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’.     

The influence of support and stress on maternal attitudes

OBJECTIVES: This study examines an expanded version of Belsky's (1984) multi-dimensional process model of parenting to determine whether changes in stress and support influence maternal attitudes during the first year of a child's life. METHOD: Data were collected from mothers of newborns eligible for Hawaii's Healthy Start program who had been randomly assigned to home visitation (n=108) or control (n=104) status. Multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses regarding the influence of change in contextual sources of support and stress on parenting attitudes as measured by the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) Abuse Scale. A post hoc analysis of variance was conducted to explore interactions among the predictor variables and home visitation. RESULTS: Stress in the form of change in public assistance status led to more punitive parenting attitudes while increased support from the partner and from close associates emerged as significant predictors of less punitive parental attitudes. The exploratory analyses suggest that home visitation may moderate the impacts of stress and support on maternal attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: In line with Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting, increased stress adversely impacted maternal attitudes regarding physical punishment while increased support exerted favorable effects. The results also support further elaboration of Belsky's model including the expansion of marital support to include unmarried partners and the need to consider the impact of formal support sources on parenting.     

A SPECIAL‐PURPOSE STUDIO

The paper describes the design and use of a studio system which arose out of the need to give demonstrations of experimental procedures to practical classes of up to 150 students. Since the requirements could be specified in some detail it was possible to use novel methods of working which turned out to be very efficient and economical.     

Behavior management in cognitive early education

Even though behavior management is a very high priority of teachers of young children, systems of behavior management receive less attention than do methods of teaching academic content. Even when there are well developed sytems of behavior management, they do not necessarily reflect the same philosophy and methods of teaching that are used to teach content. The authors report on “cognitive-mediational behavior management”, a system designed to be consistent with a cognitive early education program, the Cognitive Curriculum for Young Children. In both behavior management and all their other teaching, teachers use in this program a mediational teaching style. Teachers emphasize thinking processes rather than correct answers, take a problem-solving approach to learning, help children to acquire generalizable strategies of thinking and problem-solving rather than using trial-and-error learning, are optimistic about children’s abilities to learn, and facilitate children’s acquisition of fundamental thinking modes. This system is seen as basically incompatible with a behaviorist, contingent reinforcement system. Behavior sequences are suggested for working with unacceptable behavior so as to produce both behavior change and cognitive change.     

Implicit knowledge of general upper secondary school in a bridge-building project

Bridge-building activities are practiced widely in the education systems of Europe. They are meant to bridge transitions between lower and upper secondary school and form a mandatory part of the youth guidance system in Denmark. By giving pupils the opportunity to experience the different educational context of upper secondary school, bridge-building activities are meant to facilitate their decision-making on educational paths, but also to attract more and new groups of pupils. However, the premises of the inherent differences of educational contexts and of pupils’ lacking knowledge of upper secondary education can be questioned. In this ethnographic case study of a bridge-building project in a rural area in Denmark, we analyse the implicit knowledge of the general upper secondary school, as it is practiced in a bridge-building project, and how it is experienced by the pupils on the background of their prior knowledge. The analysis is theoretically informed by especially the code concepts of Basil Bernstein.     

Comparison of individual factors in school psychology graduate students: Why do students pursue a degree in school psychology?

The purpose of this study was to investigate what factors influenced students to enter the field of school psychology. Although numerous studies have documented the thoughts and perspectives of practitioners regarding why they have chosen to become school psychologists, attempts to recruit and retain an adequate number of school psychology practitioners and researchers have shown limited success. A national sample of 307 school psychology graduate students responded to a survey designed to measure issues related to the current state of professional practice, the influence of parental education, and professional organization recruitment. Results indicated that working with children and personal experiences within the school system were highly related to participant's decisions to become school psychologists. In addition, doctoral level and nondoctoral level students present similar reasons for entering the field. This research is discussed in terms of its implications for future research and the current shortage of school psychology practitioners and faculty. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 865–872, 2007.