Slides from keynote at WCELfest 16 in Waikato University, Hamilton NZ. Feb. 11, 2016

1. What’s the Big Deal about Blended
Learning - Models, Results and
Challenges
Terry Anderson, PhD
Athabasca University, Canada
WCELfest16
Kia ora!

2. Athabasca University,
Alberta, Canada
* Athabasca University
34,000 students, 700 courses
100% distance education
Graduate and Undergraduate programs
Master & Doctorate
Distance Education

5. Values
• We can (and must) continuously improve the
quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time
efficiency of the learning experience.
• Student control and freedom is integral to 21st
century life-long education and learning.
• Continuing education opportunity is a basic
human right.

7. Learning as Dance
(Anderson, 2008)
• Technology
sets the
beat and
the timing.
• Pedagogy
defines the
moves.

8. Definitions
• “Blended learning is a formal education
program in which a student learns at least in
part through delivery of content and
instruction via digital and online media with
some element of student control over time,
place, path, or pace.” (Wikipedia)

9. • “blended learning is the thoughtful integration of
classroom face-to-face learning experiences with
online learning experiences.” - Garrison and Kanuka
2004
• Information dissemination component of the class is
done by the students own choice of location and time.
In class time is for a variety of active learning activities
• an opportunity to redesign the way that courses are
developed, scheduled and delivered in higher
education – Bleed, 2001

10. Two Major Variations
Blended
Learning
Flipped
Classroom
Active
Classrooms
Reduced Class-
time
Active Online

11. But also can blend classrooms with:
• Service learning, internships, field
experiments, tours and projects and
artifact construction
• New Pedagogies
“Developing a work-related profile
as part of the university experience.” CEP Leadership Group

12. Allison Rossett

13. Why do Blended??
Social Motivations
• Digital Literacies
• Job skills and Future Proofing
• Internationalization
• Open Scholarship
• Controlling the Cost of
Higher Education

14. Institutional Motivations
• Reduce cost by more effective use of
classrooms
• Re-usable nature of digital content
• More flexibility in scheduling

15. Teachers
• More time for
interaction with
informed students
• More capacity to share
digital resources
• More opportunity to
personalize and add
social presence

16. STUDENTS
• Time shifting
• Place shifting
• Pace Shifting
• Social shifting
• Self-direction
• Team building and collaboration experiences
• Finding resources
• Creating resources

18. Does Blended Learning Really Work?
• Improve attendance?
• Improve learning?
• Cost savings?
• Student satisfaction?
• Teaching satisfaction

19. Meta Analysis
• Combines results from
as many experiments as
possible.
• Needs a comparison -
Classroom & Blended
• Measures learning,
satisfaction, completion
etc.

20. DO STUDENTS LEARN MORE?
• “in terms of achievement outcomes, BL conditions
exceed CI conditions by about one-third of a
standard deviation (g + = 0.334, k = 117, p < .001)
• and that the kind of computer support used (i.e.,
cognitive support vs. content/presentational
support) and
• the presence of one or more interaction
treatments (e.g., student–student/–teacher/–
content interaction) serve to enhance student
achievement. “ Bernard et al (2014)

21. It is easy to do blended learning badly!
Fig. 3 Scatterplot of publication year by learning effect size (k = 117)
Bernard et al. 2014

22. 2015 Meta-analysis Student - Achievement Positive
(Spanjersa, Köningsa et al.)

23. Student satisfaction - a non-significant trivial average
(Spanjersa, Köningsa et al)

24. Do students really like Blended Learning
• Generally yes BUT……
• learning new tools can mean surmounting
learning curves
• Effect of network literacy
• Quality of the instructional design
• Appropriate use of synchronous and
asynchronous communications

25. Components of Effective Blended Learning
Blended
Learning
Content
Active In-
Class Learning
Networking

26. 1. CONTENT
• canned, instructor made videos or podcasts
• commercial videos, audio recordings
• Games, simulations, virtual labs
• articles, books (etexts or paper)
• include student research and open resources
• MOOCs, Open Educational Resources
“it does not appear that video lectures, in and of
themselves, either add to or detract from student
learning.” No Significant Difference Phenomena

27. Finding Curating and Curating
Resources
• MOOCs
• Learning Object Repositories
• Open Textbooks/Chapters
• WikiEducator
• Because it is copyright does NOT mean you
can’t use portions in your teaching

29. What’s Wrong with Publishers’
Textbooks?
• Not sold to the consumers
• Too expensive
• Don’t work as well as
open access
(Wiley, 2012)

30. There are alternatives to expensive texts
“Rice University-based publisher OpenStax are now in u
It's the same lesson learned from the BC Campus open te
Stephen Downes OLDaily Feb 8, 2016

31. Power of video - Showing NOT telling about empathy,
irony, humour, hyperbole etc

32. Copyright
• What rights do you have?
• “Only an insubstantial part of the work is
used. “Insubstantial” covers a small and
unimportant part of a work. Use caution
when assessing substantiality. In most
cases, educational purposes will call for use
of a substantial or important part.”
But What rights do you REALLY have??????

33. Canada Supreme Court 2014 -
“Copyright Pentalogy,”
• an unequivocal affirmation that copyright exceptions
such as fair dealing should be treated as users’
rights.
• a technology-neutral approach to copyright law
• expansion of fair dealing by interpreting it in a broad
and liberal manner
• research …” be piecemeal, informal, exploratory, or
confirmatory. It can in fact be undertaken for no
purpose except personal interest." -
• an expansive view of private study

34. Student Created Content
• Make Content and Assignments Relevant to
Students' Lives
• Use Peers
• Involve Students' Affective Responses
• Use Discussion
• Encourage Student Self-Reflection on
Learning
https://en.wikibooks.org/

35. Student Curated Content
http://www.slideshare.net/RalphSpringett/

36. Curating Play Lists

37. Social Study Sites for online Engagement
https://piazza.com/

38. 3 components Koope et al’s (2015)
Model of Flipped Learning
1. selection of appropriate media that explain key concepts
and how to use them. Students watch these before a face-to-
face lecture.
2. exercises and assignments for the students related to the
videos are designed. Students submit homework from these
assignments before a lecture. By submitting the homework, a
student shows that she has given serious attention to the
exercises. The assignments are not rigorously (randomly?)
assessed for completeness nor correctness.
3. during the class, feedback connecting homework to key
concepts, elaboration and preparation for the next videos
are discussed.

39. Students With Pre-class video attend more
classes
Stockwell, Stockwell, Cennamo, & Jiang, (2015).
Blended learning improves science education. Cell 162(5)

40. Synchronous versus Asynchronous
• asynchronous discussions promote:
– more complex ideas (Bonk et al., 1998),
– more attention on the task (Chou, 2002),
– more reflective statements (Davidson-Shivers
et al., 2001),
– effective for collaborative writing (Mabrito,
2006).
– interact more frequently (Bonk et al., 1998),
Hiew, Y., & Tan, B. (2015). Comparing Asynchronous and Synchronous Interaction
Using Online Technology. Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews. Http:// pjsrr.edu.my

41. • Synchronous discussions were viewed as
– more useful and influential (Ng & Detenber (2005)
– less efficient in dealing with content, (Schwier & Balbar
(2002)
– lesser amount of time on course task in the chat
discussions (Mabrito, 2006).
– exchange socio-emotional interactions (Chou,2002)
– chat sessions are satisfying (Spencer & Spencer, 2002)
Hiew, Y., & Tan, B. (2015). Comparing Asynchronous and Synchronous Interaction Using Online
Technology. Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews. Http:// pjsrr.edu.my.

42. Avoiding Video or Reading Disengagement
• Machine marked quizzes
• Short answer, random
marking
• Wiki answers
• Blogging/micro-blogging

43. THE MEDIUM IS NOT THE MESSAGE??
• Turkish study compared
audio versus video podcasts
- NO SIGNIFICANT
DIFFERENCE
• Reflective questions in the
podcasts versus no
questions - SIGNIFICANT
POSITIVE EFFECT ON
LEARNING.
Yilmaz, F. G. K., & Keser, H. (2016). The Impact of Reflective Thinking Activities in E-Learning: A Critical Review of the Empirical Re

44. 2. Active In Class Learning

45. Student Response Systems

46. INDIVIDUAL OR PAIRED QUIZZES

47. STUDENT AND GROUP PRESENTATIONS
AND DISCUSSIONS

48. Open Ended Questions

49. Peer teaching

50. Problem solving, in class makes
a difference in exam scores
Video makes a difference in
Student satisfaction
Stockwell, Stockwell, Cennamo, & Jiang, (2015).
Blended learning improves science education. Cell 162(5).

52. Active In class Learning - Summary
Active learning has many definitions, but perhaps the

53. 3. Networking

54. NOT Learning in a Bubble
Celebrating Fuzzy Boundaries !

55. Networking Benefits
• Complements and
expands classroom
modes and style of
interaction
• values participation
from within and
outside class context
• shifts skill set for active
participation
• persistance
• student ownership
• collaboration

57. • Anxiety from blurring
public, school and
private boundaries
• tends to cut off
experimentation with
new communications
technologies and
applications

58. Networking and social inclusion
• seeking information via social network sites is
a positive and significant predictor of people's
social capital and civic and political
participatory behaviours, online and offline
Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela, S. (2012).

59. Inclusion through Learning and Web 2.0
• Those with higher social capital can access
more support and are exposed to more diverse
information, which is associated with those
outcomes we identified related to:
– trust,
– health,
– autonomy,
– knowledge,
– and deliberation.
Hampton, K. N., Lee, C.-j., & Her, E. J. (2011).
How new media affords network diversity

60. Social Networks
• Facebook, LinkedIn,
• Academia,
• Twitter
• Blogs
• Listservs
• Private
– ELGG
– NING
– Drupal,
– Word Press

61. “Structure and control provided by Google
Sites and immediacy and interactivity afforded
by Facebook become complementary to each
other.”
Deng, L., & Tavares, N. J. (2015). Exploring university students’ use
of technologies beyond the formal learning context: A tale of two
online platforms. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.

62. "The difference between a
community and a network is
that you belong to a
community, but a network
belongs to you...

63. Network Challenges
• Filter bubbles
• Echo Chambers
• Mathew Principle
• Bullying
• Anonymity

64. What Type of Networked Academic Persona
Have you Created?
Barbour, K., & Marshall, D. (2012). The academic online: Constructing
persona through the World Wide Web. First Monday, 17(9).
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3969/329
2.

65. Workload Issues
• Institutional recognition and
reward for transition to
blended
• Work smarter – not longer
– Well developed networks
– Archiving and curating – NOT
continuously responding
– Voice Marking
– Using resources developed and
retrieved from your network

66. Effects of different Instructional designs on student
satisfaction
• Amount of work required by students negatively
effected satisfaction
• Quizzes
• “Only one of the potential moderator variables, that
is, quizzes, had a significant (positive) result. It
appeared that the average effect size for satisfaction
was higher when quizzes were available in the
blended learning condition”Spanjersa, Köningsa et al. 2015
• Communications in online part, no significant
differences

67. Blended/online Learning design
Barac, K. (2015). The Conceived, the Perceived and the Lived:
Issues with 21st Century Learning and Teaching.

68. What will Campus need to offer
• Places students want to come to
• Ways to discuss, integrate, conflate
information and learning that takes place
online
• A range of rich culture experiences

69. Campus Libraries
• “more what they do for people than what they
have for people”
• Production/make-it studios
• Collaborative workspaces
• Students as researchers

70. Assessment in Blended Learning
• Teachers:
– “a way to engage in conversations with students”
– “allows me to see the results of my teaching”
– “a lot of work”
• Students:
– fear,
– stress,
– anxiety, and
– judgment (Vaughan, 2010)

71. Solutions
• Rubrics – clear expectations
• Guided Self Assessment (online journal entry)
– What is the most important thing you learned in this unit
– How will you use this unit in your life
– How does this unit add to your knowledge base about..
– Public, private or shared with class???
• Peer assessment – Use tools in the LMS or free
standing
• Voice marking
• Machine marking

72. • Available open access:
Aupress.ca

73. Athabasca University Press
Issues in Distance Education series
Aupress.ca

74. Conclusion

75. slides available at:
Terry Anderson terrya@athabascau.ca
virtualcanuck.ca
Skype: @terguy
Your comments and questions
most welcomed!