This research has found that the field of international blended learning (BL) is prepared for stronger communication and collaboration. Collaboration is currently limited, and regions vary greatly in terms of citations. However, BL is growing worldwide and each region has much to offer to the community. Greater collaboration among researchers and practitioners can be profitable regardless of location. In the first article the authors compared the top cited BL articles to understand which articles from each region are the most cited, how the regions compare in terms of citations and which journals publish these highly cited articles. The authors used this data to construct a broad overview of the field as a whole and submit is as partial fulfillment of the literature review requirement. This research was designed by both authors and carried out by the first author with advice from the second author. In the second article the authors delved deeper into the top articles to discover and compare the topics and themes of the top articles on BL from different regions of the world. The authors examined methodological patterns, learner type, level of blend, terms for blending, and research questions in order to understand the research practices and topics of interest within the BL community. This article is also submitted as partial fulfillment of the literature review requirement for a master's degree in Instructional Psychology and Technology. This research was designed by both authors and carried out by the first author with advice from the second author.In the third article the authors sought to take a snapshot of the present state of blended learning. The authors drew conclusions from survey responses and interviews with current blended learning researchers and practitioners focused on BL around the world. This research was designed by both authors and carried out by the first author with advice from the second author and assistance from the third author. The first author conducted all interviews and made final decisions on coding and analysis, with input from the other authors.

Although research supports the blended learning methodology as a way to personalize and engage students, research also documents the widespread hesitation among educators when it comes to embracing technology. District leaders believe that such is the case in an upper Midwest school district where all high school students are provided devices, yet these leaders note that few teachers are fully exploiting the tools. Framed by the connectivism and social constructivism theories, this qualitative case study focused on teachers' views of blended learning, its influence on their teaching practices, and how they see it helping students to learn. The guiding research questions addressed the successes and challenges of blended learning, including how Moodle was used for formative e-assessment. Data were collected from 12 purposefully selected high school teachers by a questionnaire, 3 different observations in each of their classrooms, computer screenshots provided by participants, and 3 semi-structured interviews per teacher. Open coding produced common themes during the data analysis. Findings show that these teachers believe that blended learning promotes individualization, collaboration, organization, engagement, real-world relevance, and student-centered learning. While they agreed that blended learning supported their practice, challenges were cited such as students disengaging in the learning process, device and infrastructure concerns, and the time to integrate technology effectively. Based upon these findings, professional learning communities were designed to improve teacher pedagogy for using blended learning. This study may serve as a model for staff from other schools who are integrating higher levels of technologies as they try to level the playing field and prepare students to be global citizens with the necessary 21st century skills.

At a technical post-secondary school in the Northeast United States, campus leaders lacked formative data of faculty skills and knowledge needed for instruction in a hybrid format involving both face-to-face instruction and on-line instruction. Therefore, the delivery of appropriate professional development (PD) programs for faculty whose duties include hybrid format instruction has not been provided. The purpose of this study was to identify the faculty experiences of teaching in a hybrid-learning environment, and their perceived PD needs to provide effective instruction in a hybrid-learning environment. This study explored vocational teachers' experiences and perceived PD needs related to teaching in a hybrid-teaching environment. Using Kolb's model of experiential learning, a qualitative case study design was used to sample 8 vocational instructors who met the criteria of teaching in the hybrid-learning environment in the medical assistant or the dental assistant programs. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews and were analyzed using axial coding. Themes emerging from the findings included the changing role of the instructor, concerns of plagiarism, faculty PD for teaching in a hybrid-learning environment, and practice using the learning management system (LMS). Findings based on themes indicated PD on the learning management system (LMS), and pedagogy to teach in the hybrid-learning environment is needed for the teachers. A white paper recommending initial on-going systemic PD for faculty teaching in the hybrid-learning environment was developed. Implications for social change are that faculties will become more knowledgeable instructing in the hybrid-learning environment, which will the development of hybrid teaching skills and better-prepared dental and medical assistant graduates who will provide improved care for clients.

The increasing use of blended models of instruction within the U.S. public school system is transforming the K-12 education. However, few studies have been conducted of the innovation-adoption process involving blended instruction within the K-12 public school sector. In this nonexperimental, quantitative study, Rogers's five perceived attributes of innovations was used as a theoretical lens to explore how teachers' affective job satisfaction might affect the innovation-adoption process at the individual level. Research questions pertained to the relationship, if any, between affective job satisfaction among teachers and their perceptions of the complexity, compatibility, and relative advantage of blended instruction. Surveys were administered to middle school teachers (n = 40) in the core curriculum within southeastern U.S. schools. Data were analyzed for relationships using Spearman's correlation; relationships found to have statistical significance were further explored using ordinal logistic regression. Affective job satisfaction had a moderately positive and statistically significant relationship with how participants perceived the compatibility and relative advantage of blended instruction (rs = .487). However, the relationship was inconsistent among subgroups, varying from rs = .181 (n = 13) to rs = .693 (n = 10). Findings could be used to promote positive social change by providing insight into the role of affective job satisfaction within the innovation-adoption process within the K-12 sector.

Many at-risk students attending an alternative high school in a northwestern state were not graduating on-time even after a learner-centered blended learning model was implemented. The administration and teachers sought to understand why the change to a learner-centered program was only slightly increasing the graduation rate each year. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how the learner-centered instructional strategies used within a blended learning model were being implemented and supporting at-risk students. Weimer's learner-centered framework was used to ground the study and guide the research questions which examined teacher and student perspectives about the learner-centered instructional strategies that were being implemented. Interviews were conducted with 6 teachers from diverse disciplines who had taught at the study site for 3 or more years, 4 recent graduates, and 6 current students who were 18 years old or older. Classroom observations of the 6 teachers were conducted and archived student surveys from the previous 2 years were collected. All data were analyzed and coded to identify common themes and strategies regarding learner-centered instruction. The findings indicated the teachers needed professional development in how to implement learner-centered and blended learning strategies and how to help students take responsibility for their education. A yearlong professional development program focused on how to use learner-centered and blended instructional strategies was developed for teachers. Implementation of appropriate learner-centered and blended learning strategies might result in students completing their courses and increased graduation rates. As more students graduate, instead of dropping out, positive social change will occur in the community as they responsibly enter the work force.

There has been a significant increase in the level of remote or distance learning using the Internet, often referred to as e-learning or online education. E-learning is often combined with classroom instruction and on-the-job training and this is referred to as blended learning. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact blended learning has in improving engineering training in the engineering field of industrial automation. This is especially in improving the reaction, achievement and return on investment of learners compared to that of only the traditional classroom or e-learning approaches. One of the gaps in current research is the examination of the impact of blended learning in improving engineering training. The research revealed significant growth in the use of e-learning for engineers and technicians. There would however appear to be a large number of engineers and technicians who were disappointed with their experiences of e-learning. Significant concerns were also identified in the efficacy of e-learning and the lack of hands-on experience in this form of training for engineers and technicians. Suggestions are made as a result of the research into addressing these issues.

Video has been used in educational settings for several years by means of videotapes. However, the use of digital video is not very common in schools and training institutions. Moreover, the literature reports not much about using online video in teacher training purposes. This current study presents an online video-based pre-service teacher training environment, offering online video cases for teacher training purposes. The first purpose is to develop an online video-based training system for teacher training. The online teacher training system includes online video cases on various topics in teacher training. The second aim of this study is to understand what student teachers think about the video cases in the online training environment. The first phase of the study was implemented as a pilot study, and the main study included two cycles of action research. The subjects of the study were students of the Faculty of Education at Middle East Technical University who were enrolled to the CEIT321 - Foundations of Distance Education course. The evaluation of video based training questionnaire was administered to the participants and individual interviews were conducted with a selected group of students according to questionnaire scores. The results of the questionnaire proposed that the students had positive attitudes for the online video cases included in the study. In the interviews, the participants indicated their comments and proposed some improvements regarding the technical aspects and the content of video cases. Participants&#039 / reflections about the video cases and course web server logs also provided parallel findings supporting the interviews and the questionnaire.

Online and Blended learning are becoming widespread along with the changing needs of society and advances in technology. Recently, there is a growing emphasis on building learning communities in order to increase the effectiveness of these learning environments. In recent years there is one promising theory that has generated considerable interest and has been widely adopted and studied by researchers: the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000). The CoI framework, with its emphasis on critical thinking and collaboration, provides a well-structured model and set of guidelines to create effective learning communities in online and blended learning environments. The purpose of this study was to examine the development of a CoI in online and blended learning contexts in relation to students&amp / #8217 / perceived learning and satisfaction. A graduate course delivered online and blended format was the focus of the study. The data was collected through transcript analysis of online discussion, the CoI Survey, and interviews to examine social, teaching, cognitive presence postings patterns, to explore students&amp / #8217 / perceptions of each presence, learning and satisfaction, and to compare the differences between online and blended learning environments. Overall, all three sources of data indicated that a CoI developed in both courses. However, the study found developmental differences in the CoI presences regarding the course format. In terms of social presence, two categories &amp / #8211 / affective communication and group cohesion &amp / #8211 / were found different. Another difference between the two course formats was on the cognitive presence categories. Overall, the transcript analysis in this study found that integration was the most frequently coded phase in both courses. However, the integration phase was found to be significantly higher in the blended course compared to the online course. Finally, the survey analysis yielded higher perceptions of each presence in both courses. However, the students in the blended course had slightly higher perceptions of each presence. The only significant difference was found on teaching presence. The study also yielded some significant relationships among presences which varied according to the course.

This study analyzed students&rsquo / perceived effectiveness of an online course delivered through one of the open source course content management system, Moodle. Students&rsquo / expectations, perception, comments and suggestions about Moodle were investigated in this study. This is a case study carried out 49 students who attended to CEIT321 Foundation of Distance Education course in summer school in 2008 and 29 students who attended to the same course in fall semester of 2008-2009 academic year at Computer Education and Instructional Technology at Middle East Technical University. Blended learning that combines face-to-face interaction and online learning was used in the course. In this study, the qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from the students attended to the study. The questionnaire was distributed to the participants at the end of the summer school and fall semester. In addition, interviews with the volunteer participants were conducted in order to understand students&rsquo / perceptions, thoughts, expectations, recommendations, and comments on Moodle and its applications. The data showed that students had positive attitudes towards Moodle and its application. This study can contribute the future research studies related with Moodle. Moreover, the results of this study can contribute the development of Moodle.

An on-site simulation-based practice lab was conducted with 42 students enrolled in a blended distance practical nursing diploma program at the end of their first year of study, prior to their clinical placements. The six-hour practice lab involved an orientation, small group activities involving three obstetric-related scenarios using the moderate fidelity simulator Noelle®, and a debriefing activity. An evening social activity was also provided. The study used a mixed method research design involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a 20-item pre-test/post-test knowledge quiz, and three National League for Nursing (NLN) instruments — the Simulation Design Scale, the Educational Practices in Simulation Scale, and the Learner Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale — as well as a pre- and post-lab administration of Rovai’s (2002b) Classroom Community Scale. The qualitative component of the study involved semi-structured interviews with 25 students, three lab facilitators, and five clinical placement instructors. Analysis of data collected before and after the simulation-based lab revealed a significant increase in knowledge and sense of community in the group as a whole. Analysis of the results of the NLN instruments indicated that the simulation-based practice lab was instructionally effective. Students were highly positive in their ratings of the design elements and implementation of the simulation-based practice lab, satisfied with the simulation-based learning activities, and confident in their ability to provide patient care. The qualitative analysis added a rich, descriptive understanding of how the simulation-based practice lab promoted instructional effectiveness (i.e., skills and knowledge, confidence, and learner satisfaction), preparation for clinical placement, and community cohesion. Thematic analysis of the interview data identified the following major themes: benefits to distance learners, nurse-patient interaction, theory to practice, positive experience, sense of community, and supportive learning (student interviews); benefits of simulation experience, facilitator role, and technology (facilitator interviews); and theory to practice, positive experience, and sense of community (clinical instructor interviews). This research supports the use of on-site simulation-based practice labs as a means to provide greater readiness for clinical practice and strengthen the sense of community among distance learners. / 2012-06