All first-year students at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) are required to take mathematics courses, but their motivation to participate in these courses is generally lower than their motivation for courses that belong to their main field of study. These lower levels of commitment often lead to lower results and weaker understanding of mathematical concepts, which in turn affect the rest of their studies. Two years ago, TU Delft introduced blended learning in the first-year interfaculty mathematics courses, in order to improve results, make more efficient use of teaching staff, facilitate the transfer of maths knowledge to other subjects and better connect with today's students. In this paper we provide an insight into the project, based on student and educator interviews, observations and surveys. Furthermore, we examine the impact of the flipped classroom model used in the project. Our findings suggest that the model could be a promising way of enhancing students' learning performance. The main results show that students have a more active learning experience, compared to the traditional setup of these courses, leading to more engagement and interaction. Furthermore, the project structure of the flipped maths courses provides opportunities for more scalable education. Based on our findings we provide recommendations, not just for this project but also for other course teams who are setting up similar projects in order to help them develop a model that best serves their education.

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A Partnership in Higher EducationThe “European Maturity Model for Blended Education” (EMBED) is a higher education (HE) project (2017-2020) led by a consortium of universities across Europe: KU Leuven, TU Delft, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Aarhus, Dublin City University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. It is coordinated by The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and funded by the European Commission. Aim is to support institutions when introducing, developing and implementing blended learning (BL) in HE. A reference model is created that encompasses all levels of an institution: the design of a course, organisational aspects such as policy making, staff support, training and leadership, while guarding the institution’s quality culture. Internal stakeholders include learners, teaching staff, support services, technology departments and university leaders, while external stakeholders are key persons responsible for policy making such as governments, European university networks and the EU.

The pandemic has urged European universities and other institutions of higher education to switch in a very limited time from on-campus to remote teaching or to teaching modes that combine online and face-to-face activities. Instructors, as well as other course designers and support service staff are in search of evidence-based frameworks that show how to incorporate proven blended scenarios, adapted to their context. Between 2017 and 2020 seven European project partners collaborated in order to establish a conceptual and operational framework for blended education and teaching, labelled as the European Maturity Model for Blended Education. Its aim is to map blended learning practices, conditions, strategies and policies in a systematic manner and to empower higher education institutions to achieve up-scaled blended courses. In this contribution, we focus on what has been developed with regard to the course level. First, we describe the dimensions and indicators of the model, next we indicate blended courses might be altered in terms of their level of maturity using a series of guidelines and open-source tools and materials. We conclude by proposing how to employ the guidelines in a workshop setting.