Blended Learning For Adult Students

Adult Learning

Blended, or hybrid, courses have often been touted as the ideal way to facilitate learning as they allow learners to interact in both face-to-face and online settings, thereby experiencing the “best of both worlds.” In practice, that ideal learning setting is more difficult to achieve. While blended courses have the potential to integrate the most beneficial aspects of each modality, such course design requires diligence to successfully navigate a balance and ensure the optimal delivery mode is considered for each learning scenario. In this article, the authors share the most current research on blended learning for adults, including benefits and drawbacks, various blended models, the results of an empirical study comparing two blended designs, and conclude with a practitioner tool to guide decision-making and achieve the appropriate balance of online and face-to-face and ultimately realize the best of both worlds for adult learners.

This paper is an early attempt at examining the method of blended learning as a universal and its impact on adult learners. Adult Learning needs a different approach, method and implementation technique when compared to child education. Adults in their classes are generally more critical, active in decision making and reason “how” they learn, why they learn and what they will do with they are learning. These are typically recognized in the principles of the androgogy model developed by Knowles, which stresses need-to-know, immediacy of application, sharing of life experiences as a source of knowledge, independence and self-direction, and ownership of their learning as hallmarks of adult learners (Knowles, 1980, 1984; Knowles et al, 1998). Other adult education theorists have also stressed autonomy, self-direction, and affinity for real-life learning as key characteristics of adult learners (Tough 1977; Brookfield, 1986; Fellenz & Conti, 1989; Merriam & Caffarella, 1999) The concept of blended learning is one in which is the co-existence of classroom lectures and online teaching or methods in a course. This mixed-mode instructional model, generally termed hybrid, blended or sandwich learning, has been recognized as an effective alternative that can combine the best features of each model, help foster rapport among participants, and decrease 'psychological' distances and isolation (Wolcott, 1996; Horton, 2000; Horton & Horton, 2003; Syllabus Magazine, 2003) This paper is a beginning to examining the classroom dynamics, provisions from blended learning and limitations. It also analyzes the "Communities of Inquiry" and scans blended learning using the DDLM model.

The Educational Review, USA, 2019

With advancement in technology, online education has gained popularity in higher education. Many universities are also looking to implement blended courses as a flexible option to learning. With the rise in the next generation learners, implementation of appropriate pedagogies and technologies that suite these learners is highly recommended. This review investigates various trends and innovative ideas for online and blended learning presented in higher education that can be considered as next generation pedagogies. A systematic review was undertaken to explore the trends and the data were evaluated in a descriptive manner. Collectively, the included studies (n=10) revealed innovative ideas for designing courses, implementing curriculum and pedagogies. Strategies that allow flexibility in curriculum, instruction; promote research skills; and provide real-world experience are considered as next generation pedagogies.

2019

Online and blended instruction offers learners a unique opportunity to learn ubiquitously without being limited to the constraints of time and distance. Additionally, these pedagogies have the potential to open the doors of the university to a wider audience, provide choices for non-traditional students, and extend services to populations that would otherwise not be able to attend the classes on campus. However, complementing traditional teaching with blended learning techniques in a traditional university course presents various challenges. This chapter identify gaps in the factors affecting blended learning in the digital age. Based on the findings, the authors argue that instructors can rely on e-learning technologies to implement blended learning model by redesigning some lectures into new online learning activities, such as tutorials, self-testing exercises, and online group collaborations.

2016

Blended learning is an innovative approach in creating motivating and meaningful learning experiences to fulfil learner's technological demands in the rapidly changing electronic era. Recognizing the emerging implementation of this learning method, this study explores the definitions, the rationale, past studies, the importance as well as the drawbacks, the issues arising and the suggestions in achieving a successful blended education implementation in higher education settings. From this study, we found that blended environment encourages the foundation of creating independent learners with reasonable critical thinking skills that are valuable for the current working environments. Blended learning is also a solution for classroom insufficiencies as well as teaching and learning flexibility. Nevertheless, not all the courses in higher education settings could apply the blended learning. Therefore, options should be given to the learners by the institution's administrator to ...

Through the beginning of the millennium, the education environments have witnessed the introduction of information technologies and new pedagogies. Especially, the extensive use of Internet technologies as well as the networked learning made it possible to design and utilize new generation learning environments that are realistic, authentic, and engaging. By means of educational developments, alternative content delivery techniques or technologies have been implemented into the teaching environments throughout the years. In an effort to capitalize on the advantages of instructional delivery modalities and minimize the disadvantages, scholars started to combine the most functional elements of the instruction in these learning environments and that is universally called as ‘Blended Learning’. Although the blended learning as an instruction model has an increasing interest in the field of higher education, it is still in its infancy. The definitions of blended learning in the literature needs to be clarified or collocated for the readers, who would like to deal with blended learning in any level of instruction. Therefore, this chapter reviews the recent literature on blended and online learning and juxtaposes the definitions of the blended learning as well as the types of blended learning instruction that took place in the higher education environments.

Today’s world is completely engaged in a new type of revolution: the digital one. Higher education is one important field which can benefit from the advent of digital technologies. Blended learning has emerged as a groundbreaking concept, which combines the student’s traditional learning experience with the support offered by the computer, the teacher guiding him all the way. The mission of Adapt2jobs, a project developed with the help of the European Union’s structural funds, is to create a learning platform, where seven traditional courses from three distinct fields of study, developed by experienced academics according to the labour-market requirements, have been transferred to the digital medium by ICT (Information and Communication Technology) specialists. The project is intended to implement a piloting programme, which involves 210 students enrolled at the seven courses, and, eventually, to measure learning effectiveness by means of the tools developed as part of the learning platform. A research methodology has been designed in order to assess the overall learning experience of the students involved in the project, and, thus, to provide valuable insights to teachers, who are given the opportunity to enrich their teaching methods and teaching philosophy, and to make them able to adapt to new ICT technologies in education. The feedback from students is collected with the help of two online evaluative surveys: a general one applied prior to Adapt2jobs learning experience, and a specific one, tailored for each course, applied at the end of the piloting stage. This allows us to make a comparative analysis between the students’ expectations and their previous learning experience, which is mainly traditional, and the new type of learning experienced during the piloting months. Data collection is made via LimeSurvey, a digital open source which will assist us in interpreting students’ responses. The survey variables have been selected to describe the students’ past experience in using computer and online learning materials, to explore their perception of learning effectiveness on a personal level, and, on a more general level, to compare traditional learning with blended learning. The paper’s aim is to analyse the preliminary results available for the two surveys and, thus, to evaluate the implementation scheme proposed by the project and, therefore, the effectiveness of technology-mediated instruction.

Handbook of Distance Education (Ed. Michael G. Moore) 3rd Edition, 2013

This chapter introduces the concept of blended learning as the combining of online and face-toface instruction. Background and analysis related to variations in institutional definitions of blended learning as well as rationales for adopting blended learning are presented. Prominent models of blended learning in higher education, k-12, and corporate training contexts are highlighted. A synthesis of current research related to blended learning is organized around the themes of theory, learning effectiveness, learner satisfaction, faculty satisfaction, access and flexibility, and cost effectiveness. The chapter ends with recommendations for future research related to blended learning environments. A draft of a chapter to appear in the Handbook of Distance Education: Graham, C. R. (2013). Emerging practice and research in blended learning. In M. G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of distance education (3rd ed., pp. 333-350). New York, NY: Routledge. 3 A draft of a chapter to appear in the Handbook of Distance Education: Graham, C. R. (2013). Emerging practice and research in blended learning. In M. G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of distance education (3rd ed., pp. 333-350). New York, NY: Routledge.

Frontiers in Education

Blended learning is gaining popularity because it has shown to be a successful method for accommodating an increasingly varied student body while enhancing the learning environment by incorporating online teaching materials. Higher education research on blended learning contributes to the blended learning literature. The ideas for future researchers are a vital component of research-based research articles. This study aims to consolidate the recommendations made for future studies. Research articles published in Scope-indexed journals over the past 5 years were analyzed in this context. Each cited passage from the research was read and coded independently in this analysis. After a period of time, the codes were merged into categories and themes. In the results section, direct citations were used to support the codes. The number of publications increased starting in 2017 and continuing through 2020. In the year 2020, most articles were published. Approximately half of the publication...