Blended Learning in Indian Colleges with Massively Empowered Classroom

Abstract

Students in the developing world are frequently cited as being among the most important beneficiaries of online education initiatives such as massive open online courses (MOOCs). While some predict that online classrooms will replace physical classrooms, our experience suggests that blending online and in-person instruction is more likely to succeed in developing regions. However, very little research has actually been done on the effects of online education or blended learning in these environments. In this paper we describe a blended learning initiative that combines videos from a large online course with peer-led sessions for undergraduate technical education in India. We performed a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that indicates our intervention was associated with a small but significant improvement in performance on a summative exam. We discuss the results of the RCT and an ethnographic study of the intervention to make recommendations for future, scalable blended learning initiatives for places such as India.

Educational video services in universities: A systematic effectiveness analysis

“…The universitylevel video-recording service we analyze in this study is blended because the lecture video records are available as additional materials to all students enrolled to the corresponding course. However, unlike traditional blended learning systems (e.g., [9] [10]), lectures are also given in presence and the interaction between learners and teachers mostly happens in classrooms (without the aid of any digital media). Hence, video records and in-class lectures complement each other to achieve effective learning.…”

Connecting Online Work and Online Education at Scale

“…Although Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are broadly available, they fall short of reaching those students that would benefit most (e.g., underserved populations). Statistics show that the majority of registered learners are already highly educated (Bachelor degree and above) and mostly from developed countries [3]. The reasons for this are manifold.…”

“…The reasons for this are manifold. Yet the biggest obstacle for students is that they do not have the time to invest in the learning materials and environment [3]. One reason for those learners to drop out of a course is that their monetary independence is limited.…”

A etnografia como método de pesquisa em Informática na Educação: Revisão Sistemática de Literatura

“…Apenas, dois dos estudos não forneceram informações efetivas sobre as amostras utilizadas (PRIOR; FERGUSON; LEANEY, 2016) e (AMES, 2015). Tamanho das amostras identificadas das investigações nas pesquisas selecionadas na RSL Dados sobre o comportamento e ações dos participantes também podem ser obtidos a partir de arquivos de logs (trace ethnography) e análise de dados de comunidades virtuais(CAMPBELL et al, 2016;CUTRELL et al, 2015;MARTINVIITA;KUURE;LUOMA, 2015;MUDLIAR;RANGASWAMY, 2015; MUGAR et al, 2015;WAYCOTT et al, 2016).O observador pode atuar como participante ou não. EmCutrell et al (2015), a observação foi realizada com o pesquisador fazendo anotações sentado no fundo de uma sala de aula.…”

“…Também como observadores participantes, durante seis meses,Mugar et al (2015) realizaram atividades de alunos e "gastaram de uma a três horas semanais visitando o site do curso, participando e observando durante cada visita". Além disso, a observação pode se dar com ou sem a interferência do pesquisador(KNOBELSDORF;FREDE, 2016;CUTRELL et al, 2015). Um exemplo de interferência ocorre quando o pesquisador periodicamente encoraja os participantes a externalizarem suas ideias (MEINTJES; SCHELHOWE, 2016).…”