The present and future state of blended learning in workplace learning settings in the United States

This article reports a survey about blended learning in workplace learning settings. The survey found that blended learning gained popularity in many organizations but also that several barriers exist in implementing it. This survey also includes predictions on instructional strategies, emerging technologies, and evaluation techniques for blended learning.     

The effect of the learning environment on competences and training for the workplace according to graduates

In this article, we have analysed whether graduates from activating learning environments assess themselves as having more generic and reflective competences than graduates who studied in conventional learning environments. We have also investigated whether graduates from different learning environments look back differently on their training for the workplace. Contrary to earlier research we have used data from a large-scale survey among higher education graduates, the ‘Higher education and Graduate Employment in Europe’ project (CHEERS). The CHEERS-data distinguishes different kind of learning environments and 36 different kind of competencies among more than 1,200 graduates from 12 universities in the Netherlands. Results show that graduates from activating learning environments attribute more generic and reflective competences to themselves than graduates from conventional learning environments. In addition, results indicate that the quality of contents of majors and of curriculum design are significantly related to the presence of generic and reflective competences according to the perception of graduates. Finally, results demonstrate that the competences learning ability, analytic competences, working independently and working in a team positively contribute to the development of competences in the later careers of graduates.     

Synthesizing research evidence on self-regulated learning and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments: A scoping review

The present study synthesizes research evidence on self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments from intervention and cross-sectional studies. We examined 163 studies conducted in various countries and different learning contexts in terms of study characteristics, methodology, and SRL features. The current study found that SRL in the online and blended learning contexts has been an important topic and has received increased attention. The results revealed the importance of SRL for improving students' academic performance in the STEM field. It also demonstrated that the majority of the studies adopted multiple SRL strategies throughout mixed phases. This study confirmed the effectiveness of SRL on academic achievement in online or blended learning. However, the present study also identified that research on children's and adolescents' SRL strategies in online learning contexts is urgently needed and most of the available research did not focus on the preparatory and planning phases of SRL which are extremely important.     

Teaching for blended learning––Research perspectives from on-campus and distance students

The concept of blended learning has begun to change the nature of all teaching and learning in higher education. Information and communication technologies have impacted by providing a means of access to digital resources and interactive communication for all courses and the blending of pedagogy and technology has produced a range of approaches to teaching and learning. This paper discusses the research literature and the writers’ research, defining what they have concluded are teaching practices that use the concept of blended learning effectively. In investigating how ICT can add variation for student learning, they analyze this from two dominant modes of pedagogy, learning environment and pedagogy through both on-campus and distance education. In both modes, students acknowledged the power and effectiveness of blended learning.     

Blended university teaching using virtual learning environments: conceptions and approaches

This paper reports findings from a phenomenographic investigation into blended university teaching using virtual learning environments (VLEs). Interviews with 25 Computer Science teachers in Greek universities illuminated a spectrum of teachers’ conceptions and approaches from ‘teacher-focused and content-oriented’, through ‘student-focused and content-oriented’, to ‘student-focused and process-oriented’. Using VLEs was described as a means of supporting: A—information transfer; B—application and clarification of concepts; C—exchange and development of ideas, and resource exploration and sharing; D—collaborative knowledge-creation, and development of process awareness and skills. The study suggests that pedagogical beliefs and circumstances underpinning face-to-face teaching are more influential in shaping approaches to blended VLE use than VLE system features. The authors propose that the findings could be used to inform educational enhancement initiatives and that there is a need for further discipline-focused research on blended teaching.     

Exploring the uses of mobile phones to support informal learning

This paper explores how a group of undergraduate students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) use their mobile phones to perform informal learning activities related to the content of their courses outside the classroom. The paper also addresses the usefulness of informal learning activities to support students’ learning. The study adopts an exploratory case study design and uses multiple methods of data collection including questionnaires, interviews and diary entries. Main findings suggest that students performed informal learning activities mostly from home, interacting mainly with classmates. It also shows that students were in control of their informal learning activities without teachers’ input. However, it was found that students used only a limited number of applications but these were considered useful to their learning. The paper contributes to a discussion of the implications of training and instructor support to help students to take more advantage of mobile phone applications to support informal learning. Recommendations for further research are discussed.     

Professional learning between past experience and future work

This paper deals with the professionalization of human service work. It analyses learning processes and identity development in the emerging profession of child care with concrete examples from empirical research, based on a life history approach. It discusses examples of careers mainly based on students’ life experience, pointing out that their immediate success in the workplace may inhibit an even better qualification they had been spurred to critical reflection. It further follows a sample of students through their theoretical education and trainee periods, illuminating their changing identification with and understanding of their future work, and their learning of professional knowledge and competences. The conclusion is that the new 3.5 year education in child care pedagogy clearly improves the professional competences of child care, but it also identifies a set of further specific challenges to be met for the development of real professional competences.     

Friends, classmates, and self-regulated learning: discussions with peers inside and outside the classroom

The current study sought to understand the relationship between peer discussions and self-regulated learning. Eighty-eight first year high school students answered questions from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and reported the perceived frequency of discussions with peers both inside and outside of the classroom regarding self-regulated learning. Results suggest that differences exist between the frequency of self-regulation discussions with peers from inside and outside of the classroom, especially for discussions concerning motivation. Discussions with peers outside of class were related more closely to students’ reported self-regulated learning than discussion with peers inside of class. In addition, peer groups with higher average levels of self-regulated learning discussions had individual members with high reported self-regulated learning. The study’s results also highlight the need for further research on the mechanisms by which peer discussions may relate to students’ self-regulated learning.     

Imagining, seeking, inventing: the future of learning and the emerging discovery networks

Extrapolating from current developments in the study of learning and imagining how learning might be shaped moving forward, this article considers 12 trends concerning the future of learning. Learning will become more diverse, more contextual, less discipline-bound, and less institutionally-bound. It will span professional and institutional sectors, and move beyond national borders. It will move increasingly online and extend beyond humans to encompass machines and machine/human blends. It will become more interactive, more distributed, and more biologically connected. Drawing on an understanding of these trends, new roles for teachers and for educational institutions are developed. The result is that learning is likely to occur through multiple discovery networks that blend research and teaching to address real world problems in environments supported by robust software infrastructures. Multiple nested discovery networks will operate on a global scale and be negotiated by individual learners sometimes guided by teachers. Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future—Niels Bohr The future is already here - it’s just unevenly distributed—William Gibson The best way to predict the future is to invent it—Alan Kay     

Characteristics of Workplace Learning Among Finnish Vocational Students

In Finnish VET, students’ work experience is explicitly defined as workplace learning, instead of the practice of already learnt skills. Therefore, vocational students’ learning periods in the workplace are goal-oriented, guided and assessed. This paper examines the characteristics of students’ workplace learning and compares them with the characteristics of employees’ workplace learning. The data were collected with an Internet questionnaire from final-year vocational students (N = 3106). In total, 1603 students (52 %) answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using quantitative methods. The results indicate that features typical of employees’ workplace learning can also be found in student learning as well. However, VET-related workplace learning has a number of characteristics that have not been brought to light in research on employees’ workplace learning thus far. We suggest that in developing educational practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of workplace learning such as the use of collaboration and shared practices; conversely for workplace practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of educational practices. For example, by utilising the structures of students’ workplace learning system presented in this study, learning at work could be transformed towards more goal-directed, guided and assessed activity.     

Perspectives into learning at the workplace

The article presents a thematic review of the recent research on workplace learning. It is divided into two main sections. The first section asks what we know about learning at work, and states four propositions: (1) the nature of workplace learning is both different from and similar to school learning; (2) learning in the workplace can be described at different levels, ranging from the individual to the network and region; (3) workplace learning is both informal and formal; and (4) workplaces differ a lot in how they support learning. The second section focuses on workplace learning that is related to formal education. Different models of organising work experience for students and the challenges of creating partnerships between education and working life are described. It is concluded that the worlds of education and work are moving closer each other and that the integration of formal and informal learning is an essential prerequisite for developing the kinds of expertise needed in response to the changes taking place in working life.     

Internationalising a learning environment instrument for evaluating transnational online university courses

This article describes the adaptation and validation of the Constructivist OnLine Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) for use in the transnational higher education context. As higher education becomes a more global phenomenon, ‘borderless’ education, either online or by distance education, is becoming a reality and there is a need for remote evaluation of course delivery and student learning. Curtin University of Technology is managing supported online delivery of Business Studies Degree and Diploma courses to four partner institutions of the African Virtual University, an initiative based in Nairobi, Kenya. Evaluation of students’ learning has included an online survey about the provision of resources and the quality of the learning environment in the various computer-based classrooms. Embedded in this instrument has been the adapted COLLES, providing a concomitant opportunity to test the properties and usefulness of the learning environment instrument. Problematic issues surrounding adaptation of the instrument have included the consequences of modifying the wording and establishing or confirming the meaning of the latent constructs in partially online courses and for transnational students. The process of establishing the validity and reliability of the scales is discussed.     

Gardening as a learning environment: A study of children’s perceptions and understanding of school gardens as part of an international project

This article considers the impact of the early stages of an international project, Gardens for Life (GfL), on children’s perceptions of school gardening and on their learning. The project involved 67 schools in England, Kenya and India and focused on the growing of crops, recognising the importance of both the process and product of this activity in the different countries. The theoretical framework was derived from consideration of informal learning, and more specifically experiential learning, drawing on prior research undertaken in the context of school gardening. The research approach is characterised by the use of concept maps to uncover the characteristically different ways in which children discerned school gardening and to help to provide insight into their understanding of this activity. It was supported by contextual observation, interviews and children’s drawings to aid the interpretation and understanding. The study showed a positive impact on learning and on the perceptions of children towards school gardening in all three countries. It also highlighted the different perceptions, interpretations and understanding of school gardening in the different cultures and environments, as well as the various aspects of it which the children themselves highlighted.     

“Do I need research skills in working life?”: University students’ motivation and difficulties in quantitative methods courses

This study explored university students’ views of whether they will need research skills in their future work in relation to their approaches to learning, situational orientations on a learning situation of quantitative methods, and difficulties experienced in quantitative research courses. Education and psychology students in both Finland (N = 46) and the USA (N = 122), who thought that they would need research skills in their future work, differed significantly from the students who were not sure whether they would need these skills. The students, who considered research skills important for their future work, were more task-oriented, used a deeper approach to learning and experienced fewer difficulties in the learning of research skills than other students. This finding implies that experiences in learning, learning approaches and situational orientations are related to expectations about future work. For instruction, this means that if we were somehow able to change students’ experiences and orientations towards research into a more positive direction, students might be better prepared for their future work.     

Online and blended learning approach on instructional multimedia development courses in teacher education

In this study, an e-learning environment was designed for teacher candidates. Teacher candidates developed multimedia-based projects by means of multimedia tools. This research aims to determine the effects of online and blended learning approaches on the success level of multimedia projects and the teacher candidates' attitudes, opinions and perceptions on e-learning. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. There were two different groups in the study: online and blended groups. The online and the blended groups consisted of 30 and 32 teacher candidates, respectively. Teacher candidates in the blended group developed multimedia-based projects and shared information communicating in a WiziQ and Facebook environment with their peers and instructors when they were not at school. On the other hand, the teacher candidates in the online group communicated with their instructors and peers only in a WiziQ and Facebook environment. The results showed that the blended learning approach was more effective than the online learning approach. The usability of online learning and blended learning in higher education is addressed in recommendations for future research and practice.     

Strengths-based blended personalized learning: An impact study using virtual comparison group

Abstract

This study describes a strengths-based blended personalized learning model, the implementation of the model over a 4-year period, and the results of an impact study focused on measuring its effectiveness. The model includes many commonly-used features of personalized learning, including (a) competency-based progressions, (b) flexible learning environments, (c) personal learning paths, (d) frequently updated student profiles, and (e) frequent informal and formal measurement. However, it differs from other personalized learning models by including a focus on strengths-based learning. Strengths-based learning identifies and builds upon students’ strengths, supporting their ability to make informed decisions when setting goals and choosing and implementing learning experiences. The longitudinal study took place in a diverse mid-size pre-K to Grade 8 school district in California. The findings suggest that the strengths-based blended personalized learning model is effective in supporting student learning in the academic areas of mathematics, reading, and language usage. Over the 3-year period in which the intervention was gradually implemented, and one year of full implementation, students significantly outpaced their matched student counterparts in all subject areas. The results of the current study further the growing literature in the field of personalized learning by contributing learnings and evidence related to a successful personalized learning model.     

Learning for the professions: lessons from linking international research projects

At the core of higher education is the experience of students whose focus for learning is often directed towards their future employability. In this paper, we explore the intersections between two large international research projects involving over 500 students. Interviews with students yielded their conceptions of learning and work in specific discipline and professional areas. Analysis of the Swedish and Australian data sets showed the important interplay between students’ individual ideas about learning and future work with their workplace. A meta-analysis of the two projects highlights the utility of higher education for students’ future working life and suggests ways in which institutions and policy makers can critique current practice in a way that will incline curriculum and teaching development towards professional formation.     

Student attitudes toward learning,level of pre-knowledge and instruction type in a computer-simulation: effects on flow experiences and perceived learning outcomes

Attitudes toward learning (ATL) have been shown to influence students’ learning outcomes. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the ways in which the interaction between ATL, the learning situation, and the level of students’ prior knowledge influence affective reactions and conceptual change. In this study, a simulation of acid-base titrations was examined to assess the impact of instruction format, level of prior knowledge and students’ ATL on university-level students, with respect to flow experiences (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) and perceived conceptual change. Results show that the use of guiding instructions was correlated with a perceived conceptual change and high levels of “Challenge,” “Enjoyment,” and “Concentration,” but low sense of control during the exercise. Students who used the open instructions scored highly on the “Control flow” component, but their perceived learning score was lower than that for the students who used the guiding instructions. In neither case did students’ ATL or their pre-test results contribute strongly to students’ flow experiences or their perceived learning in the two different learning situations.     

Defining the nature of blended learning through its depiction in current research

ABSTRACT

Blended learning has been a feature of higher education practice and research for almost two decades. This article takes stock of current blended learning research, contributing to the growing number of meta-analyses of higher education and blended learning research more generally, through a review of ninety-seven articles relating to blended learning in higher education published in fifteen journals between 2012 and mid-2017. The review focused on where and when the articles were published; their provenance, scale, scope; methodological approach; the broad research themes; and definition of blended learning used. The review shows that despite its ubiquity, blended learning’s definition is all-encompassing; its spread is global but research is dominated by key players; it is of technical interest; and its research is small-scale, individually focused, seeking to evidence the benefits of blended learning. The article concludes with recommendations of how higher education research could provide institutions with evidence to ensure their ‘best of blends’.