1. Blended Learning as a Temporary Solution and Long-Term Opportunity for Growth Carmen Macharaschwili, Holy Cross College Notre Dame, IN

2. Holy Cross College “Where experience Matters” Four- year, liberal arts college (very young) 500 students, approximately 30 in the Education department Global issues component Experiential learning Individualized instruction

3. Statement of problem: No funding Reduction in staff Grow Enrollment Maintain the mission

4. Research:  Pew Research Center (2012), “More than three-quarters of the nation’s colleges and universities now offer online classes,...and about one-in-four college graduates (23%) have taken a course online” (Parker, Lenhart & Moore)  Horizon Report:  People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to  Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative models” (The New Media Consortium, 2012 )

5. Challenges in the research  “Administrators and college presidents indicated that they view the change as an opportunity in growth, while faculty, (especially those not familiar with the medium), were more reluctant to credit online learning as a legitimate format” (Allen et. al., 2012)  2/3 of professors say they believe that the learning outcomes for an online course are inferior or somewhat inferior to those for a comparable face- to-face course (Pew, 2012)  49% of the faculty who indicated that learning outcomes in online education are inferior to those for face-to-face instruction are still recommending online courses for their students (Allen, Seaman, Lederman, & Jaschik)

6. Possible solution: Blended learning improved teaching and learning outcomes (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004) flexibility in and access to learning, (Swenson & Curtis, 2003; Vrasidas & Zembylas, 2004) cost effectiveness (Graham, 2006) students in an online section of the course expressed as much or more satisfaction with their learning experience as did students in a face-to-face section and two blended sections of the same course (Kozak, 2009)

7. Holy Cross implementation  50/50 model  Availability of practicing teachers  Opportunity to incorporate experience with educational technologies  Courses: 5 courses, sophomore-senior level  Use of Moodle

8. Research Questions What effects does the implementation of blended learning environment have on cost effectiveness, enrollment, learning outcomes, and faculty and student perceptions of adherence to our mission ?

9. Data:  teacher evaluations (midterm and end-of-term)  Survey (mid-term and end- of-term)  analysis of assessment data and grades  interviews of students and professors

10. Initial results PREPOST

11. Initial Comments  I think that is a good idea to have a mix of classes both in the classroom and online. I think that a disadvantage for me is sometimes I forget about the online homework or activities.  Advantage: Schedule is more flexible for holding a job, or getting in observation hours. Disadvantage: You only see the professor once a week so it is easy to forget about the expectations of a professor or mix them up with a different blended class.

12. Online tools for Implementations  Moodle  Discussion boards  Blogs  Group work  Podcasts  Website browsing  Chat features  Videos

13. Results, 3 rd semester  If I wanted an online course I would go to Ivy Tech  I don’t like it  It felt like busy work.  It is okay, if we used something besides Moodle  If the computer format was followed by discussion  If the computer work better supports what we are learning in class, it works

14. Cost effectivness? Yes. Enrollment? No. Learning outcomes & Assessment? 10% lower scores on online work

15. What happened? Issues in the department Loss of Education majors Demographics of the classes Lack of training of faculty Lack of training of students

16. A closer look: Themes from comments  Time with Professor- 29%  Confusion about Work -64%  Flexibility79%  Technical Issues 21%

17. Comments from professors  I feel that the blended part of the class was not as successful as the in class portion. I think this was partly because I was ineffective at utilizing it to its fullest. I also think that the students were not effective in using their time.  Last year I felt that the students did a nice job of staying current assignments. They were able to add to discussions in class regarding Moodle work and integrate their knowledge of both classwork and online work while collaborating with their peers.  This year I am not seeing the same kind of work ethic by my students and it is hard to have discussions due to students falling behind and not completing the work. :(

18. Themes from professor comments Time for more discussion because readings/videos done online Issues with motivation and online engagement Ways to improve the use of the online environment Echoed student responses about having trouble keeping up with what was due online

19. Recommendations  More thorough training of faculty members  beyond Moodle and discussion boards  Stress online participation  Use of calendar/announcement function  Training students how to work online  Time management  Study hall  How to manage assignments when it is virtual  Model online reflections, practice

21. Student Directed Integration of Technology Student choice to summarize and share their learning Student roles in online learning Student design of online lessons Student exploration and demonstration of web-based tools Use with experienced teachers— undergraduates don’t have the context to provide the reflections we are looking for

22. For further study  Opportunities to create different types of hybrid models, not purely 50/50  Effects of learning styles  Types of online activities