Blended Learning:
Best Practices
Deborah Knox
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Interim Director, Center for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning
The College of New Jersey
Peter DePasquale, PhD
Associate Professor of Computer Science
The College of New Jersey
What is Blended Learning?
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Blended learning is a formal education
program in which a student learns at least
in part through online delivery of content
and instruction with some element of
student control over time, place, path, and /
or pace.
Blended Learning @ TCNJ
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6 week summer courses (8 week in
computer science), expanding into January
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Courses held on-line with 1 on-campus
session per week (3 - 3.5 hours)
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On-Line
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Lectures / Exercises
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Supporting Materials
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Office Hours
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Discussions
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On-Campus
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Lectures
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Office Hours
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Discussions
Timeline
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Summer 2011: Blended learning initiated at
TCNJ
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Summer 2012: First offering (Accelerated
CS 1/2; mostly computer engineering, some
early computer science students)
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Summer 2013: HON 280 Creative
CSC 250 : Accelerated CS 1/2
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Serves to fulfill curriculum coverage of
object-oriented programming (CS1) and data
structures (CS2) in one class
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Taught using Java
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Enrollment: ~20
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80% electrical and computer engineering
CSC 250 : Accelerated CS 1/2
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Assessments:
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Weekly closed labs working in pairs
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Monthly, larger, take-home programming projects
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Mid-term examination
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Final-examination
CSC 250 : Accelerated CS 1/2
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Average student has a programming
background
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Engineering students: Procedural C++ (no
Object-oriented programming (OOP))
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Computer Science students: C++ or Java w/
CSC 250 : Accelerated CS 1/2
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Misc.
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Initial enrollment: 12
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9 TCNJ students
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1 incoming TCNJ freshman
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2 attending other institutions
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Completing course: 6
CSC 250 : Accelerated CS 1/2
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Highly accelerated pace
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Covered 3-5 chapters per week (depending
on content)
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2 labs (small programming work) per week
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1 take-home programming project per week
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On-class time was used to provide short
lectures on key concepts and hands-on lab
work with instructor oversight / help
Student Feedback
Summer 2012
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Analysis of Qualtrics survey
Report on Student Feedback from Blended Learning
Courses, Summer 2012
Prepared by: Jason Dahling, Helene Anthony, John Oliver, and
Deborah Knox, for the Teaching and Learning Program Council
(TLPC), November 14, 2012.
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119 respondents (133 registered students in 10
courses) 89% response rate
Survey: Why Take Blended
Learning?
Courtesy TCNJ Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
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Summer Blended
Learning @ TCNJ
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2012 Survey Results
Question
Decreased
Same
Increased
Amount of interaction with
other students
40%
33.7%
26.3%
Quality of interaction with other
students
30.5%
48.4%
21.1%
Amount of interaction with the
instructor
22.1%
53.7%
24.2%
Quality of interaction with the
instructor
17.9%
56.8%
25.3%
TCNJ Best Practices
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Building community
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Small group work - peer editing / grading
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Asynchronous discussion forum - modeling
meaningful contributions
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Email / Social networking
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Consider best use of on-campus time
(face-to-face class)
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Learner centered activities
Recommendations on blended
learning modality
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Communicate the demands of the blended learning
model to students
(repeat as appropriate)
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Set clear expectations for the workload and pace
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Dispel assumption that a blended course will be
easier because of the irregular class meetings
Recommendations on syllabus
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Plan syllabus carefully
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Remove redundancies in goals and assignments
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Integrate the online and classroom activities
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Each activity should lead student towards meeting learning
goals
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Online activities should be used when they meet course
goals more effectively than face-to-face strategies
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Select most appropriate approach
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Remove activities that require extensive face-to-face
Recommendations for
course preparation
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Budget adequate time to attend training on blended
learning, prepare syllabus, and course
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Some students indicate that faculty struggled to prepare
their materials while the course was ongoing
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Prepare materials for courses before the start of the
blended learning session.
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Prepare assignments, lecture notes, and other resources
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Avoid delaying students’ progress on assigned work
Recommendations for
class time
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Emphasize discussions
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Some students found it hard to contribute meaningfully online
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Include high-quality forms of peer and instructor interactions
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Use the full time period when face-to-face meetings are
scheduled
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Some students noted that their in-class meetings were quite
CSC 250 Results
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Mixed results
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Disappointed by course withdrawals
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6 week format was too challenging
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No time for absorption
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Little time for confidence building
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Pace of grading / feedback / support
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Challenge to run this type of course in blended
Blended Learning +
Computer Science
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2012: Database systems, CSC 250
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2013: Software engineering, HON 280
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HON280: Non-major introduction to
programming in Python using media
computation
Blended Learning +
Humanities
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May be more successful in humanities
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Off line: reading, essays, discussion
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Seem to attract more students
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More widely required across the curriculum
Additional resources on
blended learning
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UWM Faculty Resources: Tips
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http://www4.uwm.edu/ltc/hybrid/
faculty_resources/tips.cfm
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Idaho Digital Learning, Blended Community
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https://sites.google.com/a/idahopd.org/
Gracias
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Special thanks
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Deb Knox, Interim Director, Center for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning, TCNJ
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John Kuipoff, instructor, Interactive Multimedia,
supporting blended learning initiative @ TCNJ
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TCNJ Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
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http://cetl.pages.tcnj.edu