The goal of this study was to analyze the impact of instructional format and pedagogical approach on students' learning and motivation within the introductory communication course. Three hundred eighty-five students participated in this study within one of four contexts: face-to-face instruction with service-learning, face-to-face instruction without service-learning, blended instruction with service-learning, and blended instruction without service-learning. A series of MANOVAs was utilized for the study. Results of the study, possible explanations for the results, limitations, and guidelines for future research are presented.

Since the inception of the hybrid instruction model at a career college in the western United States, there has not been an exploration of faculty members' understanding of hybrid instruction. Therefore, campus administrators do not have a clear understanding of the faculty perception of teaching in a hybrid learning environment. Using Bandura's social cognitive theory, this qualitative narrative inquiry study was conducted to explore faculty self-efficacy instructing in a hybrid learning environment at the career college. A purposeful sampling method was used to select 9 faculty who have taught less than 2 hybrid learning courses and attended the college professional development. In-depth semiformal interviews captured the data for this narrative inquiry. Data analysis was rooted in a 6-part Labovian model that captured the full story of the participants. Thematic analysis of data followed an inductive and interpretive approach to identify categories and 4 themes: discussion teaching, classroom environment, anchored by adult learning strategies, and self-reliance. The emerged themes provided the direction to increase faculty self-efficacy instructing in a hybrid learning environment. The resulting project was a 3-day professional development program with training in; discussion teaching; classroom environment; and adult learning strategies. The theme of self-reliance was the thread that linked all sessions of the professional development program together. This study may contribute to positive social change through the implementation of a professional development program leading to increased faculty self-efficacy instructing in a hybrid learning environment at a career college.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a significant relationship between school-wide academic outcomes and the instructional modalities utilized by public schools during the 2019-2022 school years. This study also determined if there was a significant difference in assessment scores earned by public school students in Tennessee before and after the shift from in-person schooling caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The researcher used a chi-squared test for independence to determine if there was a significant relationship between the modality of instruction used within a school during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years and the school-wide academic outcomes from the American College Test (ACT) and the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Test (TCAP). Furthermore, the researcher used a two-tailed t-test for paired samples to determine if there was a significant difference in school-wide ACT composite scores, school-level TCAP one-year success rates, and TVAAS growth rates by comparing data across the 2018-2019, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years. The findings within this study showed mixed results relative to school-wide academic outcomes before, during, and after the pivot from in-person instruction caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Findings showed that school-wide academic success rates were significantly higher prior to the shift from in-person instruction caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic; however, school-wide TVAAS growth rates did not change significantly. Furthermore, this study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between instructional modality and student academic outcomes, but findings suggested that the relationship was weakly associated. Therefore, instructional modality may not have been a key determiner of student performance and practitioners should focus on providing quality instruction regardless of instructional modality.

Extant literature indicates that web-based blended learning will become the most accepted mode of delivery in the near future as an alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction particularly in the higher education landscape due to its potential to provide increased access to education for more people, increased student engagement with the tutor, rich learning resources, peers, and external experts, and flexibility beyond the limits of classrooms without compromising quality. The study focused on developing a web-based blended learning model that could help reap the benefits of blended learning at the University of Botswana (UB). With this in mind, the research question, "How can a web-based blended learning environment be designed, developed and implemented at the University of Botswana?" was formulated. In order to address the research question, a six-dimensional model called LAPTEL was developed. The six dimentions are: Digital Leadership, Equitable Access, Active Participation, Authentic Tasks, Intellectual Engagement and Learning (LAPTEL); the first five dimentions are requisites to enable studnets to progress towards successful learning which is the sixth dimension. The LAPTEL model depicts guidelines on how to ensure equitable access for students to learning contexts, motivate and enable them to participate in meaningful educational processes, design and develop effective online as well as classroom learning materials (tasks), and engage students in active 'communityes of practice' in order to help them construct their own knowledge (learning) collaboratively under proper leadership. The Researcher considers it essential to have a complex interplay between the three components - active participation, authentic tasks and intellectual engagement to facilitate active, non-linear learning, and it will be catered for in the design, development and delivery of courses based on the LAPTEL model. The fact that these three dimensions have got features of both face-to-face and onlilne learning, integrated seamlessly, makes the LAPTEL a Web-based learning model. The overall aim was to develop a model of curriculum (re)design based on the student-centred pedagogical approaches that combine synergistically the effectiveness of traditional classroomwith technologically enhanced socialization and active learning oppotunities of the online environment in order to support student learning more effectively than what is possible in a typical lecture room. In a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of the LAPTEL model in the context of UB, the Researcher found that it could provide students with opportunity for increased interactive engagement (more than that is normally possible in 'face-to-face-only' or 'online-only' environments), flexibility and cognitive scaffolding that enhanced their learning experience. The Researcher concludes that the LAPTEL model fits well in the UB context, and it may be adopted by other institutions working under similar contexts. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Extant literature indicates that web-based blended learning will become the most accepted mode of delivery in the near future as an alternative to traditional face-to-face instruction particularly in the higher education landscape due to its potential to provide increased access to education for more people, increased student engagement with the tutor, rich learning resources, peers, and external experts, and flexibility beyond the limits of classrooms without compromising quality. The study focused on developing a web-based blended learning model that could help reap the benefits of blended learning at the University of Botswana (UB). With this in mind, the research question, "How can a web-based blended learning environment be designed, developed and implemented at the University of Botswana?" was formulated. In order to address the research question, a six-dimensional model called LAPTEL was developed. The six dimentions are: Digital Leadership, Equitable Access, Active Participation, Authentic Tasks, Intellectual Engagement and Learning (LAPTEL); the first five dimentions are requisites to enable studnets to progress towards successful learning which is the sixth dimension. The LAPTEL model depicts guidelines on how to ensure equitable access for students to learning contexts, motivate and enable them to participate in meaningful educational processes, design and develop effective online as well as classroom learning materials (tasks), and engage students in active 'communityes of practice' in order to help them construct their own knowledge (learning) collaboratively under proper leadership. The Researcher considers it essential to have a complex interplay between the three components - active participation, authentic tasks and intellectual engagement to facilitate active, non-linear learning, and it will be catered for in the design, development and delivery of courses based on the LAPTEL model. The fact that these three dimensions have got features of both face-to-face and onlilne learning, integrated seamlessly, makes the LAPTEL a Web-based learning model. The overall aim was to develop a model of curriculum (re)design based on the student-centred pedagogical approaches that combine synergistically the effectiveness of traditional classroomwith technologically enhanced socialization and active learning oppotunities of the online environment in order to support student learning more effectively than what is possible in a typical lecture room. In a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of the LAPTEL model in the context of UB, the Researcher found that it could provide students with opportunity for increased interactive engagement (more than that is normally possible in 'face-to-face-only' or 'online-only' environments), flexibility and cognitive scaffolding that enhanced their learning experience. The Researcher concludes that the LAPTEL model fits well in the UB context, and it may be adopted by other institutions working under similar contexts. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Didactics)