Blended Learning From Design to Evaluation: International Case Studies of Evidence-Based Practice

Authors

  • Prof. Norman D. Vaughan Mount Royal University
  • Aline Reali Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • Stefan Stenbom KTH Royal Institute of Technology
  • Marieta Jansen Van Vuuren North-West University
  • David MacDonald University of Ottawa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v21i3.1252

Keywords:

blended learning, institutional vision, pedagogical framework, reflective practice

Abstract

This study compares and contrasts four international faculty development programs for blended learning in order to understand the benefits, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations from such initiatives. The benefits identified for faculty members, who participated in these programs, were that they became more reflective of their teaching practice and began to make a role adjustment from being a content provider to a designer and facilitator of learning for students. The biggest challenge appeared to be a lack of common institutional definition and understanding of blended learning as well as a lack of time and resources to support faculty in the redesign of their courses. With regards to lessons learned, each program emphasized the need for all institutional stakeholders to be involved in supporting the initiative and that blended learning does not simply imply adding digital technologies to an existing face-to-face course. The key recommendation from this study is that a faculty development program for blended learning needs to be clearly aligned with the institution’s vision and mission.

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Published

2017-09-01

Issue

Section

Invited Papers / 2017 OLC Conference Special Issue