The Blended Learning Ecosystem of an Academic Institution in Greece

Introduction

The term “blended learning” is being frequently used in both academic and corporate institutions during the last few years. As stated in Rooney (2003), the American Society of Training and Development identified blended learning as one of the top ten trends to emerge in the knowledge delivery sector. Blended learning has also been widely recognized as the most promising emerging trend in higher education (Bonk et al., 2006; Garrison & Hanuka, 2004; Young, 2002). Blended learning offers new capabilities for education, as it may significantly enhance the interaction and communication between educators and learners. There were many efforts to define blended learning (Bonk et al., 2006). In the following, we adopt the definition presented by Graham (2006), according to which Blended Learning or Hybrid Learning is defined as the combination of face-to-face with computer-mediated instruction, identifying the central role of computer-based technology in the delivery of knowledge. In practice, one could realize blended learning as e-learning methods combined with traditional face-to-face teaching (So & Bush, 2008; Olapirivakul & Sher, 2006; Bonk et al., 2006).