9 Lessons in Implementing a Blended Learning Approach for MOOCs Part 2

9 Lessons in Implementing a Blended Learning Approach for MOOCs

Part 2 of 12 parts

?This is part 2 of the article based on the talk “Lessons in Implementing a Blended Learning Approach for MOOCs” I delivered last May 15, 2022 at the Association for Training and Development (ATD) International Conference in Orlando, Florida. For Part 1, please refer to my earlier post.

Why Choose eLearning over Classroom Training?

Why did we adopt eLearning as primary mode of learning than Classroom Training as early as 2015, way before the Covid 19 pandemic forced companies to bring their training online?

Because we were convinced that eLearning works.

But first, some clarity in the terms we use.

By eLearning, alternatively called in this article as Online learning, we refer to the method of education whereby students learn in a fully virtual environment. The pre-recorded coursework is accessed online by the learner and does not require the instructor or trainer to be personally present in the delivery. Thus, training or education delivered in-person by the trainer using Zoom or other conferencing devices is not what we refer to as eLearning in this article. A class delivered via conferencing devices is otherwise known as Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT), as the trainer and learners are still present in-person. It is differentiated from Classroom-based Instructor-Led Training.

Why eLearning?

There were several academic papers that have already been published that proved the efficacy and effectiveness of online learning when we made our decision in 2015. These papers were very comprehensively integrated and summarized in a white paper in 2017 by Will Thalheimer, PhD, President of Work-Learning Research, Inc. The paper was entitled, “Does eLearning Work? What the Scientific Research Says!”

As he has explained in his paper, “By looking at the scientific research on elearning, we can examine elearning effectiveness when it is rigorously studied and when skeptical scientists examine it with well-designed research studies that work to eliminate biases, misperceptions, and overzealous commercial enthusiasms.”

I will not repeat all the researches that he cited in the paper but only a few that I think are sufficient to prove the effectiveness of online learning because they are among the most comprehensive and most conclusive.

One of the earliest was the study made by Sitzmann and Colleagues (2006) – a Meta-Analysis where they examined 96 scientific studies focusing on adult learners. Sitzmann and her colleagues found out, among others, that 1) eLearning produced slightly better learning results than classroom instruction for declarative knowledge—that is, knowledge of facts and principles; 2) eLearning and classroom learning were equally effective for procedural knowledge—that is, knowledge on how to perform a skill, task, or action; and 3) Blended learning (using both classroom and online learning) outperformed classroom instruction on declarative knowledge by 13%3 and procedural knowledge by 20%.

Another very significant study was the one by Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia (2013) where they reanalyzed data from an earlier meta-analysis they had conducted in 2009 while working for The Center for Technology in Learning at the U.S. Department of Education. They discovered that “The overall finding of the meta-analysis is that online learning (the combination of studies of purely online and of blended learning) on average produces stronger student learning outcomes than learning solely through face-to-face instruction.”

Thalheimer praised the study and stated that “Their meta-analysis was exceptionally rigorous, utilizing only experimental designs and quasi-experimental designs that utilized statistical controls ensuring that experimental groups were comparable.”

A very significant study was the one by the U.S. Department of Education entitled “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies ” (Revised September 2010), It concluded that: “Students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction” (p. xiv) and, notably, “Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction” (p. xv).

Several other meta-analysis of researches on online learning have supported these findings. Following were Thalheimer’s conclusions:

1. When learning methods are held constant between eLearning and classroom instruction, both produce equal results.

2. When no special efforts are made to hold learning methods constant, eLearning tends to outperform traditional classroom instruction.

3. A great deal of variability is evident in the research: eLearning often produces better results than classroom instruction, often produces worse results, often similar results.

4. What matters, in terms of learning effectiveness, is NOT the learning modality (elearning vs. classroom); it’s the learning methods that matter, including such factors as realistic practice, spaced repetitions, real-world contexts, and feedback.

5. Blended learning (using elearning with classroom instruction) tends to outperform classroom learning by relatively large magnitudes, probably because the elearning used in blended learning often uses more effective learning methods.

Our firm belief rested on Will Thalheimer's conclusion number 4: “What matters, in terms of learning, is not the learning modality (elearning vs. classroom), it’s the learning methods that matter.” We also drew significant lessons from conclusion number 5: Blended learning (using eLearning with classroom instruction) tends to outperform classroom learning by relatively large magnitudes, probably because the eLearning used in blended learning often uses more effective learning methods.”

Given this conclusion, it is clear to us that using eLearning as the core of our learning delivery is the best way to go forward.

But we know there are enormous challenges in this shift of focus to eLearning. How did we overcome those challenges? That will be the focus in the rest of this article. In the next installment, we will show how we used the Agile method in understanding the learner’s Persona and in designing the Blended Learning prototype.

In the meantime, I would like to ask our readers: What is your own opinion of eLearning? Is using eLearning a main direction that you would like to make in your own corporate university? If yes, why? If no, why not?

You can access part 1 at the following link:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/9-lessons-implementing-blended-learning-approach-moocs-galvez

You can access Part 3 at the following link:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/9-lessons-implementing-blended-learning-approach-moocs-galvez-1c