Blended learning offers a learner-centred approach that employs both in-class learning and digital technology to facilitate online learning. Such an approach is especially advantageous to adult-learners in higher education as it meets their educational needs. However, adult-learners’ participation in blended learning programmes remains challenging due to a general lack of online interaction, and no clear teaching strategies that address this concern. Literature relating to adult-learners’ educational needs and online interaction was consulted in order to design teaching strategies that foster adult-learners’ online interaction. The aim of this study is to further validate these teaching strategies, hence a multiple case study was carried out using a mixed method approach. As such, eight teachers and sixteen students from four courses across three universities in Belgium and the Netherlands were interviewed. Additionally, a questionnaire testing a pre-defined set of variables was distributed to 84 students. The results lead to a set of validated teaching strategies that help teachers to further develop their professional skills and expertise. The teaching strategies can be grouped into three categories, namely 1) the teacher's online presence, 2) collaborative learning activities and preparatory learning activities, and 3) the distribution of learning content and learning activities across online and in-class learning. An elaborate set of validated teaching strategies is included. This study aids towards teacher professional development and adds evidence-based knowledge to teaching strategies and instructional frameworks for adult-learners in higher education.
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Video was used in a variety of formats during a third year elective Inholland course ‘Levensbeschouwing’ at the Faculty Onderwijs en Innovatie (education and innovation) in Amstelveen. From April to June (2017), 30 part-time and full-time students on the Tweedegraads Leraren Opleiding chose to follow the course for the ten week study period. Students used a variety of video formats to support and enhance their learning process. This research evaluates how the didactic embedding of video supported the teaching and learning on the course. The objective of the research was to gain insight into the ways in which video supports the learning and teaching process in the course and into the perceived practicality and effectiveness of this video support. The research examined how video was integrated into the course structure, how students and lecturers perceived the practicality of the use of video, and whether they considered it effective. The conversational framework of Laurillard (2002), was used as a framework in which to examine the interaction between students and teachers at the conceptual and application level. An overview was made of the different forms of videos used during the course (both teacher and student generated), how they were viewed and the value of them to the students. A survey was collected on the last day of the course in which students could share feedback on the ways in which video had contributed to their learning process. At the end of the course, a group interview was held with six student representatives (one from each group) and with the lecturers on the course to collect additional qualitative feedback on how video contributed to the learning process.
In March 2020 schools in The Netherlands closed to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus. Shortly after, schools took to online education. The condensed setting of the Covid-19 situation provided a background to study which learning activities and tools teachers choose in online education and how they use them to promote interaction. Interaction is quintessential to learning but in online education it is not easy to provide room for interaction. Our central research question therefore is how interaction within online education activities change over time. An online longitudinal survey amongst teachers was conducted. The first four rounds took place in the early stages of the lockdowns and shortly after. In total 179 different secondary school teachers participated of whom 16 responded three rounds or more. Most teachers use tools in online education that can facilitate more interaction than necessary for the Instructional Design. This means that improving interaction in online education is more a pedagogical challenge than a technical one. It was also found that teachers who deploy Instructional Designs that require more interaction use more and different tools. However, only few of these tools seem to facilitate the interactive quality the teachers pursued. Over time we saw the interactive quality of Instructional Design and tools converge. We are in awe of the artful way in which some teachers manage to combine the possibilities of different tools to establish high interactive quality in the online learning processes they conduct.
