Inquiry through Blended Learning

1
Inquiry through Blended Learning

• Making informed course redesign decisions by
  engaging in a SoTL approach
• Dr. Norm Vaughan
• nvaughan_at_ucalgary.ca
• Dr. D. Randy Garrison
• garrison_at_ucalgary.ca

2
Overview

• Inquiry through Blended Learning Program
• SoTL approach
• Course scenarios
• Results
• Action/future plans

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Institutional Learning Plan

• That inquiry-based learning approaches be at the
  centre of the undergraduate learning experience.
• All students must have the opportunity to
  participate in communities of inquiry
• Learning technologies (i.e., eLearning) offer
  opportunities to enhance the campus experience
  and extend learning through the innovative use of
  on-line resources, asynchronous collaborative
  learning opportunities, and electronic
  communication.

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Inquiry

• Is problem or question driven
• Typically has a small-group feature
• Includes critical discourse
• Is frequently multi-disciplinary
• Incorporates research methods such as information
  gathering and synthesis of ideas

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Blended Learning

• Thoughtful integration of face-to-face and online
  learning.
• An opportunity to enhance the classroom
  experience and extend learning through the
  innovative use of Internet communication and
  information technology.
• Not an add-on redesign approaches (e.g.,
  replace lectures, add online activities)

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Why Blended Learning?

• New approaches to teaching (change culture)
• Enhance student learning
• Maximize institutional resources
• Access convenience

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History of BL at U of C

• Institutional Learning Plan
• Blended Learning Position Paper
• Link to inquiry based learning
• Raising Awareness
• Steve Sorg, UCF (2002)
• Carol Twigg, NCAT (2004)
• Curtis Bonk, Indiana University (2005)
• Peter Bullen Peter Chatterton, University of
  Hertfordshire (2006)
• Grant program

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IBL Program

• Faculty apply for course redesign grants (10,000
  with one 30,000 grant for a major course
  redesign)
• Proposal reviews and selections are made by the
  Inquiry Learning Action Group
• Teaching Learning Centre provides course
  redesign consultation and support (define course
  goals and expectations, redesign learning
  activities and assessment assignments, adapt and
  develop online tools, evaluate implementation,
  and disseminate results)

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Inquiry Through Blended Learning

• Support Program
• Orientation course redesign guide and initial
  meeting with representatives from the Teaching
  Learning Centre, Information Technologies and the
  Library
• Faculty community of inquiry blending of face
  to face luncheon meetings with online learning
  activities to support project development
• Project team meetings Teaching Learning
  Centre consultant with faculty, graduate students
  and staff involved in each specific project

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SoTL Approach

• Defining course redesign goals through initial
  data gathering analysis
• Application for Ethical Review (Institutional
  Review Board)
• Office of Institutional Analysis student
  demographics, grades and withdrawal/drop rates
• Classroom and online observations
• Surveys, focus groups, interviews with current
  past students, course instructors, administration
  from related faculties departments

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SoTL Approach

• Course implementation
• Common end of semester student survey for all
  ITBL courses
• Post-course interview with instructors
• Options
• Student focus groups, interviews, blogs,
  audio/video journals, assessment artifacts

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Scenario One - Economics

• Introductory Micro and Macroeconomics
• Goal to increase
• student engagement with course material outside
  of class time
• opportunities to apply theory to practical
  problems
• access and quality of tutorial resources
• Solution
• Replacement of scheduled classroom tutorials with
  interactive online tutorials and assignments
  (Blackboard with links to Aplia.com)

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Scenario Two Communication Culture

• International Development Studies
• Goal to increase
• Student peer interaction and critical dialogue
  during class time
• Solution
• Lectures replaced by Macromedia Breeze
  presentations (narrated PowerPoint with embedded
  videos and self-assessments) accessed outside of
  class time within the Blackboard learning
  management system
• Class time used exclusively for group work (60
  students - 20 meet on Monday, 20 meet on
  Wednesday and 20 on Friday)

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Scenario Three Nursing

• Child and Youth Health Promotion in Schools
• Goal to increase
• Course scheduling flexibility
• Exposure to diverse perspectives
• Solution
• Weekend course workshops
• Virtual presentations by online guests through
  the Elluminate Live! system and related
  discussions hosted within the Blackboard
  learning management system

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Blended Learning - Student Survey

• Winter 2006 - 9 courses
• 241 completed surveys
• 76 return rate
• 50 first yr
• 78 female
• Average age 21.4 yrs

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Blended Learning - Student Survey

• Interaction - amount
• With other students
• 77.6 increased 15.8 nd
• group work was primary reason
• With instructor
• 55.2 increased 27.4 nd
• accessibility was primary reason

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Blended Learning - Student Survey

• Interaction quality
• With other students
• 68.9 increased 25.3 nd
• group work and discussions were primary reasons
• With instructor
• 58.5 increased 27.8 nd
• accessibility was primary reason

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BL Student Survey Summary

• Most effective
• group work discussions online resources
• Least effective
• course expectations not clear online components
  heavy workload
• Advice be prepared to take responsibility and
  be open to new approaches

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Blended Learning - Instructor Survey

• What do you like most about BL?
• Increased access and flexibility
• Variety of approaches
• Increased communication
• Assessment feedback efficiencies
• Increased opportunity for student reflection
• Richer classroom interactions
• Development of a learning community

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Blended Learning - Instructor Survey

• What do you like least?
• Increased instructor workload
• Nothing
• Students challenged to contribute online (i.e.,
  take responsibility for their learning)
• Technology challenges

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Instructor Post-Course Interviews

• Project Development Stage Lessons Learned

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Instructor Post-Course Interviews

• Project Development Stage Lessons Learned

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Instructor Post-Course Interviews

• Project Development Stage Lessons Learned

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Instructor Post-Course Interviews

• Project Delivery Stage Lessons Learned

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Instructor Post-Course Interviews

• Project Delivery Stage Lessons Learned

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Faculty Feedback about the ITBL Program

• Lunch meetings breadth opportunities to
  learn about a diversity of approaches to inquiry
  and blended learning
• Online components - opportunities to reflect on
  how new ideas can be incorporated into the
  redesigned course
• Workshops hands-on opportunities to develop
  learning resources for your blended learning
  course
• Individual project meetings depth
  opportunity to discuss project specific issues,
  set project milestones and assign project related
  tasks

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Strategic Challenges

• Awareness and understanding of inquiry and
  blended learning
• Student orientation (resistance)
• Commitment to fundamental redesign
• Strategic plan covering all four undergraduate
  years
• Teaching-research imbalance

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Action/Future Plans

• Student Orientation
• Blended learning course calendar designation
• Pre-course Web sites and Adobe Breeze
  presentations
• Two page Tip sheets about common inquiry
  blended learning issues (i.e., inquiry, student
  orientation)
• Future plans for a formal first year student
  orientation to inquiry program (i.e., for-credit
  module of study)
• SoTL
• Recent hiring of an evaluation specialist to
  coordinate the collection analysis of data and
  the dissemination of results for SoTL studies

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Dissemination of Results

• Internal
• Faculty-led blended learning presentations to new
  ITBL cohorts, departments and the U of C
  community
• Articles in U of C publications
• External
• Conference presentations and journal articles

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IBL Scholarship Dissemination Grants

• 10 annual awards of 1000
• Support
• Research related to designing, conducting and
  publishing research on teaching innovations
  related to the IBL projects
• Conference travel to present a paper based on the
  results of a study that describes lessons learned
  in the course redesign and implementation

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CONCLUSION

• Questions
• http//tlc.ucalgary.ca/