Blended Learning for Learners in SMEs

While blended learning seems to be quite suitable for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), take-up of this learning method is not implemented at the level it could be. This chapter investigates aspects that encourage learners in European SMEs to choose blended learning for professional development. The results indicate how the take-up of blended learning by SME learners can be improved. Research has explored the field further and blended learning has become a more mainstream form of learning. A revisit of case studies with stakeholders of Blended Learning in SMEs looks at changes indicated by research and explores Blended Learning in progress. A comparison between European and African SMEs looks at differences and commonalities that might affect blended learning. The final section outlines a vision of how blended learning is feasible under challenging conditions, including inadequate funding, limited computer or Internet access, poor infrastructure, diversity of learner groups, and differences in learning culture.

Barriers to Blended Teaching and Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter explains the need to better design blended teaching and learning curricula, the need to address infrastructural problems, and the need to organise programmes so that faculty and students can better plan for unanticipated and unintended situations that confront them in the teaching and learning processes. Improving the quality of education through the diversification of content and methods and promoting experimentation, innovation, the diffusion and sharing of information, and best practices are among UNESCO’s recent strategic objectives in education. Discussions in this chapter centre on (1) the contexts of blended teaching and learning, (2) the barriers to blended learning usage, integration, and diffusion, and (3) the need to consider policy outcomes when evaluating blended teaching and learning resources. This study uses a qualitative research method, as both document materials and observation were an essential part of this chapter. This study concludes that the great enthusiasm around blended teaching and learning in sub-Saharan Africa has been dampened by inadequacies in essential services and infrastructures, such as electricity and telecommunication services, and institutional, socio-cultural, and economic barriers. Nonetheless, the development of blended teaching and learning resources continues.

Blended Learning Methods in Introduction to Teaching and Sociology of Education Courses at a University of Education

In recent years, the use of the Blended Learning (BL) methods has experienced worldwide uptake and is responsible for enormous changes, not only in developed country education, but in developing country education, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. Given the role that blended learning can play in educational development, educational institutions, students, employers, and governments are increasingly urged to examine the economic, demographic, and technological environments of the present so as to ensure comprehensive preparedness for the future. This study employs a questionnaire for data gathering and results are analysed quantitatively. The findings reveal a significant improvement in the use of blended learning methods to achieve effective academic performance in students. The impact of blended learning in the educational sector is thus evidenced in the changing instructional pedagogies that lead to more interactive learning processes.

Shifting a Face-to-Face (F2F) Course to the Blended Environment

Many educational experts predict that in the future blended learning will become far more common than traditional Face-to-Face (F2F) or online learning. With this in mind, instructors are being asked or required to move F2F courses to a blended environment. When doing so, there are a variety of issues to consider. Thus, a framework for transference is necessary. This framework includes the seven principles for good practice for undergraduate education. This chapter covers the essential topics to help educators conduct a successful transference and uphold the quality of their courses.

Virtual Learning Communities

This chapter presents a reflection on the use of social software tools to enhance the interaction between students, allowing the development of virtual learning communities in blended learning settings. The discussion about education in Web 2.0, learning through communities, personal learning environments, and social software tools are the basic concepts of this reflection. The results show the importance of five strategies to promote blended learning based on virtual learning communities. They are: the use of a pedagogical approach based on cooperation; the focus on the selection of learning spaces that promote the interaction between students; the mixing of oriented collaborative activities in the VLE and the promotion of the use of social software, articulating prescriptive learning systems and emergent learning networks; the use of Web 2.0 tools in a PLE perspective; and the use of folksonomies to follow up the contents students produce on the Web.

Computer Literacy and Candidate Performance on Computer-Based Tests

This chapter investigates the influence of computer literacy through blended learning methods on the computer-based aptitude test performance of prospective students at the University of Port Harcourt. An ex-post facto research design was used, and simple random sampling was adopted in drawing a sample of 1,720 candidates from a total population of 38,988 who wrote the examinations. A Computer Literacy Scale was developed to ascertain the computer literacy level of participants and a Results Collection Form was developed to gather test results. This study was based around nine research questions, which were answered using descriptive statistics, and nine corresponding hypotheses, which were tested using inferential statistics. Results show that computer literacy through blended leaning methods has a significant effect on performances on the computer-based test while gender has no effect. There was also a significant difference in the performance of candidates on paper and computer examinations.

Blended Learning and Technological Development in Teaching and Learning

This chapter examines blended learning and technological development in teaching and learning. This study is based around the suggestion that technological development can emerge in Nigeria when an enabling environment and other necessary facilities for blended learning are made available in different institutions for teaching and learning. This chapter addresses the following topics: net generation and use of technology outside of schools, the digital environment, computer use and blended learning in schools, well-constructed digital environments, teaching and blended learning, the shift from teaching to learning, student-centered methods, theories supporting the new view of the learning process, play way method, group instructional methods, Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, Skinner’s theory of learning, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, problem-based learning, anchored instruction, distributed cognition, cognition flexibility theory, cognitive apprenticeship, situated learning, self-regulated learning, and entry behaviour/residual knowledge.

Adoption of Blended Learning Technologies in Selected Secondary Schools in Cameroon and Nigeria

Blended learning could be seen as the solution to learning resource accessibility, especially when the indicators of measure are limited to distance and time. Distance and time could be said to be the generic indicators for the measure of blended learning. However, these do not solve the problem for everyone in society. For Inclusive Blended Learning (IBL), different types of users in society should be considered in its design. This is exactly what has provoked the focus of this chapter, to investigate the position of blended learning with respect to people with disabilities. The chapter's investigation is centered on selected secondary schools in Cameroon and Nigeria.

Blended Learning Implementation in Accounting Discipline

This chapter examines the successful implementation of blended learning in an intermediate financial reporting course in a public university. The results of this study show that there is a significant difference between students completing the course through conventional learning and those completing the course via blended learning, with the later showing unfavourable results. The results in this study provide indication that for the students to perform well there is the need for them to be independent learners when studying using blended learning. However, the students believe that they could complete the course successfully regardless of whether they study the course through conventional learning or blended learning. Finally, the results show that academics are of the opinion that students should change their attitude to succeed. The academics further opined that the course and facilities need to be reviewed and upgraded to assist students in completing the course. The findings in this study provide some understanding of the implementation of blended learning in an intermediate financial reporting course.

Introducing a Teaching Innovation to Enhance Students’ Analytical and Research Skills

The term “blended learning” has gained considerable interest in recent years as a description of particular forms of teaching combined with technology. This chapter reports in some detail the experience of a small group of undergraduate learners as they progress through their Bachelor course at University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) in the United Arab Emirates. In particular, this study looks at discussion forum approach as a blended learning initiative and what that entails to the learners in terms of making the subject more interactive and enhancing students’ analytical and research skills. From the findings, a conclusion has been drawn regarding the role of the Blackboard tool in learning by helping students to obtain a deep sense of understanding of how to operate in a virtual team despite the challenges.