Teachers and Students as Promoters or Repressors of Sustainable Education: Navigating the Blended Learning Landscape

Abstract

Technology is acting as a catalyst for the transformation towards sustainability in education and as a means of reshaping the educational experience. This transformation is part of an overall transformation in our society, and education should be dedicated to creating satisfied students able to think autonomously, take responsibility for their views, and contribute to society. Both sustainable education and education for sustainability benefit from blended learning, which facilitates participatory teaching and empowers learners. The aim of our research was to determine teachers’ and students’ (a) awareness of the development of digital platforms for teaching and learning, (b) perception of their own digital skills, (c) use and experience of Coursera, and (d) attitudes towards the content and benefits of digital platforms, such as Coursera, for teaching and learning. The analysis was carried out using a questionnaire in which we collected feedback from students and teachers at the University of Sarajevo about their awareness and preferences of the contents offered by Coursera and their readiness to use those additional learning and teaching resources. The results of this study show that there is a lack of awareness of online e-learning platforms among students, with more than half of the sample professing ignorance about these sites. The identified lack of experience and a noticeable lack of motivation could present significant repressors in the transformation of education if not addressed properly.

Blended Learning and Flipped Classroom in Higher Engineering Education: Case Study and Students’ Perception in the Post-COVID-19 Period

“…Importantly, their participation in online meetings was activestudents asked questions, discussed, and answered short interactive tests and surveys during lectures (tools Slido, Socrative, Poll Everywhere). However, it should be borne in mind that such results may be of a varied nature, depending on the stage of education -first and second cycle studies and the expectations and requirements of students [59,69].…”

“…The latter are relatively difficult due to the need for additional hardware and software investments in the laboratory. Therefore, lecturers and teachers should strive to present universal solutions, the mastery of which by students will allow them to effectively carry out projects and tasks also in technologies other than those they can learn during classes [59]. This is especially important in the dynamically changing market of building automation systems, smart home and building systems, and the Internet of Things.…”

“…Learning will be more focused on "stackable segments" and education that is primarily just-in-time, not justin-case. In addition, the new role of lecturers as "learning facilitators" was emphasized, whose task is to support student groups actively and dynamically in their search for good knowledge and in developing skills in its processing and critical analysis, using both synchronous lecture sessions as well as webinars and other materials [55,59]. This clearly refers to the transition from the classical F2F formula to a combination of F2F and online knowledge transfer in the BL formula.…”

“…L: Learning Culture Shift: this reflects the change of teachers' role from being only the source of information to guiding students' learning; I: Intentional Content: this indicates teachers' knowledge about the actual teaching content provided to learners and students and finally deciding what should be delivered online or in F2F sessions; P: Professional Educators: teachers are supposed to be creative when designing F2F interaction activities and encourage learner-centered learning to construct new knowledge and understanding among learners [59].…”