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Blended Learning and Course Redesign

Blended Learning and Course Redesign. Susan White Distinguished Tyser Teaching Fellow Finance Department suwhite@rhsmith.umd.edu. Blended Learning Initiative (UMD) and Course Redesign (USM). University of Maryland College Park Blended Learning Initiative

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Blended Learning and Course Redesign

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  1. Blended Learning and Course Redesign Susan White Distinguished Tyser Teaching Fellow Finance Department suwhite@rhsmith.umd.edu

  2. Blended Learning Initiative (UMD) and Course Redesign (USM) • University of Maryland College Park Blended Learning Initiative • University System of Maryland Course Redesign, Cohort 3 • BMGT 340, Business Finance • 900-950 students per year • Required of all business majors, about 1/3 of whom are finance majors • Taught in sections of about 60

  3. Three Corners of a Blended Classroom Instructors alternate learning activities in both environments In a logic flow and sequence Closing the loop

  4. A Blended Course Synchronous Face to Face Online Asynchronous Supported by instructional technologies Instructional Strategies Instructional Objectives Interactivity Assessments Content Delivery |Student-Instructor |Student-student Student-content Student Support A Blended Course

  5. Pre-class Online Design incentives to encourage students to do pre-class activities • Watch videos • Made with Camtasia, enhanced by technology TA • Cover basic concepts, simple problems • Quizzes in SurveyMonkey • Students receive points for completing quizzes • So far, completion points, not for right answers • Typically completed by 80-90% of students • But did they read the chapter? Watch the video?

  6. In Class Make classes, even large classes, as interactive as possible • Start with SurveyMonkey questions • Highlight good essay question answers • Call on students (with right answers) to work problem questions • Brief review of concepts covered in videos • Cover material better suited for face to face • More difficult, multi-stage problems • Concepts students in the past have had difficulty with • Small groups working problems • Ethics mini-cases

  7. Post-Class Online Big challenge is making connections • End face to face class with “next steps” • What material will be covered next • How it relates to chapter we just covered • How it relates to future chapters • How it relates to class projects • Issues • Students prefer homework to projects • Homework questions are more exam-related • Need to better motivate benefits of projects

  8. Big challenge of motivating and engaging non-majors Next – Fully Blended • Fully redesigned course to pilot in Fall 2013 • Students watch online lectures, read chapter (we hope), do practice problems, individualized study plan, quizzes • One lecture a week, 6 discussions labs run by TAs, lots of office hours • More resources for students, but more emphasis on self-learning, rather than passive listening • General Lab Sessions – staffed by ULAs and Tas – practice finance with on-demand support.

  9. Find motivations for non majors as well Considerations • Did they really read the chapter and watch the video? • Issues • Collaboration among students • Reading only parts necessary to answer questions • Attending limited classes left in blended format • What we tried (or will try) • Increasing/decreasing points • Random calls in class • ULA interaction with students • Discussion labs • Assignment pre-requisites in order to move on

  10. Real world application to help material “stick” Challenging Students • Business school emphasis on rigor and challenging students – make the material stick • Stricter class GPA guidelines for core classes • Setting expectations early on • Syllabus, first class • First online assignment should be early on • But must continue throughout the semester • Student expectations (??)

  11. Get feedback from peer faculty ahead of time Course and a Half • Self awareness • Student feedback • Guideline: 30% fewer assignments/course deliverable to compensate for online portion • More assignments that count less

  12. Student Comments • Having access to instructional videos is great. Being able to watch them at your leisure, being able to pause, rewind and listen to material a second time is great • I could pause the videos and take notes • Having a blended course allowed me to better absorb the teaching points and the methods of calculating different finance formulas. • There are a lot of resources available to study and practice online • No classes for watching videos about the lectures • It's VERY helpful to have the lectures up online in addition to the in-class lectures for studying purposes. I think every lecture should be recorded in video.

  13. They also said… • I would recommend that you break the videos up further – one topic per video and example problems in separate videos so they can be reviewed easily in the future • Need better incentives to get more students to contribute in class • Challenging course with a lot of work outside of class compared to other core classes • The videos are something boring and I have to watch them even if I know the material from a previous class • It can be difficult to learn the material through the online videos • Homework is hard. Sometimes it comes from chapters we haven’t covered. • I do not like that I cannot ask questions to the teacher during the online section.. Many times by the time that I get to see the teacher next, I have forgotten what I was confused about. • I wish they would have done a better job of explaining the exact details of blended learning during course signup.

  14. References • Angelo, T.A. and Cross, P. Classroom Assessment Techniques.Jossey-Bass, 1993. • Astani, M. Johnson B., and Ready, K.J. (2011) “Design and Implementation Issues in Integrating e-learning: Lessons Learned from a Fortune 1000 Firm,” The Business Review, 18:1, 1-7. • Barkley, E., Student Engagement Techniques. Josey-Bass, 2009. • Chickering, A.W. and Ehrmann, S.C., “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever,” The TLT Group, http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html, Retrieved 3/15/13 • Durrington, V.A., Berryhill, A. and Swafford, J. (2006), “Strategies for Enhancing Student Interactivity in an Online Environment,” College Education, 54:1, 190-3. • Hallam, T.A. and Hallam, S.F. (2009) “Combining an Exciting Classroom Learning Environment with an Effective Computerized Learning Management System,” Journal of Applied Research for Business Instruction, 7:2. 1-6, • “Impact and Challenges of E-Learning,” Supporting E-Learning in Higher Education,” Educause Center for Applied Research, 2003 • Tallent-Runnels, M.K., et. al. (2006) “Teaching Courses Online: A Review of the Research,” Review of Educational Research, 76:1, 93-135

  15. Example of Videos • Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BMGT340?feature=mhee

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