RSA#2

Journal Link

RSA2: A Blended Learning Experience

This week’s module readings provided great information on blended learning, I especially liked the Keeping Pace report that provided the national snapshot for online learning and all the states that participate in fully online and supplemental online learning.  Admittedly, I was initially inquisitive and unsure of the standards set for online learning and students' abilities to achieve in a blended learning environment, however after reading this week's module readings and the online journal that I found in the Concordia online library, I am much more optimistic about what e-learning is capable of achieving.

In my online resource, I read a journal titled “A Blended Learning Experience” by Aynure Gecer and Funda Dag, who conducted a blending learning experiment on 67 freshman students enrolled in Mathematics Teaching at Kocaeli University in Kocaeli, Turkey. The students took the same course, which focused on “electronic communication and interaction technologies in the learning environment and emphasized the use of online tools and social communication online… the course combined face to face with online learning”(Dag & Gecer, 2012). In the end of the experiment, Dag and Gecer took an evaluation survey from the participants asking what aspects were different in the blended learning course versus other (face to face) courses they have taken. The top responses from students about the blended learning course were “…the course made us participate actively” and “assignments and projects increased our learning responsibility”(Dag & Gecer, 2012).

My initial research on blended learning began with a charter school in Arizona. A video gave the ominous robotic-like feel of students entering their learning environment and walking directly to 1 of 300 cubicles in a room. After reading about other blended learning schools and articles about how blended learning can be a positive experience, I am much more supportive of it. If implemented well, while also being fun and interactive for students, blended learning can and should be a way of education now and in the future.

References

Watson, J., Murin, A., Vashaw, L., Gemin, B., & Rapp, C. (2013). Keeping Pace with K- 

     12 Online & Blended Learning: An Annual Review on Policy and Practice.

     Retrieved from

     http://kpk12.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/EEG_KP2013-lr.pdf

     

Gecer, A., & Dag, F. (2012). A Blended Learning Experience.

Retrieved from

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=11ba6450-1362-4114-a2cd-347196b7f08a%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4109