Purpose -The move towards "blended learning", consisting of a combination of online and face-to-face teaching, continues to gain pace in universities around the world. It is important, however, to question the quality of this learning. The OECD has made use of a model of "Readiness, Intensity and Impact" for investigating the adoption and use of eBusiness technologies. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework, based on this model and adapted for blended learning, to assess the readiness, intensity of adoption and impact on blended learning offerings. The framework is tested via a description of how one university has adopted and used blended learning, and investigates the quality of the learning from this approach. Design/methodology/approach -The framework is tested via a case study involving the assessment of a blended learning approach to the delivery of a first-year undergraduate accounting unit at Victoria University, Australia. Various approaches to delivery are assessed over a two-year period. The results are drawn from a survey specifically designed to identify students' attitudes towards blended learning. Findings -Despite having three new online options readily available for students to access, there was strong support for face-to-face delivery methods. In relation to the framework, the assessment suggested that certain aspects of the university's blended learning approach could be investigated further (particularly student readiness for different blended learning options and an overall assessment of the impact of a blended approach), to provide a more holistic view of the readiness to adopt and impact of the blended learning offerings. Originality/value -The value of this contribution lies in the development of a unique framework to assess the impact of blended learning approaches from the viewpoint of student readiness and intensity of separate delivery approaches -whilst maintaining the need to evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning as an overall package.

To address the charge that research findings are obvious, this study examined the perceived obviousness of 12 findings of process-product research on teaching. Twelve hundred and fifteen volunteers in Singapore and in the San Francisco Bay Area rated the degree of obviousness of each finding after (a) attempting to select the actual finding from two possible opposite outcomes, (b) reading a single outcome that was either the actual or the direct opposite of the actual finding, or (c) reading a single outcome plus an explanation for the outcome. The selections of actual findings and the ratings of obviousness of actual or opposite-of-actual findings indicated that respondents could not always distinguish the true findings from their opposites. Explanations tended to increase the rated obviousness of the findings. Differences in gender, knowledge about teaching, and cultural background had inconsistent effects on the judgments of obviousness.People often claim that the findings of social and educational research are obvious. Conant (1963), Phillips (1985, and Schlesinger (1949), among others, made such assertions about research findings with which they were familiar.Once people receive information about an outcome, their feeling of "knew it all along" increases. Such a feeling has often been demonstrated to be a powerful negative influence on the validity of judgment and evaluation. It has been found to bias judges' judgment of rape victims (Janoff-Bulman, Timko, & Carli, 1985) and physicians' judgments of the likelihood of diagnoses (Arkes, Wortmann, Saville, & Harkness, 1981). The obviousness feeling can lead relatives and friends of suicide victims to greater feelings of guilt and self-recrimination (Goggin & Range, 1985). The judgments of jurors, the evaluations by supervisors of their subordinates, and an authority's condemnation of a decision maker can all be biased by such feelings of obviousness.Research has, of course, been an effective tool for helping researchers identify ways to improve many kinds of activity. But if people are biased by a feeling that research findings are obvious, they may not appreciate the value of doing research, because they mistakenly believe that they already know what the research has found.Similarly, funding agencies influenced by this feeling of obviousness will question the value of giving financial support for research. Decision makers also will be less willing to invest time and energy to improve matters on the basis of research. Accordingly, it is important to investigate the degree to which the obviousness feeling affects the perception of educational research results.I thank Edward Haertel and N. L. Gage for their painstaking guidance and encouragement in the completion of this study.

Executive SummaryThere is an increasing demand and expectation for universities to incorporate greater levels of technology into the design and delivery of their curriculum. From an academic perspective, it is of significant interest to determine whether the increased use and availability of online teaching resources have made a positive impact on students' academic performance and whether this is reflected in improved learning outcomes. This paper reports on the findings from a survey of first-year accounting students to assess the level of student engagement with online learning resources. The results indicate that, despite having three new online options readily available via WebCT, students expressed strong support for the traditional face-to-face approaches delivery as the more effective learning options. To determine whether the access to additional online resources had any impact in assisting the students' learning in this subject and potentially affecting their assessment outcomes, a review was conducted to compare the overall pass rates attained. It was found that the period in which the improvement was most significant coincided with the availability of online recordings lectures and tutorials. An investigation of WebCT Course Management Statistical Tools revealed a positive relationship between the level of student engagement with online resources and their overall academic result. Across the key online activities measured, the time spent on each activity was considerably longer for the High Distinction students in comparison to failed students. The analysis of the results has been beneficial in identifying the online learning resources that are most useful in supporting student learning and provide guidance for further enhancement to the design and delivery of e-learning content in this subject.Keywords: student engagement, online resources, technology, learning outcomes, e-learning IntroductionThe continual emergence of new technologies has placed academic staff under increasing pressure to react to these substantial changes within a very short and often unrealistic time-frame. As stated by Bates and Poole (2003, p.xiii), one of the major challenges of teaching with technology is that "you cannot possibly keep up with the technology. The paradox of technology enhanced education is that technology changes very rapidly and human beings change very slowly." This paper is written from the viewpoint of the coordinator of an introductory accounting subject. The students enrolled in this compulsory first-year accounting subject are a very diverse group comprising accounting and non-accounting students from a broad spectrum of business degrees which range from music through toMaterial published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantag...

Rapid developments in education technology have provided educators and students new options in a constantly changing, competitive teaching and learning environment. As the number of online teaching resources continue to increase, research into student attitudes toward traditional and online methods of delivery is important in order to determine whether the increased usage of technology in the curriculum has been beneficial to their learning. This paper investigates the student perceptions of these two methods of delivery in a first-year introductory accounting unit in a number of key areas. These include their perceptions of learning effectiveness, motivation and impact on assessment outcomes. The importance of social interaction and their preference for online learning is also covered. This preliminary analysis of student attitudes will determine whether there are statistically significant differences between face-to-face and online learning options and preference for online learning technology between gender groups. In addition, this paper investigates whether there are statistically significant relationships between face-to-face or online learning options and preference for online learning technology in gender groups.

To remain globally competitive, there is increasing pressure for universities to incorporate a greater use of technology and innovation into their curriculum. In response, many higher education institutions have adopted a blended learning approach, which combines traditional face-toface delivery with online teaching resources, to deliver course content. This paper documents the implementation of online resources in a first-year accounting unit, outlines subsequent changes and monitors its impact on learning outcomes. Whilst in its early stages, this preliminary work on action research will form the basis of determining an optimal blend of traditional and online learning environments for introductory accounting students. This research will endeavour to improve the structure of the curriculum and to positively impact on student learning outcomes.