The application of blended learning in distance education

Chen Haijian, Ju Kunru and Chen Weiping
Shanghai TV University
Shanghai, China

Online teaching cannot replace traditional classroom teaching entirely. Increasingly, institutions are adopting a blended learning approach which integrates conventional class teaching and online teaching, combining the advantages of both to improve learning.

This presentation explores the blended learning model used on the course ‘Basic Program Design’ at Shanghai TV University. It analyses the entire teaching process and evaluates its effectiveness.

Implementing this curriculum model has involved:

1. 1 developing and refining the teaching documents to combine ‘guided learning’, ‘supported learning’ and ‘self-learning’ (the ‘3Ls’) closely together;
2. designing the assessment and final examinations as integrated, formative assessment that reflects the learning process;
3. focusing on the attendance rate, including attendance in the classroom, and the study record on e-learning;
   
4. adding counselling materials and a study CD-ROM which includes, for example, courseware, a video of case studies and homework;
   
5. adding some courseware (time-controlled at five minutes) to improve significantly the students’ interest and efficiency in learning;
   
6. meeting the different levels of learning demand by teaching simple and difficult examples;
   
7. recording students’ performance in the classroom and immediately uploading it to the e-learning platform, to increase students’ interest in learning;
   
8. providing online teaching, including lecturing, counselling and group discussion, as a supplement to face-to-face teaching; and
   
9. designing homework assessment which reflects students’ study and introducing measures to prevent online plagiarism and copying.
   

Before 2006, the pass-rate for this course was less than 50% and the attrition rate reached 70%, which had serious adverse effects on the development of the major in computing. Implementing the above measures from 2006 to change the model to ‘blended learning’ led to a very considerable improvement in teaching and learning: in January 2009, the student pass-rate was 78%; and in February 2009, the attrition rate was only 15%.

In blended learning, there is no longer a one-sided emphasis on:

• the application of an online learning environment (while ignoring classroom teaching);
• a student-oriented approach (which overlooks the teacher’s leading role);
  
• constructivist theory alone (while ignoring the guiding role of other theories); and
  
• the use of online resources only (while overlooking audio-visual media and other resources).

In this sense, blended learning can be viewed as embodying both the characteristics of the information age and the traditional style of teaching/learning.