Sloan-C Blended Learning Research Perspectives

Blended Learning Research Perspectives - Purchase this Publication

Sloan-C's long-running collection of effective practices has produced a number of EPs related to blended learning. That section of Sloan-C's main web site (www.sloan-c.org) is currently undergoing a redesign to add more collaborative and interactive tools that will hopefully help you to access the information you need. During the process, we collected a list of EPs related to blended learning. We will notify everyone when the new site is ready to visit, but in the meantime, here is a list of EPs on the current EP site that may interest you:

Please Note: Download the full report at the bottom of this page.

Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States builds on the Sloan series of annual reports on the state of online education in U.S. Higher Education.  This study is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of education in the United States.   Unlike the previous reports in this series that focused exclusively on online learning, this report examines blended (also called hybrid) instruction.  The findings are based on four years of responses from a national sample of over 1,000 colleges and universities.  Additional results are presented from an Eduventures-conducted national survey of 2,033 U.S. adults interested in postsecondary education in the next three years.

In this 2003 paper, Stephen Laster of Babson College (now at Harvard Business School) shares their experience of using model-driven design in delivering blended programs.

Following is the introduction to the paper, read the attached for the remainder:

INTRODUCTION

Blended teaching and learning in an integrated curriculum creates opportunities for learning that are not
found in a traditional discipline-specific, pure classroom model. These opportunities include:

In this 2004 paper, Stephen Laster of Babson College (now at Harvard Business School) shares thoughts on defining blended learning.

Following is the introduction to the paper, read the attached for the remainder:

INTRODUCTION

This past summer I had the pleasure of participating in the Sloan-C Online Research Workshop. Working with a large group of energetic educators, we were able to examine the issues of student satisfaction, learning effectiveness, blended environments, and transformative assessment. I facilitated the conversation around blended learning in which a productive exchange of ideas took place.

In partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Sloan-C announces:

Sloan-C Workshop on Blended Learning and Higher Education: Blended by Design

Date: Sunday, June 3 – Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Location:
Indian Lakes Resort
250 West Schick Road
Bloomingdale, IL 60108

Blended Learning – What Is It and Where Might It Take Us? - February 2003 – A featured 3-page article in the Sloan-C View authored by Richard Voos of Babson College. The article provides some general definitions, as well as many examples of blended programs.  It also asks some key questions concerning blended learning:

There is a rapid increase in the use of the hybrid instructional model by the postsecondary education community to deliver instruction. The face-to-face and virtual (online) classes are believed to use different instructional media and methods to address the needs of different learners. These learning environments were typically employed independently of each other. How instructors manage instruction within each environment could be a challenge. With limited information about how teachers manage teaching and learning using this model, the purpose of this study was to investigate and provide insight into the essence of faculty members’ experiences. The research addressed these questions: How do faculty members experience the hybrid instruction in postsecondary education? What meanings do they ascribe to the experience(s)?

This is a collection of recent papers from Sloan-C's Popular Journal for Asynchronous Learning Network that have mentioned Blended Learning:

Volume 10, Issue 2 (May, 2006) - Business Models for Online Education - George Lorenzo, Educational Pathways - One of the Business Models discussed in this paper is the University of Central Florida's approach to Blended Learning

Bob Kaleta of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee shares these two web sites with the Sloan-C community:

Blended Courses

Hybrid Courses

Bob contributed to our publication "Blended Learning: Research Perspectives" and has been very active in this field. Thank you for the help Bob!