An innovative way of designing blended learning through design-based research in higher education

Abstract

Within higher education, the use of blended learning (BL) is exponentially increased in the 21st century, which poses a number of challenges in designing the process of BL for educators. The aim of this designbased research (DBR) study was to assist an inexperienced educator in teaching and designing a BL course in higher education to convert a face-to-face (F2F) course into a BL course. During the design and delivery of the BL course, what appropriate practices were needed to achieve creating an efficient and effective BL course were determined and the educator’s reflections on the first experience of teaching the BL course were documented over three iterative design cycles. Mixed methods including learning environment observations, educator interviews, student surveys were employed. The results demonstrated that BL enabled the educator to adopt active learning approaches, engage students in critical thinking and promote the quality of interactive and collaborative learning assignments. Although the educator indicated the time limitation as an obstacle to teach a more efficient BL course, the educator was contented with teaching and designing the BL course and found it useful and supportive overall. Findings were presented and discussed for future studies and implications.