Reflections: Two Years after Implementing a Blended Educational Research Course

In Such a Short Time

In 1993, there was no World Wide Web; but now it seems as if it is everywhere (Ko & Rossen, 2004). “There was a time, not many years ago, when word processing was the most popular computer activity among students….Today, a PC can be a window into the global system of interconnected networks known as the Internet” (Beekman, 2005, p. 16). Indeed, the change came with the development of the Internet and Web-based communication.

University faculty increasingly rely on the Internet to support the activities of teaching and to supplement face-to-face class time: for example, by disseminating course information and resources, providing space for students to upload assignments, and providing students with an online discussion forum.

Certainly the future looks increasingly digital, wireless, and networked (Koohang, Briz, & Seymour, 2006). Rudestam and Schoenholtz-Read (2002) note: “From stepchild to wunderkind, technology that spawned the Internet has moved online distance learning to the forefront of educational innovation…. Sensing an opportunity to reach more students and supplement flagging tuition revenues, major educational institutions have expanded their mission to include activities in online education” (p. 3). A. W. (Tony) Bates (2000), project leader for a study on cost-benefit analysis of online teaching for the Canadian National Center of Excellence in Tele-learning, has identified six rationales for the use of technology in higher education:

• (1)

  improving the quality of teaching (using technology is seen as one way of alleviating problems such as increased student-to-teacher ratios and increased teaching loads);

• (2)

  providing students with information technology (IT) skills they will need in their work and life (integrating technology into the learning environment is a way to develop such skills);

• (3)

  widening access to education and training (the trend toward lifelong learning and the need for reeducation and retraining are leading to a changing student population);

• (4)

  responding to the technological imperative (those who believe that technology can play a valuable role in teaching and learning see arguments against the technological imperative as valid but insufficient to deny it);

• (5)

  reducing the costs of education (using technology, however, is more likely to lead to increased rather than reduced costs, at least, in the short term); and

• (6)

  improving the cost-effectiveness of education (technology is unlikely to reduce absolute costs but can improve the cost-effectiveness of operations in higher education by freeing faculty members for more productive use of their time). (pp. 16-20)

Educational technologies definitely play increased roles, “partly driven by students’ expectations, but also because they demonstrably improve the quality of teaching and learning and represent an efficient use of resources” (Ryan, Scott, Freeman, & Patel, 2001, p. 169). Furthermore, “students are now not only more diverse following the massification of higher education but also more consumer-minded….Students increasingly seek choice—in the subjects to be studied, in delivery modes, in assessment, and in the time spent on campus” (James & Beckett, n. d., p. 2).

Kim and Bonk (2006) conducted a survey in both higher education and corporate training to explore the future trends of online learning. Most of the respondents (N = 562) expected huge growth in online programs and predicted that ‘monetary support’ and ‘pedagogical competency’ of online instructors would most significantly affect the success of the online programs. The respondents further predicted that emphasis would be placed less on fully online learning, and more on blended learning: a balanced mix of traditional face-to-face instruction with adequately designed online activities. Why blended learning? According to Lorenzo (2004):