Prof. Patrick Dougherty, Akita International University:

Dr. Patrick Thomas
Dougherty
Professor of International
Liberal Arts
Director of the English for
Academic Purposes Program
Head of Undergraduate English
Akita International University
Akita, Japan

Best Pedagogical
Practices for Blended
Course Delivery
Blended?
 A blended course is a course that unites face-to-screen interaction with face-toface instruction -- students being instructed in blended systems will experience the best of both types of instructional delivery approaches.
[Hijazi et al. (2006)]
 Blended learning is an approach that unites the socialization of the traditional classroom with the possibilities and active learning aspects of the on-line educational medium.
[Dziuban, Hartman and Moskal (2004)]

A New School + Old School mixed pedagogical paradigm
Students being members of a local cohort of students
T
S
D
C
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Telepresence technology + websites & e-mail
Tutors assigned to each cohort
Peripatetic
Professor

There are many institutions offering on-line degree programs
Some learners require more than on-line programs.
They need presence and community
Hence, the need for a blended format of course delivery that mixed the technological with the human

(1) Access to a certified graduate program in education
(2) A method of connecting with colleagues across the
Emirates
(3) Technology at use in education in a way that was culturally and socially sensitive and supportive of academic goals.

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Garnham and Kaleta (2002): Students learned more, did better on examinations, produced better-quality work, and engaged more actively with the teacher in blended courses than in traditional courses.
Dziuban et al. (2004): Blended courses improved student learning more so than purely online courses.
Gillies (2008): Students felt that the instruction was more personal.
George-Walker and Keeffe (2010): A mix of blended learning and information and communication technologies can create conditions where students increase their engagement with the content and meet their academic and personal goals.

 Students developed a sense of togetherness , camaraderie , and shared experience that came about due to their meeting as an individual cohort with fellow students tied into a wider structure of cohorts, all studying in the same program.
[Dougherty et al. (2011) and Dougherty et al.
(2013)]

Studies 1 & 2

 One student, when she felt that she could not continue the courses due to family and work pressures stated that her group “ of friends ” in her cohort encouraged her to continue.
 Another student felt that being in a cohort was a strength – she felt that it gave her a chance to receive and give support.

 . . . videoconferencing, because it also involved other groups in different locations . . . you get many different points of view at the same time. It wasn’t restricted to the smaller local group but included many different students with different backgrounds .

 They liked having access to their tutor for support and to answer questions, especially when the instructor was at another site.

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 I have tried for three years to join a Master’s program, but I couldn’t, it just wasn’t possible because it wasn’t available in Ras Al Khamaih; so, I had no chance until this program was available.
 If we had to travel to Abu Dhabi or Sharjah, I doubt that we could do that, but this gives us the opportunity to complete our M. E. degree locally.

For emphasis

For me, having all the girls here and we are discussing things together also with the other groups makes out learning much more rich, and we add out experience to the discussion. Like for example, if we were sitting by ourselves at home, and we wanted to ask a question or to negotiate with someone to get the information we want, then we can’t do that by ourselves. We need our peers to negotiate with.

It would be very boring for us to sit at home with our computer all alone.

That’s really the reason I didn’t study at [an online university], first our connection is bad, and what can I do if I have questions, there’s no one to help me. I don’t have my friends or the group. Here, if I’m lost, or have a question, then someone will help me.

Actually, having people to help and support us makes a difference
.

Yes, it’s the group support that helps us.

And sometimes at the end of class when [the instructor] asks us to meet and summarize the lesson, many times I’ve understood the topic in a different way than someone else, and we all have a different view, and that helps us to understand the lesson better as we all reflect when we share together.

 When the instructor is not here, sometimes the students take advantage of the more relaxed atmosphere to do other things, or they lose tract of the lecture while it’s going on . . .

 . . the blended learning delivery worked well.
Video-conferencing with the instructor ‘live’ was like being with the larger group. I felt emotionally supported, and felt a unity because we could recognize that everyone has shared, and had mutual successes. The real-time delivery helped to foster the group feeling and unity – which helped us in the learning process, plus we developed emotional support and a
personal connection in learning as a group.

Best Pedagogical Practices for Blended Course Delivery - A Case Study from the UAE

 Eight of the nine professors who taught in the
TSDCD system were invited to reply to an online survey. This was enhanced by sit-down interviews with six of the professors. None had taught in a TSDCD-type system prior to this program.

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Challenges?
Pedagogical strategies?
Reflections?

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(1) Those who were in the presence of the instructor were more engaged than those at remote sites
(2) Many interesting off-camera discussions took place with the instructor during breaks and that those at remote sites did not gain from this interaction
(3) The structure of delivery inhibited instructor movement
(4) There was a limited capacity for more forms of
interaction.

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I found my teaching was less lecture-style as it often is in typical MA courses but was more interactive, taking more of a seminar format where I put questions to the group and asked for feedback from the group.
I also incorporated many more small-group tasks where groups could break away, think about a point or example and then share their thoughts or ideas with their peers.

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First, I made sure all my lesson planning was done in advance with lesson outlines and materials sent to students in advance.
Secondly, it meant the format of each session was varied to involve students in different ways through direct teaching, questioning and response to individuals and the group, individual feedback to a reading or video stimulus, small group and whole group tasks.

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Maintain, a judicious mix of activities and discussion, pay close attention to time limits, and work to encourage participation from more reserved cohorts.
“I have also had to think much more about engaging students in different ways and this is something that I now do as part of my practice in courses which do not use this format of delivery.”
Have the lesson plan, activities, and readings, etc., ready to send out to students and tutors ahead of time
-- necessary to ensure that all the students got the most out of the class sessions.
Have a well organized structure to each lesson with each segment of the class time being specified ahead of time.

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Be student focused & activity & project driven.
Be aware of the local context.
Foster opportunities for reflection & discussion across the spectrum of sites.
Provide opportunities for inter & intra-cohort dialogue and interaction.
Value the tutor as an assistant to learning.
Monitor student understanding & comfort with the learning process.
Develop a proactive class environment where students freely participate.

Two quotes and a question

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For the students, they could benefit from the experience and input of students from different parts of the UAE which stimulated discussion and reflection on theory and practice. They also potentially grew to articulate their points of view more clearly because they could not rely on 'sense' or 'physicality' in the same way.
For me as a teacher, it made me really reflect about how best to plan sessions to ensure the engagement of all students in different ways e.g. hearing each student's point of view on a subject or short video; small group tasks which the groups then had to present back to the whole group; open group discussion.

 Regarding the methodology, it requires a change of consciousness, you need to change the plane on which you operate. You need to not only think about the people who are with you, but also the people out there who need to feel connected and engaged.

 Where else can it provide
Access?
Community?
Education?

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Al Khateeb, Haitham. 2001. “Gender Differences in Mathematics Achievement among High School
Students in the United Arab Emirates, 1991–
2000.” School Science and Mathematics 101: 5–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2001.tb18184.x.
Bates, Anthony, and Janice Picard. 2005.
Technology, E-learning and Distance Education.
2nd edition. New York: Routledge.
Dougherty, Patrick, Josephine Butler, and Sarah
Hyde. 2011. “A Hybrid Instructional Model for Post
Graduate Education: A Case Study from the
United Arab Emirates.” International Journal for
Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education 2(4): 549–
54.
Dziuban, Charles, Joel Hartman, and Patty
Moskal. 2004. “Blended Learning.” EDUCAUSE
7(3). Accessed March 20. http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/blend ed-learning
Garnham, Carla, and Robert Kaleta. 2002.
“Introduction to Hybrid Courses.” Teaching with
Technology Today. University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee. 8.6. Accessed March 20. http://www.uwsa.edu/ttt/articles/garnham. htm
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Hijazi, Samuel, Maureen Crowley, M. Leigh Smith, and Charles Schafer. 2006. “Maximizing Learning by Teaching Blended Courses.” Proceedings of the
2006 ASCUE Conference, Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina. Accessed March 22. http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/mhabdelgawad/My%20d ocuments/blnded%20learning.pdf
Pearson Foundation (PF). 2011. “Second Annual
Pearson Foundation Community College Student
Survey.” Accessed March 20. http://www.pearsonfoundation.org/downloads/PF
_CC_Survey_2011_Summary.pdf
Stewart, Anissa, Danielle Harlow, and Kim
DeBacco. 2011. “Students’ Experience of
Synchronous Learning in Distributed
Environments.” Distance Education 32(3): 357–81.
Twigg, Carol. 2001. Innovations in Online Learning:
Moving Beyond no Significant Difference. Troy, NY:
Center for Academic Transformation, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.