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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-2969 |
| Date | 01 January 2015 |
| Creators | Sorbie, Jill I |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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