 |
|
|
|
|
Some institutions have created or converted entire programs for blended delivery. At Babson, the IntelMBA and FastTrack MBA are, respectively, corporate and open enrollment programs in which fifty percent of the instruction is online and fifty percent face-to-face, at monthly 3-day meetings. Duke University, the University of Ohio, MIT, and the University of Texas also blend learning. Variation in classroom time is wide. Contrasting with the Babson example is Saint Joseph College of Maine, which includes a two-week summer residency as the only traditional classroom time in the program. The technologies used to support blended courses and programs are the same that support the technology-enhanced face-to-face courses and asynchronous online courses: e-mail, cd-roms, webliographies and internet resources, chats, bulletin boards, file sharing, simulations, self-testing and automatically graded quizzes and more. |
|
|
| "Can
a hybrid of the two—a blended learning solution—provide
better outcomes than either?" |
|
|
|
|
Research shows "no significant difference" in the comparative outcomes of classroom and online learning. Can a hybrid of the two—a blended learning solution—provide better outcomes than either? Is the outcome the best of both, like the "hybrid vigor" plant and animal breeders search for in crossing genetic strains? Or is a tendency toward the mean merely accelerated by such a blend? These questions are not yet answered; rigorous (let alone standard) methodologies to assess outcomes remain elusive. However, a number of factors do support blended models, based on emerging practice in hybrid designs and emerging results in online designs. Blended designs can enhance the quality of learning. Designers and instructors of blended courses have the largest set of instructional methods and learning situations to choose from to meet the specific needs of the discipline and the level of the course, the number, kind, and preferences of students, and their own styles and preferences. |
| Blended
designs can enhance access to learning, making it more possible for
individuals with the multiple demands of work and family to start
and continue their educations and professional development.
Blended designs can enhance student and faculty satisfaction with learning, when the design, the training and development, and the systems and support are well organized. The NCES study asked students who participated in distance courses to compare their satisfaction levels relative to wholly face-to-face courses. Nearly three quarters of the respondents reported equal or more satisfaction with the quality of instruction in distance courses as "compared to other courses" taken. The University of Wisconsin Hybrid Project reported that "Time flexibility was overwhelmingly the most popular feature of the hybrid course for the students" (Garnham 2002). The process of answering this question—"what will I teach online and what will I teach face-to-face?" —provides critical information about the discipline, content, teaching methods, learning processes, and the media and technologies available to support the most effective combination(s). When faculty re-design material they know deeply for a new delivery modality, breakthroughs are made in student learning, student satisfaction, and faculty satisfaction. Key factors seem to be common to the programs noted above that lead to success:
At Wisconsin, "the faculty adopted very different approaches to the hybrid model, based on their instructional styles, course content, course sizes, and course goals" (Garnham 2002). In Babson's blended MBA program, decisions were made based on the overall program design and based on discussions about the elements from which disciplines needed face time or could be addressed online. |
PDF
version