of using the gear well, and to meet the teaching/learning needs AND the admin/financing needs. - Derek

• In Taiwan the asnwer is defintiely yes! Universities often invest in infrastruture first, then ask instructors to use it, instead of investigating needs first. Systems and hardware are often deployed first. Instrutors then have to integrate it in their courses. It's not a matter of choice or selection of better instructional media. It's just a matter of policy. - Haishuo Lee

• At Surrey University in the UK, we don't have specific technologies that are compulsory to use although that is under review at the moment. Some lecturers have mentioned that if one lecturer in their department starts using a particular technology, the students complain if that lecturer doesn't use one so in that sense there is pressure. There is also external pressure, as staff attend conferences and see how others are using technologies they can either feel that they should be, or they can put pressure on themselves to become 'up to date' but not necessarily negative pressure - can be enthusiastic too! Our team actively encourages staff to experiment with different technologies and sometimes provide financial incentive and help with researching and/or collaborating on bids to undertake projects. Where possible we provide examples of student feedback about different technologies that have been used - both from interviews with students formally and informally. We have an internal staff network where we encourage staff who have experimented with different technologies to share their experiences either f2f or online, some small communities of interest being encouraged cross-faculty.