Learning About Blended Learning Through Students' Experiences

Blended learning, a combination of traditional face-to-face and online learning, is being increasingly adopted by higher educational institutions worldwide. The popularity of blended learning in higher education attests the increasing appreciation of its potential to facilitate and enhance student learning. The term ‘blended learning’ has been defined variously. Garrison and Vaughan (2008:148) suggest blended learning as ‘the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches and technologies’. Broadly speaking, blended learning refers to teaching and learning conducted via a combination of face-to-face classroom learning and technology-based online learning approaches. It combines the traditional face-to-face teaching with online teaching methods to enhance and extend the learning opportunities for students. When blended learning is thoughtfully designed, it offers an opportunity to enhance students’ learning experiences. It is clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, and each institution has to find their own way towards a contextual blend that works for their student body. Since blended learning could mean many different things, it is important that researchers and practitioners carefully explain what blended learning means to them and why they have adopted a particular blended learning design. This chapter explores potential benefits and challenges of blended learning design through two case studies.

This introductory essay aims to shed light on the theoretical raison d’etre , the intersections within, and the main lines shared by the five essays that make up this section. The section is dedicated to transnational and blended learning spaces in telecollaborative, trans-institutional projects. This piece pivots on the increasingly important and pervasive theoretical notion of the “Spatial Turn” (Bachmann-Medick 2016, 211-243), which has become increasingly visible in, among other fields, pedagogy and cultural studies, and more specifically in the idea of boundary-crossing and hybridisation not only of physical but also of methodological spaces. This introductory essay shows how these five scholarly pieces contribute in different ways to enriching the interdisciplinary scholarly space at the intersection of intercultural awareness and technology- enhanced teaching and learning of foreign languages and cultures.

The development of blended learning in Hong Kong has been shifted to using pedagogical driven approach and the adoption of learning theories in blended learning course development became significant. In the past years, HKU SPACE adopted cognitive alignment in outcome-based learning theory for designing and developing blended learning course to the students. This research aims at understanding learning experiences of undergraduate students in blended learning. In this study, qualitative approach was adopted for obtaining in-depth understanding of learning experiences of the students in the blended learning environment. Focus group interviews for students were conducted in an accounting course. The interviews were analyzed by thematic analysis while thematic maps were used for coding and themes identification. The themes in learn via learning activities, learn via collaboration, learn for good assessment result, learning activities helps study and enjoyed most, perceived advantages of online learning, need more learning support, need mobile learning, preference in integrated and non-integrated blended learning, and difficulties in blended learning were identified. With the themes identified, issues on learning engagement, importance of aligning assessment with learning activity, online collaboration and enhancing blended learning experiences were discussed. Finally, pedagogy designs to enhance students learning were recommended. The study contributes to fill the research gap in understanding blended learning experiences of undergraduate students in Hong Kong.

Previous studies have shown that emotion is crucial in student learning. However, most studies in the e-learning environment have yet to consider emotion as part of learning that could lead to successful learning. Thus, this study explored the relationship between student emotion state, emotion sequences, and student learning experience. A preliminary data collection was conducted to explore the relationship between emotional experience and student learning experience, which involved 16 students. Students were asked to learn a programming subject in an e-learning environment. E-learning is designed to store the students' emotional experience and activity during learning. The sequential pattern mining technique was used to extract the data, exploratory data analysis was conducted to visualize the emotional trajectory during the learning process, and regression analysis was used to explain the relationship between students' emotional learning experiences. The results showed that emotional experience might affect student experience in learning. In one-sequence emotion, all emotion states contributed to the learning experience with p-values < 0.01 except for neutral and disgust with p-values < 0.05. The one-sequence emotion model shows R-squared = 0.585; Adj. R-squared = 0.734; F-statistic = 6.920; Prob (F-statistic) = 0.00702. Meanwhile, in two-sequence emotion, none of the emotion sequences contributed to the student learning experience. Lastly, three-sequence emotion models also showed that most sequences did not influence student learning experience. The only sequence of emotions that influenced the student learning experience was surprise-neutral-surprise. These results suggest that emotion should be considered in learning design as it can influence student experience.

Space is a significant factor for teaching and learning (Goodyear & Carvalho, 2019), but it is comparably underexplored in the higher education (Ellis & Goodyear, 2016). Learning spaces have become hybrid in the post-pandemic period in higher education with physical locations having digital extensions and vice versa (Ellis & Goodyear, 2018), which allows more flexible study modes and access to richer study resources. In addition to having material properties which physically promote or prevent student engagement, space is also a social product with relational and structural aspects, which could shape social relationships and moreover, reflect or promote existing inequalities amongst students (Wong, 2024). Space may therefore impact on students’ learning experiences, including within feedback encounters. Feedback is a significant aspect of students’ learning experiences in higher education. It is well acknowledged that feedback is important for students’ learning and graduate outcomes (Hattie & Clarke, 2018). Feedback encounters, such as supervision meeting and placements, could provide valuable feedback opportunities with the characteristics of immediate and frequent dialogues. However, spatial factors could affect these feedback encounters positively and negatively (Gravett, 2022). For example, many students perceive academic office as a scary space to seek feedback (Gravett & Winstone, 2019) while in comparison, online discussion boards are perceived as more flexible and equitable spaces for feedback engagement (Zhou et al., 2023). Since little is known about students’ experiences of feedback spaces and how spatial factors affect feedback, it is important to explore students’ feedback experiences in the hybrid feedback spaces. International students are a cohort for whom feedback spaces are particularly important. They often experience relocation to the new learning spaces in different cultural contexts, and are likely to be unfamiliar with material and social perspectives of the spaces (Dai et al., 2018). Therefore, they might feel disrupted and anxious at the initial stages of their feedback encounters, which could lead to the effectiveness of these valuable feedback. Since international students make great social and economic contributions to Australia, to promote more equitable feedback experiences for those students, it is important to understand their feedback experiences in the feedback spaces, to inform co-design of inclusive and supportive feedback spaces. This poster will offer an overview of preliminary findings of a review study. The review has two research questions: 1. How has space has been incorporated as part of existing feedback models in higher education, across situated, hybrid, and digital learning situations? 2. How do feedback models account for the particular situations of international students? This work has implications for future theoretical and empirical studies about feedback and feedback spaces. This research has the potential to enrich theoretical understandings of feedback and space research in higher education. Findings from this study could also enrich the literature regarding international students and provide practical strategies for supporting international students’ acculturation. In addition, the study could give implications to education institutions about how to create inclusive and supportive hybrid learning environments, which could significantly enhance the student experience and learning outcomes.

Traditional discipline-specific training has limitations in facilitating inter-professional communication and collaboration. To address this issue, two local universities in Hong Kong launched an interprofessional team-based learning program to allow the undergraduate healthcare students to form teams and experience collaborative problem-solving. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences of nursing and physiotherapy undergraduates following interprofessional learning activities. Twenty-seven 3rd-year nursing and physiotherapy undergraduates were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and written feedback was solicited until data saturation was achieved. An inductive thematic analysis was used for the data, and each theme was mutually exclusive. The findings revealed the positive experiences of the students with this interprofessional learning activity. Three main themes emerged: (1) the process of interprofessional learning; (2) profession-related outcomes of interprofessional learning; and (3) patient-related outcomes of interprofessional learning. The study indicated that interprofessional team-based learning activities enhanced learning experiences of the students through interactive learning with other healthcare students. Experiences of relationships that are trustful and complementary allow students to develop confidence in knowledge transfer and in interprofessional collaboration, as well as in providing a holistic patient-centered care. These findings substantiate the importance and value of interprofessional learning in healthcare education.

<p>Despite the increase in massive open online courses (MOOCs), evidence about the pedagogy of learning in MOOCs remains limited. This paper reports on an investigation into the pedagogy in one MOOC - Oxford Brookes University’s ‘First Steps in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education’ MOOC (FSLT12).</p><p>FSLT12 was an open and free professional development opportunity for people moving into HE teaching. It was a small course (200 participants registered from 24 countries) which was focused on introducing HE teaching skills, and, uniquely, to deliberately integrate open academic practice as a vital part of professional development for HE teachers. A qualitative, case-study approach was used in the research, based on surveys, interviews, and social media, to provide evidence about how people learned in this course and consider wider implications for teaching and learning in higher education.</p><p>The evidence shows that participants who completed the course were able to learn autonomously and navigate the distributed platforms and environments. The most challenging issues were acceptance of open academic practice and difficulty in establishing an academic identity in an unpredictable virtual environment. An interesting and significant feature of the course was the support for learners from a number of MOOC ‘veterans’ who served as role models and guides for less experienced MOOC learners.</p><p>The research shows that small task-oriented MOOCs can effectively support professional development of open academic practice.</p>

The sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged universities to provide students with online teaching and learning settings that were both immediately applicable and supportive of quality learning. This resulted in a broad variety of synchronous and asynchronous online settings of teaching and learning. While some courses balanced both kinds, others offered either predominantly synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning. In a survey study with students (N=3,056) and teachers (N=396) from a large German university, we explored whether a predominance of synchronous or asynchronous teaching and learning settings in higher education was associated with certain student experiences and outcomes. Additionally, we examined how well these two types of teaching and learning settings support students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness proposed by self-determination theory (SDT). Data were collected after the first online semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that from the students’ perspective, the teaching methods involved in the two settings of teaching and learning differ with regard to their potential to support social interaction and to support basic psychological needs as proposed by SDT. Students who studied mostly in synchronous settings reported more peer-centered activities such as feedback in comparison to students in mostly asynchronous settings. In contrast, teachers perceived fewer differences between teaching methods in synchronous and asynchronous settings, especially regarding feedback activities. Further, students in mostly synchronous settings reported greater support of their basic psychological needs for competence support and relatedness as well as a greater overall satisfaction with the online term compared to students in mostly asynchronous settings. Across all students, greater fulfillment of psychological needs and higher technology acceptance coincided with outcomes that are more favorable. Implications for the post-pandemic classroom are drawn.

Digital technology can be observed in every aspect of our today’s society. It serves as the primary instrument needed in building knowledge societies for quality education. Although, excellent teaching in higher education requires the sound knowledge of the subject and a right way of imparting the experience to the students. Economics teachers often face the problems of the best ways to help students understand the fundamental economic phenomena and the application of relevant economics terms to real-life situations. However, to overcome such issues calls for the need to discover new and appropriate teaching methods which should be in alignment with the needs and possibilities of economics students in higher education. To this effect, an appropriate pedagogical model is designed for the enhancement of teaching and learning of economics in higher education, especially in this era of the new-normal brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic which has disorganised the entire globe with unanticipated changes in every aspect of the society, including the educational sector in which the need/impact of digital technology cannot be overemphasised. The pedagogical model would lead to active, creative, collaborative, and highly engaged digital experiences for economic students in higher education. Keywords: Economics, Digital technology, Teaching, Learning, Inclusivity, Pedagogical model DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-9-13 Publication date: March 31 st 2021

The Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT) has the chief goal of improving student learning, which can be achieved through scholarly inquiry, reflection, and dissemination of research findings on learning and teaching. The idea originates from the report written by Boyer (1990), who suggested that teaching in higher education should be regarded as a serious intellectual work similar to research. Researchers after Boyer have further elaborated and clarified the concept, no matter in the names of Scholarship of Teaching (SoT), Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), or, less frequently, SoLT, with more emphasis on learning. The concept has been implemented in higher education institutions around the world, and there are research reports exploring the different aspects related to its implementation. In this chapter, building on previous models of SoLT as well as empirical studies, we put forward a holistic conceptual framework that takes into consideration the higher education institution, teaching staff and students altogether. Our framework highlights four important themes: (1) staff professional development; (2) enhanced student learning experience; (3) assessment; and (4) digital technology. Digital technology is especially a theme less studied in the literature on SoLT, but should be included in the framework of SoLT in a digital technology era.

This article examines the impact of emergency remote learning and draws on both current and prior research to suggest ways forward in teaching and learning in higher education. Synchronous online learning was the primary delivery method during the Covid‐19 pandemic, but research has identified many limitations in this form of delivery, as well as some benefits. Many lessons and best practices in online learning had been developed before the pandemic, but these have been largely ignored both during and following the pandemic. The author suggests that hybrid learning (a mix of in‐person and online) is in general the future of teaching and learning in higher education, although there will be important but specific markets for both wholly in‐person and fully online learning. Research has indicated that effective online and hybrid learning requires a major shift in teaching, and particularly in assessment methods, from those used in classroom teaching. This presents a major challenge for faculty development, and some strategies to meet this challenge are suggested.

When the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice — JUTLP as we have come to know it — was established in 2004, it was to fill a perceived gap in publications related to teaching and learning practice in higher education, with practice being the operative word (Carter, 2004). While other higher education journals existed, they were mainly the purview of academic developers and the most prodigious of disciplinary academics researching their teaching. In contrast, JUTLP was to be built as open-access and its readership as ‘practitioners looking for good ideas based soundly on a body of accessible theory and research’ (McInnes, 2004, n.p.). JUTLP was established in the Australian context at a time when promoting excellence in teaching and learning was regarded as an important government agenda to improve the student experience, and not accidentally, coincided with the creation of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (later the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, and later again the Office for Learning and Teaching). The Carrick Institute supported national cross-institutional grants and fellowship schemes, and promoted national networks of educational research into practice to support the mission of the then Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) to ensure all ‘Australian higher education institutions provide high quality teaching and learning for all students’ (Carrick, 2009). How times have changed.

The mass adoption of ICT for online delivery of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many opportunities but also challenges for the education sector. In this paper, we conducted a scientometric analysis to provide insights into research trends and present bibliometric indicators of 5810 publications on blended learning to contribute to the knowledge base on the use of ICT in education management, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 to 2023. The number of citations and publications increased rapidly. Content analysis of the publications and keyword analysis revealed important and emerging topics such as the challenges and experiences of students, teachers and institutions with blended learning, especially in higher education, from implementation and use to digital literacy, attitudes, performance, self-regulation and learning outcomes. The main journals focused on the use of technology in education and health education. Blended learning has likely moved beyond the pandemic and has become an integral part of management in educational organizations.

This empirical study is conducted in a blended learning setting of a technology-focused private university in Bangladesh to offer a model that could help attain a comprehensive goal of blended learning. The main objectives of this study are to examine course design in a blended learning setting, strategies adopted by the course teachers to maximize students’ online interactions in a collaborative manner and how well these strategies had an impact on quality of blended teaching and learning in tertiary education. Drawing upon a quasi-experimental approach, qualitative data were collected by observing the teaching and learning activities of a course named ‘Bangladesh Studies’ over a four-month semester. Findings of this study suggest a model that would allow better student–teacher interaction in both synchronous and asynchronous modes of teaching and learning based on three sequential stages such as referring to and discussing online peer-group comments in the regular face-to-face classes in asynchronous mode (stage 1), off-campus synchronous mode of interactions to utilize students’ personal study hours (stage 2) and off-campus asynchronous mode of interactions to offer flexibility for collaborative learning (stage 3). It is argued that the model that has been offered could be useful in promoting innovative and contextual pedagogy which will essentially involve students in sharing, interacting and collaborating discussions for knowledge construction and hereby enable overall cognitive development of students in a blended learning environment.

Appraising the role of the virtual patient for therapeutics health education