Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education: Blended Learning

Friday, 9 October 2015

Blended learning and postgraduate skills: rethinking MA History

Matthew McCormack, Natalie Hanley-Smith

Abstract

This study focuses on the implications of blended learning for taught postgraduate education. It takes as its focus the pilot year of the MA History at the University of Northampton, which had been redesigned to blend online and face-to-face delivery. By employing a student researcher to canvass students’ views, the project evaluates the implications of the delivery mode for the specific skills associated with the discipline of History. As well as evaluating this particular programme, the project uses it as a case study to develop a transferable framework for blended learning. The article argues that both online and classroom delivery can develop the key skills associated with postgraduate study in History, but in significantly different ways, so combining them in an effective blend can offer a pedagogical enhancement.

Keywords

Blended learning; e-learning; postgraduate

Full Text:

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References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v7i1.96

The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index

Social media platforms as educational interfaces - considering the way forward for blended learning

Kelly Louise Preece

Abstract

Despite their pervasiveness, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are subject to a number of criticisms of their efficacy as platforms for blended learning (Weller, 2006). This paper considers the use of social media platform Padlet as an alternative educational interface through evaluation of an intervention-based case-study. Focus groups were conducted with the student cohort, identifying a number of recurring themes that form the main body of this paper: visuality and clarity of the interface, autonomy over learning, students as co-producers and critical reflection. These themes address the intervention itself, and acknowledge the limitations of the research by proposing potential developments. The paper concludes by drawing together questions for further research, and notably reflects on whether it is more pertinent to address the way we use educational interfaces, rather than the interfaces themselves, in considering ‘the way forward’ for blended learning in Higher Education 2018.

Keywords

Blended Learning; Student Experience

Full Text:

PDF

References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14234/elehe.v7i1.95

The Journal Enhancing the Learner Experience in Higher Education can be found at: http://journals.northampton.ac.uk/index.php/elehe/index