Effective Blended Learning in Higher Education During Covid-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic situation has impacted the entire education system, especially universities, and brought a new phase in education, “blended learning.” The objective of the research was to study the relationship of eight independent factors: e-learning environment, e-learning facilitation, e-learning materials, e-learning technical support, instructors’ personal attention, interaction with instructors, interaction with peer students, and laboratory learning environment, in the provision of effective blended learning in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, an extended relationship of gender and level of course with the effective blended learning was studied. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the students of higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a self-administered questionnaire aimed to learn the students’ perception of blended learning. All levels of undergraduate and postgraduate students took part in the study with a sample size of 1229. Ultimately, this study used a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to find the positive relationship between the effective blended learning and the eight independent variables and two mediating variables in the higher education sector. The study results portrayed a positive relationship between the eight independent variables and blended learning effectiveness in higher education institutions. The findings revealed that there is a difference in the students' perception of gender, level of the course, and the effectiveness of blended learning in the HEIs. The research offers guidance to governing bodies, administrators, and teachers of HEIs in decision-making and improves their actions to provide the best teaching and learning through blended learning. HEIs need to focus on the study results to enhance blended learning effectiveness based on e-learning environment, e-learning facilitation, e-learning materials, e-learning technical support, instructors’ personal attention, interaction with instructors, interaction with peer students, and laboratory learning environment. Also, since there is a significant difference between the gender, level of the course, and blended learning, providing blended learning based on gender and level of the course needs to be concentrated on by the higher education institutions.

Assessment on a blended teaching model for surgical laboratory course among international medical students in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study in a Chinese university

“…Since our international medical students are all from developing countries, this requires that not only medical universities or schools in China need to achieve the capacity to complement the blended teaching, but also developing countries can support those international medical students back to home countries to be involved in the blended teaching. Eight independent factors which may have an impact on the blended teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic are summarized in a study (9). They are e-learning environment, e-learning facilitation, e-learning materials, e-learning technical support, instructor's personal attention, interaction with instructors, interaction with peer students, and laboratory learning environment.…”

“…One the other hand, those international students who can still stay in China are able to attend the lectures and participate in clinical clerkships in person. Hence, a blended teaching model has become common for global medical education (9).…”

The Impact of Mobile Application-Assisted Instruction on Intrinsic Motivation and Sports Nutrition Knowledge: The Case of Blended Learning

“…The primary aim is to capitalize on the positive aspects of both learning delivery systems [1]. Regarding their educational benefits, such as stimulating students' curiosity, engagement, confidence, critical thinking, satisfaction, and learning outcomes, BL has expanded rapidly in higher education [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. To realize these advantages, educators and designers must overcome obstacles inherent to BL settings, such as a lack of motivation and contact [11][12].…”