I-HE2020 The European Maturity Model for Blended Education
1. Wiebe Dijkstra Veerle Van Rompaey
w.p.dijkstra@tudelft.nl veerle.vanrompaey@kuleuven.be
@wpdijkstra
The European Maturity Model
for Blended Education
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2. EMBED as strategic partnership
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• About introducing innovation in higher education by the
implementation of blended learning (b-learning)
• We will create a reference model for developing and
implementing blended learning, embracing all levels of an
institution: the design of the blended course, organisational
aspects such as staff support and training, and institutional
leadership, developing policies and strategies making the
institution continuously innovative.
• The partnership consists of frontrunner universities in
b-learning European wide.
5. Working towards a maturity
model
1. Literature study
2. Repository of BL cases (mainly BL courses), interviews with
lecturers, course designers and policy makers
3. Interviews BL experts, outside the EMBED project (Delphi
study)
o Framing blended learning, teaching and education
o Define & refine dimensions and criteria of the MM
o Describe maturity levels
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••a way of combining traditional classroom
experiences, experiential learning objectives,
and digital course delivery that emphasizes
using the best option for each learning
objective.
Hybrid
Learning?
Defining the blend
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••learning as a result of a deliberate, integrated
combination of online and face-to-face
learning activities.
Blended
learning
••designing and facilitating blended learning
activities.
Blended
teaching
••the formal context of BL that is determined by
policies and conditions with regard to the
organization and support of blended learning.
Blended
education
Defining the blend
17. Drivers
• Individual drivers:
• Enrich the learning experience:
• Focus on problem solving
• Focus on authentic cases
• Supporting engagement and building a community
outside of the classroom
“For 25 years I have been trying to find ways of helping
students with turning theory into conceptual thinking and
into problem solving”
“To free up class time and try to replace that for conceptual
thinking”
• More interactive teaching
“[until now the normal way of teaching] was the teacher
standing up at the blackboard … and the students sitting in
the chairs… so we want to change that form of teaching
into a …. more interactive form of education.”
18. Drivers
• Individual drivers:
• Skills for the students’ future careers
• They should learn to work in a team and collaborate (outside
the classroom)
• Students need to learn how to use various tools
• They need to learn to search for reliable information
• They need to learn to apply theories in practice
• Flexibility & internationalization
• Reaching International students or students living far from the
campus
• Reaching students with certain disabilities or a different
educational context
• Personal interests
• Experimenting with tools, new ways of teaching
• Doing research on teaching methods
19. Drivers
• Internal institutional drivers :
• Improve success rate
“So 70% of the influx [should] obtain their bachelor’s degree within four
years, that was more or less the main goal”
• University-level strategy
“There is a strong hint [from our university] that things should be blended, or
online”
“The one big driver was the university statement, I think 2 years ago, that
they would expect all students to have the opportunity to take at least one
fully online course.”
• External drivers :
• Requirements:
• Managing assignments for large groups of students , peer reviews, …
PANDEMIC?
20. Enablers
Enablers
(THAT WORK)
• Support in the development of
online materials, e.g. videos
• Funding from various sources, e.g.
from faculty
• Extra staff, e.g. teaching assistants
• Follow-up, e.g. sharing
experiences with colleagues
• Technical, either centralized or
faculty-based help desks
• Project-oriented approach within
a design team (>< ’find your
way’)
• Time for development
• Peer pressure
• …
21. SOME CHALLENGES & FUTURE TRENDS
- Applying learning analytics on a more advanced level
- Recommender systems
- Predictive next to descriptive analytics
- ….
- Inserting adaptivity in a BL approach
- E.g. “So more basic exercises for the ones who need it. And then
more challenging for the ones who can handle that…”.
- E.g. “It would be wise [to do it like this:] ‘This is the minimum that you
have to do and this is the exam for that. And you get a six or a
seven. No more. But if you’re willing to take up a challenge, this is
the target exam for an eight. And if you really want to be
challenged, there’s a third exam. I think it would help them. ‘ “
- Dealing with very large groups (e.g. + 400 students)
- ‘MOOC style’ teaching
- COVID19 – Individual drivers?
22. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you make the material crisp
and clear, as nice as you can, that all your problems are gone. Be
very sensitive of whether the material is not too good, so that your
students have the impression that they understand that, they did
understand the story but they don’t understand the concept.
I think it's worthwhile doing so. But they have to be aware that it will
cost time. It will not save you time. It will probably increase the
efficiency of the course, but it will not save you time as a lecturer.
Don’t make everything blended … And so the good things from the
past, the good old lectures : keep them ! And next to this, do things
with a team ! A team of 2 or 3 is enough. And then you have to go
for it, mind the details, the quality of audio and video, appointments
with students, a study guide. Choose your pet project and go for
quality and detail.
31. Governmental policy
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• Teachers get paid based on hours in class
• Reducing class time is political sensitive
• Some governments are promoting blended
learning with grant programme for digital
education
72. Next Steps
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• Self Assessment tool
▪ Excel version is ready
▪ Online version will come later
• Implementation guidelines
• MOOC on FutureLearn
(March & September 2020)