Blended Learning - Science topic

Dear Dr. Zaidan!

You raised a very important question. I agree with Ms. Yao she made relevant points. I collected here below resources that I think might be of value to YOU:

1) Xu, B., Stephens, J.M. & Lee, K. Assessing Student Engagement in Collaborative Learning: Development and Validation of New Measure in China. Asia-Pacific Edu Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00737-x, Open access:

2) A case study: Zheng, L., Long, M., Niu, J. et al. An automated group learning engagement analysis and feedback approach to promoting collaborative knowledge building, group performance, and socially shared regulation in CSCL. Intern. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn 18, 101–133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-023-09386-0, Free access:

3) Lin, YL., Wang, WT. Enhancing students’ online collaborative PBL learning performance in the context of coauthoring-based technologies: A case of wiki technologies. Educ Inf Technol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11907-1, Free access: '

4) Larkins, C., & Satchwell, C. (2023). Learning How to Know Together: Using Barthes and Aristotle to Turn From ‘Training’ to ‘Collaborative Learning’ in Participatory Research with Children and Young People. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231164607, Open access: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/16094069231164607

Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely

Good day; formats can be an institutional/academe requirement. Journals also have publication formats, but usually, the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format is being followed nowadays.

As the name connotes, blended learning is the conglomeration of both online and face to face methods of learning and this justifies that students can have varied interest in the concepts posed to them.

One major challenge in Blended learning would be teaching materials preparation and two; identifying teaching tools(technology) to be used in disseminating the concepts.

Well, ChatGPT sometimes fabricates sources and references. These papers probably don't exist.

As an e-learning developer, we use the Moodle platform, which also uses Zoom as an educational resource, as it allows the storage, management, and reuse of educational content. One of the advantages offered by the e-learning training platform is the individualization of the learning process - each participating actor has his own assimilation of a rhythm and relies in the learning process on auditory memory quickly controlling their progress, benefiting from fast and permanent feedback.

Statistics show that 70-80% of educational material presented online is memorized through listening, viewing, and interactivity. Zoom is easy and efficient in the interaction between tutors and trained staff to understand the knowledge taught and received. In my opinion, the answer to using dynamic technologies like Zoom, including language learning, is real-time feedback.

Hi Andreas K. It is very interesting area of research!

I feel that rather than glasses; NLP or cognitive service used for language training would matter more than whether it is AR glass or VR Glass; can you share more insight about service used for language training?

Dear Prof. Nalyvaiko!

At the university I am affiliated with (LUT University, Finland) there is an ongoing research project titled as "Erasmus + Training Faculty on Blended Learning (FABLE)" and this initiative might be a valuable resource for you. You might want to contact the following researchers:

1) Prof. Kari Smolander: Kari.Smolander@lut.fi

2) Associate Prof. Jussi Kasurinen: Jussi.Kasurinen@lut.fi

Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely

This study that should be useful.

good luck

Technology affordance(s) can measure flexibility in a blended learning curriculum in situations whereby the audience to capability to afford the available mobile devices, laptops, desktop computers gadgets, purchase of internet data, and all other necessary facilities to be used for Blended learning purposes.

Therefore, the flexibility of the blended learning curriculum can be measured in different levels;

1- according to the 3 levels of social stratification of its audience....Low income parents, Middle class, High class

2- 2 levels of Environmental Location- Rural and Urban

Dear colleague and professor, I am glad and honoured to share with you my latest publication on Csikszentmihalyi and King Lear by Shakespeare. Best, Zied Link on RG: Article "That ebb and flow by th' moon": The Dynamics of Flow Theory... The link to the article: https://www.univ-saida.dz/lla/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2022/07/article-zied-5.pdf The link to the volume: https://www.univ-saida.dz/lla/%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%80%d9%84%d8%af-3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%af-2/

Prof. Kien Tran

Information Communication Technology (ICT) as supporting media for education (eLearning) is a relevant topic nowadays.

Best Regards.

The above article is very interesting and it strengthens my conclusions that this problem has been around with up for a long time - at least back to the early 1970''s when I first had experience observing new college students as a TA in grad school. I've taught off and on since the 1960's undergraduate and graduate level courses to both "math majors" and science and engineering majors. My observations were formed originally the early 1970's as the trend of more students taking calculus in high school were less prepared in the mathematical fundamentals and there was a gap in their preparation that showed up at the freshman college level. A teacher in calculus should not have to stop his/her lecture and go over the principle of mathematical induction or the basic analytic geometry of a conic section in freshman calculus. But alas - that was the case. In multidimensional calculus, the students should come in with a firm understanding of linear algebra. However, in my experience that was not always the case. That is the students had holes in their preparations and at some point those holes had to be filled or eventually they would hit a brick wall.

Calculus introduces new and sometimes difficult concepts and the students tend to have little intuition of the concepts of continuity and limits. But without developing a firm understanding and intuition of these and related topological concepts - it is difficult to grasp the calculus. If one does not have the background and facility of understand the fundamental tools of symbolic manipulation (a necessity to do all mathematics), understanding of basic geometry, the basic knowledge of set theory, mathematical induction and logic, it becomes a game of memorization and mechanics. Over time this lack of preparation in the fundamentals has grown more not less prevalent. This lack of preparations is reflected today in that many calculus sequences at the college level include analytic geometry. At one college I have taught specific courses over time, University of South Florida, there is now a required course known as "Bride to Abstract Mathematics." It is a course in logic, construction of proofs, set theory , relations and functions. That is the basic foundations that were once taught in high schools in the US but gave way with the push to present calculus in high school.

I expect we are seeing the same issues arise as subjects like abstract algebra and algebraic geometry become more and more important in applications like computer vision and robotics. It is difficult to apply mathematics to a field when ones understanding of the underlying mathematics has gaps.

Students’ Perceptions of Blended Learning and Achievement

Well, it depends on what means "blended" Prof. Tadiwa Elisha Nyamasvisva

If blended learning means that teachers, lecturers, and instructors go to classes with some PowerPoint slides, not so well prepared, without derivations, only screenshots, and no illustrative examples, then yes, it won't help much.

There should be a combination of both, slides & blackboard, I mean only in a classroom-based education.

If an LMS is also part of the learning general environment, then more IT elements can be included. But it will depend on both types of participants in the activity called class or lecture: instructors (mentors, lecturers, teachers) & students (digital and non digital native students).

If the case is an asyncronous MOOC (8 weeks at least), also there is some dependence on the way the MOOC is designed and the way is evaluated.

Best Regards.

Thank you so much for your explicative post, I will read the literature you refer to, Prof. Stylianos Mystakidis

For me, 3D virtual space in the virtual world Second Life is totally a new unknown tool, thank you for sharing it.

Best Regards.

I think the challenges will differ based on the socio-economic and political backgrounds. Third world countries are still struggling with acquiring basic education (numeracy and literacy). In a country like South Africa which has a mixture of both developing and developed characteristics; electricity supply, internet connectivity, and the state's ability to provide education technology are a threat to blended learning.

Yes, it make bored, but it is exacting moments

Prof. Christian Pauletto

I like this one:

Best Regards.

The big ideas behind micro-credentials by T. Blackman at The Open University & K. Jona at Northeastern University, Sep. 2021.

Two experts in flexible learning programs discuss the evolution and adoption of alternative teaching models and credentials in higher education.

How would you have a discussion about the TAM and blended learning without IT significance? Blended learning requires IT and users need to accept the IT. The IT in this sense is all the tools and software that users need to 'onboard' onto, not to mention the IT infrastructure required to support 'virtual classrooms'

I noticed that offline learning more fruitful than online.

In my country this was started since last year........there were many challenges at the primary and secondary levels.......most of all lack of devices and connectivity coupled with lack of teacher training, low parental support etc. At the university level it is much smoother and we are continuing this approach until the end of the year. No face to face......however, depending on vaccination numbers this may change soon.

Great posts Ingrid Del Valle García Carreño Tulika Mukerjee Saha Kulwinder Singh

Teachers being made responsible for more than they should

Most of the time, teachers don’t feel that the responsibility is equally shared between them, parents, and students. Unfortunately, they will have to bear a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders.

That is very true.. COVID-19 and subsequent lock-down are Increasing risk of learning loss and creating disparities in academic achievements.

Journal of Business Theory and Practice ISSN 2372-9759 (Print) ISSN 2329-2644 (Online) Vol. 8, No. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jbtp 1 Original Paper Online Preparation for the Remote Global Workforce

Prof. Sushma Sardana

I included video clips from YouTube channels and short videos from Khan Academy when I taught physics traditional teaching courses, so, yes in a way, it was already a blended learning environment before CoV & now we are more prepared for blended and flipped classrooms philosophies than before.

Best Regards.

Ótima pergunta

Very interesting topic.

Thank you for sharing the paper, Dr. Yuliya Shtaltovna

I will read it as I promised as soon as have some time available.

Best Regards.

Prof. Khalid Mohammed, my guess is that for blended learning students don't have the role of individual learners, as they do have in the flipped classroom methodology.

Traditional learning converges faster to the blended learning environment, where the teacher still can have the main role.

For a good start training, for example, take the free MOOC couses provided by Moodle, in order to understand their teaching philosophy first, Prof. Adriaan Vervoort.

They helped me a lot to get focused.

Best Regards.

Interesting. ICT and Education.

Looks like now blending learning will be the new normal in education according to some authors, Prof. Haruni Machumu

Please check the following external post and graph:

https://blog.edx.org/blended-learning-new-normal

Prof. Oleksii Nalyvaiko, in Moodle a quiz access rule, was created by Prof. T. Hunt at the Open University.

Documentation about this Moodle plugin that helps to keep academic students integrity at:

I think the best practices for delivering microteaching and practicum under COVID-19, it can practicing by online used google classroom, zoom, google class met, and some online program. it can increase the students knowledge practicing by online technology, they must study hard because it is one challenge for them.

Interesting.

https://docs.opencv.org/master/d5/dc4/tutorial_adding_images.html

https://cgjam.net/blender-tracking-single-point-track/

Hi@Joe. Professional development always has a collaborative approach. Rather I will say when we talk about professional development capacity the first thing focused is collaborative approach and team work. Blended learning will create more opportunities for collaboration.

Regards

Maybe you can find something in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education https://jvme.utpjournals.press/

Let me point to the other face of the same coin. How the poor think in online-learning if they are always thinking about how to buy the loaf of bread!

I think, I can get conclusion from your argumentation. It seems my research fit to non randomized sampling of Quasi experiment without pre-test or without post test only. Pre-test is not relevance to be taken due to this research investigate students natural practices of the 21st century skills during learning process between blended learning class and conventional learning. Thank you very much for your all contribution. Very helpful for me. I appreciate very much. Regard.

Afortunadamente, para mi no ha supuesto un gran cambio ya que estoy acostumbrado al e-learning y el estado de alarma se impuso justo después de que terminé mis clases presenciales. Con lo cual, el e-learning ha sido una gran estrategia y es lo que en mi caso ha ayudado a prevenir y a cuidarme.

This link talk about:

Biology teacher’s Flipped Classroom: ‘A simple thing, but it’s so powerful’

https://www.edcan.ca/articles/biology-teachers-flipped-classroom-a-simple-thing-but-its-so-powerful/

This link talk about: 9 Benefits Of eLearning For Students

https://elearningindustry.com/9-benefits-of-elearning-for-students

Regarding covid19 irradication the term blended learning in pedagog sesson is much useful - https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blended-learning-getting-started/0/steps/7848

It results in a great shift in the way of teaching.

Dear Samuel Njenga,

Due to the development of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus pandemic causing Covid-19 disease, the share of e-learning in teaching processes is currently increasing. For several weeks or so, the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus pandemic on ongoing teaching processes as a significant factor in the currently accelerating processes of digitization of the economy has been growing in many countries. In order to limit the development of this pandemic, classroom teaching in schools and colleges has now been suspended and replaced by e-learning in many countries. Due to the suspension of stationary didactic classes in schools and colleges, classes are conducted remotely, through various new online media through specific forms of e-learning. The growing importance and development of e-learning is also correlated with the current acceleration of the digitization processes of the economy. The processes of digitizing the economy are determined by processes "from the top", i.e. inspired by public institutions, including computerization, internetization of public offices and "from the bottom" determinants, e.g. the increase in the importance of e-commerce, the increase in the share of transactions and payments made electronically via the Internet , developing online banking and shifting a significant part of operations in many companies to remote service via the Internet. On the other hand, teachers are currently looking for answers to the following research questions: Is currently one of the key problems in the development of education is to suspend stationary didactic classes in schools and colleges and replace these classes with e-learning? Are the didactic processes carried out in a limited or full scope due to the development of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic causing Covid-19 disease? How long can such a situation last that all education is implemented remotely through various new internet media? How will the current state of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus pandemic affect learning outcomes? There are many questions that will be answered in the future. Certainly, the current SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus pandemic will significantly accelerate the digitization of the economy, including teaching classes remotely via the Internet. In the field of remote teaching and necessary system changes, improvement of IT and internet infrastructure in schools and in the homes of users, students, etc. there are many interesting issues that can and are currently being studied. It is likely that SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus will return in the autumn of this year and in the following years. Therefore, the processes of digitizing education will continue in the following months and years. However, we do not currently know what e-learning formulas will be consolidated in the coming years and to what extent, what part of the education processes will be implemented through e-learning in the following years. We do not know this because we do not know to what extent SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus will return when the vaccine is created, to what extent in other sectors of the economy the level of digitization of economic and other processes will increase, etc.

Greetings,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Check out Voice Thread - millennial students find this program much easier to use than I did

initially. Voice Thread “lets you connect with students online asynchronously, making it easy for them to stay involved in coursework without being physically present at a certain time or place, and without sacrificing that human element of face-to-face interaction.”

Dear Ardi,

I recommend this paper https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/4994/499450717010.pdf

Great suggestion Ari Tuhkala and thank you for the link to the publications page! I will definitely have a look for studies here.

Thank Amal for your answer. I will try wiziq.

The face-to-face ”model” is included and possible within so-called blended learning ”model”. and both are more about teaching than learning, aren’t they? And the term ”face-to-face” is new and just there to emphasize some kind of classroom gold standard for teaching and learning - when threatening alternatives began to emerge (as distance-, e-, and online learning models). But ”blended” is a negotiated compromise between old and new. Before electrical guitars emerged, there were no ”acoustic” guitars - same phenomenon. But why not just appreciate the music?

Interesting that you mention blended learning as ”the new normal”. I think I and coauthors were kind of first with this using this term about blended learning, 2011 ( se attached paper; now over 220 citations on Google Scholar). We developed this in a paper last year, and looked forward. Also attached.

As both a postgraduate co-ordinator for distance taught qualifications, and a distance postgraduate student, I can understand the benefit in seeing that all students are posting something in forums and are displaying the fact that they are active participants in the course. From a student perspective, however, there isn't always something meaningful to contribute (especially if you haven't been one of the first 4-5 students to comment) and it just becomes a compliance exercise, rather than a task in which we are articultaing what we have learned.

I do think that portfolios and monitoring what materials students are accessing (and how frequently) may be a better indication of thier engagement in a course.

"Blended learning is a new form of training and learning programs that appropriately combines classroom and electronic learning with the requirements of the educational situation, with the aim of improving the achievement of educational goals at the lowest possible cost."

The lack of sufficient experience of some students or trainees in dealing with computers and networks , as well as the lack of parity of the devices available to learners or trainees in their homes or in any places of training they study, and the difference in terms of capacity, speed and equipment and the validity of the content of the curriculum, and the shortage of qualified cadres of this type of learning and the lack of scientific models studied to integrate learning traditional e-learning are a major problems that hinder this learning.

Both are cases of ICT integration in earlier structures of teaching culture. Flipped classroom in its most primitive version is characterised by inverting places for synchronous and asynchronous activities in the course flow. Lecture watching whenever it suits the individual at home(asynchronous activity); active problemsolving, reflection and application in synchronous and often teacher-assisted co-located settings at school / campus. This is being made possible by recorded lectures mainly - which are saved, provided, transported in new ways, more flexible to learn from. But the same concept could have used a good book instead, another ICT. Read the book chapter at home, discuss it at school. Why was not that enough?

Flipped classroom can be sorted under ”blending” concepts; using new ICTs to change the teaching learning flow by (often new) ICTs providing less informational friction than before. Then in a while we find it all natural.

Blended learning can easiest be seen as all ntegration of ICTs, old and new, into the existing teaching-learning process, synchronous and asynchronous ICTs and how they can be combined and shift In the drama that is a course or other social learning expedition.

If interested in these time-related process perspectives, please find some text links below

Good question Julia, but I think the answer is not a very simple one. The main issue when seeking to define blended learning is realising that this term is intentionally broad in scope, and thus not easily amenable to single definitions that are able to describe what it is and how it operates in a generalised manner.

Instead, a better way to approach a definition for blended learning might be to tease-out what the intentions and purposes of blended learning are in the first instance, and then work from these toward a definition that is specifically contextualised to the intentions and purposes of a particular situation or school setting. Thus, seeking multiple definitions for blended learning that are more specific and contextualised is probably the better way to approach the "definition" issue, because this allows us to position blended learning in more specific ways than a single, more formalised definition would allow. I am, personally, a big fan of contextualising blended learning in order to increase its relevance and impact at the level of an individual, local school.

I have attached a recent overview of blended learning that I helped to write, and which was written precisely to show how broad and diverse blended learning is in terms of its different understandings, models, theories and applications. You may find this helpful in your search for a clearer definitions, and I hope this is the case.

I certainly wish you all the best with this important quest. This is how we all learn and grow, eh!

Hi Tony Yeigh , good question.

As pointed out by Chris Oliver , blended learning has many understandings and definitions, and I think the term will soon cease to be used, as it loses its meaning when both students and teachers uses these tools anyway, independent of the bein a part of a designed teaching solution or not. If we just broaden the definition of ICTs, Information and Communication Technologies in a reasonable way to include also text and books, and many ICTs in between, teaching and learning has been clearly blended at least since late medieval times.much longer if we take writing as an ICT, which there are goid resons for, and without writing we would hardly ever have come up with the idea of organised education in Sumer arnd 2500BC. The revolutionary tech of writing was the thing to teach and learn.

It makes little meaning to say that learning from a screen is e-learning or a part of blended learning, while a printed out text is some kind of old and natural learning, not e-.

What ICTs do for teaching and learning today is no big magic, it mainly decreases friction of information and makes it cheaper, faster and more accessible.. But we are entering a new phase, ICTs that processes information (which is really the thing with digital ICTs), we get learning analytics, adaptive learning and calibrated peer review, that kind of ICTs which will mean real change of teaching organisation

i have attached a couple of my texts (and co-authored texts, illustrating these perspectives If interested.

Hi,

You may find these couple of publications pertinent to inform your interest. I have added the URLs to the full texts:

a) a 2017 study on the LA in a blended med edu course(Moodle-based)

b) 2017 sys. review by Rodriguez Triana et al. Monitoring, awareness and reflection in blended technology enhanced learning: a systematic review. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning

You can access the PDF from here

Best,

In our approach, we look at both the teacher behaviors and the student behaviors in a blended learning classroom. In terms of the teacher behaviors, we look at how the instruction is planned and how the teacher uses formative assessment and student feedback to regroup students to meet their specific learning needs in the given classroom. We also observe "live teaching" either by video recording of teaching or by viewing while it is occurring, to assess the effectiveness of delivery and the engagement of the students. In terms of the student behaviors we are evaluating the whether students are academically engaged and at what level of engagement we see their participation. Are students actively participating and helping to extend the thinking and understanding of classmates, are they able to ask questions, are they able to check their own understanding and get the sort of assistance they need to further their understanding, and do they have choice that allows them to work in a configuration that sparks their curiosity and creativity to explore topics more deeply and to progress at a speed that keeps them interested. The tool allows the observer to provide the teacher with immediate feedback for what is working, what can be refined, and an exercise for reflection on their practice. The other observational data are cataloged and used as a meta look at the practices of the teachers as a whole to identify professional development for the whole group, a small group, or even individuals.

I integrated used blended learning in teaching in higher education institutions, and I found that it helps students keep in touch with their teacher outside the classroom and allows students to share information and knowledge with each other. In addition, virtual classes enable shy students to participate and ask without hesitation, and recorded lectures fit individual differences. The key lessons to recommend for teachers are to prepare well for blended learning and choose eye-catching and interesting visual aids, that fit students' needs and allow for integration and participation for all students. Moreover, the teacher should keep his eyes all the time on what the students are doing to keep things under control. Be encouraging, and motivate students to form groups and do assignments together to develop their performance.

Thank you Haruni Machumu for your question. I think your question covers an important area, and it is my pleasure to share some light onto this area. The short answer to your question is achieving cognition or behavioral changes by using blended learning will depend on the objectives of the course and the design of the activities included in blended learning. You might aim at achieving both elements, and distributing these aims along with the tasks and social media you plan to use.

Blended learning is commonly used in middle- and low-income countries and aims at using a variety of media (including face-to-face learning, online, internet, radio, social media etc.), and learning environment (including teamwork, self-regulated learning, peer-to-peer learning) to achieve knowledge, cognition skills and possibly social and communication changes. Other behavioral changes have been also studied (not commonly examined but you need to search the literature).

A good example of cognition in using blended learning, is use of simulation or computer-aided learning programs designed with tasks that stimulate learner’s cognition such as identification of problems, generation of hypotheses, collection of information or generating an enquiry plan, weighing the evidence for and against a hypothesis, making decision on basis of available evidence etc. The research in this area might look at approaches used by learners, and time spend on each task and other detailed technical aspects that need to be researched by you.

The behavioral change by using blended learning may target communication skills across learners and between the learner and the instructor. There are different types of research design covering this area and approaches for measuring changes that you might need to explore.

Look at Thukral et al 2012; Dodani et al, 2012; Duhaney 2009; Aggarwal et al 2011; Valk et al, 2010. I advise you to search PubMed for more studies in these areas. I hope my answer provide a meaningful response to your query.

Profundizo de como la neurociencia cognitiva interviene en el aprendizaje basado en simulación y en forma general en el aprendizaje

Here are some Pro:s and Con:s, (and I also associate parts to own research)

PRO:s:

- It can use the power of ICTs, or more specifically AIs to automatize the university administration, and focus on the personal qualities in human communication. Instead of the idea to industrialize teaching with recorded lectures...

- It can leave all the ageing and misleading "distance-", "e-", "online-" ...learning terms behind, and just concentrate on teaching and learning communication again, in being "agnostic" to geography, choice of technology etc (if interested, see my critical data collection "Learning alphabet" below)

- It seems fully compatible with uses of learning analytics, adaptive learning and similar recent ICTs to help the teacher to understand how to help, understand and correct the student. (See my and coauthors recent paper below: "Blended learning; the new normal...)

- It realizes that lectures is not the prime things that scholars can do. Personal mentoring, feedback on student work and critical discussions are more central.

- It fits well with a time-based blended learning concept, such as the one I and co-authors have been trying to formulate (see below: A time based blended learning model).

- It can be criticised for connection to old exclusive classic education when a few gentlemen students just met at scholars quarters for discussions. Good I am sure - but scaleable to the masses?

- How is quality control handled in these one-to-one situations?

- Does this concept really need any blockchain tech, other than for keeping exam records secure?

CONs:

- Long way to implementation and recognition of such a concept. It is disruptive and this will create problems with present structures for a long time.

- The concept would gain from unbundling education even more: To separate examination from the teaching. But this means administration?

-I can see it working for a) mainly text-/content-based courses, b) for mature students that really want to learn and not just spend som social years on campus and get a degree on the way, c) for experienced scholars/teachers with good communication qualities, interested in student learning. But, when this is said - we have a lot in present higher ed that does not fit in in this cross-section.

- How are ed programmes constructed, courses established, exams defined? This makes some administration come back again, but could perhaps be dealt with? Not obvious how, though? Globally established standard courses, or just personally constructed?

- Is the power of social learning just dropped? Or is it reconstructed? It must be. also in adaptive learning, so this is a general question in future of education. (I have an old idea about this - see below and join me in speculation? ""Edu-Sync...")

Hi gentlemen your input and opinions are very much appreciated.

Thanks alot

Haruni

hopefully this source is useful

We have developed different training systems and each one of them is able to record the progress of the students, this might help to track skills development

best regards

Miguel Pérez R

Hi Mustapha,

I have a few suggestions that might be helpful. First, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework works well in blended and/or online learning. Second, if you're interested in creating theory from the data (due to its rich diversity), then, perhaps, classic Grounded theory (CGT) might be of interest. I've attached an article explaining the CGT data analysis process in detail. I would suggest that you look at Glaser's Grounded Theory Review journal for in-depth discussion. Lastly, Engagement theory might be a means to make sense of student motivation in online group discussions.

All the best,

-Chris

Dear Barbara:

As once an international student, I know that sometimes the online facilitators are not always attuned to the cultural norms of international students, especially their communication customs. As such, sometimes we may experience cultural insensitivity on this platform. For example, you may be told that there is no "z" in the word "organization" because local students use American English with an "s". These articles give more insight into the challenges that international students face in the classroom that can be helpful for you:

Best regards,

Debra

Your main question first:

Technology is not the driver of student engagement nor disengagement. Good or Bad learning design and delivery is.

When someone says "We need a course on this" they then have to think and answer the Who, Why, When, Where, What, What for and How of Learning. Technology based learning is a tool. Face to Face based learning is a tool. You select the appropriate tool for the job based on your response to those seven questions. The up-front time and cost of developing quality learning experiences can be surprising & daunting so it's no wonder people take short cuts.

That's why this of third space of the Learning Design/Development/Design professional (with subject matter experts, project managers etc) continues to grow and evolve. Professionalism (1) reduces the risk of poor learning experiences (2) more likely to balance the real world constraints of cost / time / resource / quality.

So when you have shovelware learning, or poor tool selection, or content misaligned with assessment, or student learning needs unmet, or abstract content then you will have bad learning experiences. These problems are not exclusive to technology based learning - it happens in Face-To-Face.

Student disengagement is perennial issue regardless of the medium. Technology has the characteristic to magnifying and multiplying effects. So technology is scaling and multiplying the reach and volume of learning that traditional education approaches can't achieve. So bad learning design / development / delivery (and therefore student disengagement) would be magnified and multiplied too.

My conjecture about your questions is this: the key difference may be with technology there is unlikely to be a 'human' last line of defence against poor learning design/development/experience and to 'save the day' from bad learning experiences.

From this last statement, it may seem Face-To-Face learning is more powerful than technology mediated learning - but remember context is all important. That multivariate learning equation has to be answered. The outcomes for the student is but one consideration: there are outcomes for the business, project sponsors, the project manager, the learning professionals, subject matter experts, the media team too that have to be considered when answering that question.

To the other questions:

Blended Learning is simply a useful transitional term (my opinion) that is useful to explain a concept to those unfamiliar or uncomfortable with online learning. It's a similar to how eCommerce was useful once but now it's just the way you do business. I look forward to the day when instead of eLearning, Blended Learning, Online Learning goes the same way as CBT and it just becomes "Learning" again.

This was the thrust behind the "Technology is just a tool just as much as a lecture is a tool" statement. Blended learning in the Higher Ed space space refers to having mixed delivery modes of which online learning (usually LMS) to achieve a set of course / subject Intended Learning Outcomes.

As a small quick example: the "inverted-classroom" is a classic example. A content heavy subjects use online materials and activities as a pre-lecture deep-dive into a topic. The lecture that follows then maps and highlights the inter-connectedness of key learning ideas.

I acknowledge the broader sense of 'Technology' can incorporate technology beyond the web and this should not be forgotten. However I find that the online dominates the discussion for it's for cost, equity and ubiquitous reasons.

I hope that helps.

/rant

Hello,

Spiritual intelligence is an important part of multiple intelligences which refers to multiple ways of knowing how to integrate the inner

life of mind with the outer life. This forms what is known as spiritual experiences . Through conscious effort and practice, spiritual intelligence can be cultivated helping individuals reach spiritual maturity signaled by

wisdom and compassionate action throughout one's life. Notably, blended learning-that is , integration of online and face--to-face pedagogical approaches to enhance student learning experiences for promoting their engagement, motivation and retention presupposes a spiritual readiness. The main reason is that student’s promptitude for action depends on their initiative, enthusiasm and creativity in learning all of which are related to spiritual intelligence.

Best regards,

R. Biria

The topic needs to be clarified more

I just wanted to add a few points on top of Debra's useful suggestions. I believe blended learning ideas and approaches are well researched and can be used in such contexts. For example, you may refer "Community of Inquiry(CoI)" model to further inform or frame your design with researched models. As Anders already pointed out, the main issue that would be helpful for such a case is ensuring interaction between two groups to construct learning. Of course, this is the challenging issue as well. I would say maximizing the 'social presence' in the learning process is important. Hence, designing and incorporating asynchronous projects/activities(individual, paired, group) together with online discussions from every angle promote interaction and ensure effective learning.