Use of blended learning to enhance the student learning experience and engagement in property education

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to report the detailed findings of a Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE) funded study into good practice in the use of blended learning in property education. "Blended learning" is a combination of face-to-face learning experiences and online learning experiences which aim to complement each other in order to support and enhance student learning. The aim of this paper is to examine the benefits that blended learning provides to students' learning experience and engagement in property education. It also seeks to discuss lessons learnt from academics who deliver Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) accredited property-related courses, in developing blended learning and students' interaction with the blended learning environment. Design/methodology/approach -This paper presents the research findings from interviews and questionnaire surveys of RICS and CIOB accredited property-related course providers and the students who currently study these courses. Eight course directors of property-related courses were interviewed and through discussion with the academic interviewees a questionnaire was developed and sent to all RICS and CIOB undergraduate and postgraduate course directors in the UK. The eight interviewed course directors were requested to send out a questionnaire to their students, and 442 completed students' questionnaires were returned. Further telephone interviews with seven students were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify similar themes. The frequency of the answer in the questionnaire and comments from interviewees is presented. Findings -Both academics and students find that blended learning gives greater flexibility for student learning in terms of learning style and study pace.With the adoption of a wide range of delivery methods, blended learning can successfully improve students' experience and enhance their engagement. It is also important to ensure that blended learning is really "blended" and includes a good mix of delivery methods. "Face-to-face interaction" with students is important as students require reassurance and on-going support from lecturers. Providing training for students to use specialist software in order to equip them to fully utilise blended learning is also essential. Finally, allocation of sufficient time and resources for the development and maintenance of blended learning programmes is also key to its success. Originality/value -This paper is the first to investigate the lessons learnt from academics in developing blended learning and also students' interaction with the blended learning environment in property-related courses in the UK. Property-related course providers can use the results of this study to inform the design of blended learning in their programme in order to enhance students' learning experience and engagement.

The Students’ Perceptions on Blended Learning: A Q Method Analysis

“…Meta-analyses also clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of blended learning on student achievement when compared to online and face-to-face learning (Batdı, 2014;Çırak-Kurt, Yıldırım, & Cücük, 2017;Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009). Besides, there are studies addressing blended learning from different perspectives (Geçer, 2013;Kocaman-Karoğlu, Kiraz, & Özden, 2014;López-Pérez et al, 2011;Poon, 2012) and those investigating the effects of blended learning environments enriched via various methods such as gamification and 5E (Kurt, 2012;Meşe, 2016;Yıldırım, 2016). It was also concluded that blended learning research conducted in Turkey were mainly postgraduate dissertations examining the effects of the blended learning on certain variables such as motivation (Aygün, 2011;Cabi, 2009), attitude (Çiftçi & Dönmez 2015), anxiety reduction (Horzum & Çakır Balta, 2008), permanence (Aksoğan, 2011), self-regulatory learning skills (Ateş Çobanoğlu, 2013;Güler, 2013), professional know-how (Kaya 2014;Sungur, 2014), critical thinking and creative skills (Umar, 2014) and self-efficacy (Demirer, 2009) and the majority of those revealed positive variations on the aforementioned variables.…”

Harmanlanmış Öğrenmenin Akademik Başarı Üzerine Etkisi: Bir Meta-Analiz Çalışması

“…Alan yazında harmanlanmış öğrenmeye dair pek çok tanımlama ile karşılaşılmakta (Driscoll, 2002;Garrison ve Kanuka, 2004;Jonas ve Burns, 2010;Osguthorpe ve Graham, 2003;Williams vd., 2008;Yen ve Lee, 2011) ancak tam olarak sınırları belli bir tanımın henüz belirlenmediği, her çalışmanın kendine özgü çerçevesinin olduğu ve mevcut tanımların ortak özellikler taşıdığı yapılan araştırmalarda da belirtilmektedir (Aygün, 2011;Bliuc vd., 2007;Osgerby, 2013;Picciano vd., 2013;Poon 2012;Sharpe vd., 2006). Bir diğer deyişle alan yazında harmanlanmış öğrenme üzerine ilgili teknolojiler ve uygulama çeşitliliğini yansıtacak kadar çok tanım yer almaktadır.…”

“…Ayrıca harmanlanmış öğrenmeyi farklı yönleri ile ele alan (Geçer, 2013;Kocaman-Karoğlu vd., 2014;López-Pérez vd., 2011;Nor ve Kasim, 2015;Poon, 2012) ve harmanlanmış öğrenmenin çeşitli değişkenler üzerindeki etkisini inceleyen araştırmalara (Ateş-Çobanoğlu, 2013;Kirişçioğlu, 2009;Yen ve Lee, 2011;Kashefi vd., 2012;Sophonhiranraka vd., 2014;Motteram, 2006) rastlanmaktadır. Örneğin Yen ve Lee (2011) ile Sophonhiranraka vd.…”

Driving education for sustainable development potential within professional curricula: Built environment sustainability training and training development for professionals in Wales

“…an online approach) (Bersin, 2004, cited in Onguko et al, 2013, is gathering in popularity for professionals, as it enables a greater degree of flexibility for engagement. Within the built environment sector, literature suggests that blended learning is used widely and is able to provide "simulated learning experiences" to its participants (Poon, 2012;Poon, 2013). Although care must be taken; there are certain topics for which blended learning would not be suitable; and for certain trades, there is no substitution for faceto-face and practical learning approaches.…”