Students’ perspectives on the design and implementation of a blended synchronous learning environment

Abstract

This study investigated a blended synchronous learning environment (BSLE), which was designed for a group of master's students taking a course at a teacher education institute. The BSLE was created for the majority of the students to attend the course face-to-face and at the same time allowed the rest to join the identical sessions using videoconferencing from different locations. The purpose of the study was to find out what learning experiences and perceptions the students had with regard to the design and implementation of the BSLE. Results show that the BSLE could extend certain features of the face-to-face classroom instruction to the online students and the students liked the flexibility and convenience of attending lessons via the twoway videoconferencing at remote sites. This study further identified that smooth communication between online students and the instructor and between the online students and classroom students, the engagement of the online students and the redesign of certain instructional activities, balanced attention from the instructor to the classroom students as well as the online students and the quality of the audio were crucial for the environment to be effective.

Transitioning from Face-to-Face to Remote Learning: Students’ Attitudes and Perceptions of using Zoom during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Many studies focused on the use of video-conferencing tools (E.g., Anastasiades et al, 2010;Candarli & Yuksel, 2012;Delaney et al, 2004;Ghazal et al, 2015;Karal et al, 2011;Knipe & Lee, 2002;Mader & Ming, 2015;Oh & Lee, 2012). Some studies focused specifically on the use of Zoom in the classroom (E.g., Archibald et al, 2019;Maul et al, 2018;Sayem et al ,2017;Wang et al, 2018). Over the past few months in particular, researchers have started investigating online learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Adnan & Anwar, 2020;Agarwal & Kaushik, 2020;Basilaia et al, 2020;Bao, 2020;Demuyakor, 2020;Murphy, 2020;Naciri et al, 2020;Toquero, 2020).…”

Into the Online Space: Outcomes for a PASS Online Pilot Across Different First Year University Subjects

“…However, whether these benefits can be successfully transferred to online versions is less clear. As Wang et al, [12] point out, online formats may not be able to replicate the stimuli and cues that are essential to interpersonal interactions and collaboration that can be found in F2F versions. Inconsistent results in the literature suggest this is a complex question [8] meaning other factors might be of influence.…”

“…There is no guarantee that these can be created or recreated in the online space. Online learning modes may not be able to emulate the F2F student experience [4,[12][13][14]. One could argue that they should not try, given that the content and mode of delivery for different subjects are intrinsically linked.…”

Features fostering academic and social integration in blended synchronous courses in graduate programs

“…Asynchronous online activities are also planned for all students (Bower, Dalgarno, Kennedy, Lee, & Kenney, 2015;Irvine, Code, & Richards, 2013). These courses are commonly referred to as Blended Synchronous courses (Bower et al, 2015) although they are also given other names, such as HyFlex, Multi-access Lakhal & Khechine, 2016;, Synchronous Blended or Synchronous Learning in Distributed Environments (Wang, Huang, & Quek, 2018), and Simultaneous Bimodality (Collin, Calonne, Peters, Lefrançois, & Saint-Jean, 2016). It is worth mentioning that in some of the studies reviewed, online students participated from two fixed sites, one face-to-face and the other remote, while in others, online students participated from multiple sites, in addition to the face-to-face site.…”