This session will discuss the findings of an exploratory, qualitative case study used to gain an in-depth understanding of community college faculty dispositions towards blended learning.
Among the four-year undergraduate population, blended learning has been shown to support student success, meet diverse learning styles, and meet institutional obligations; however, research within the community college population is limited. In particular, faculty members’ perspectives and challenges for teaching blended learning have not been well documented.
The goal was to understand the dispositions of the community college faculty towards blended learning. An exploratory, qualitative case study design was used to gain an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon within the real world context of the community college. An open-ended survey and semi-structured interview were used to collect data from faculty members. In addition, course outlines, interview field notes, and archived course data were also collected. There were 26 survey participants from three campuses, of which 10 were interviewed. Survey participant self-reported gender was 17 females, 8 males and 1 prefer not to answer; faculty rank ranged from instructor to adjunct professor. Data were analyzed using a structured descriptive systematic approach.
The results provided a composite view of community college faculty member’s dispositions towards blended learning, which identified fifteen themes as: Definition of Blended Learning, Rationale for Blended Learning Environment, Blended Learning Design Schedule, Degree of Contact, Multidimensional Role, Interactions, Technology Skill Required, Perceived Technology Skill, Blended Learning What Works and Doesn’t Work, Recommendations, What Works and Doesn’t Work for Community College Blended Learning Students, Flexible Schedules and Learning Environment. Findings also guided recommendations for teaching blended learning courses within this community college and an outline for approaching blended learning implementation.
Robin A. Hill. (2016). Community College Faculty Dispositions Towards Blended Learning. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, College of Engineering and Computing. (967) http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/967.