An experiment in blended learning: higher education without lectures

Abstract

This paper chronicles a 10-year introduction of blended learning in software engineering at a leading technological university, with a longstanding tradition of technology-enabled teaching and learning, and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Hence, both teachers and students were familiar with the idea of online courses. Despite this the longitudinal experiment did not proceed as could be expected. Though few technical problems, it required behavioural changes from teachers and learners, thus unearthing a host of sio-technical issues, challenges, and conundrums. Indeed, education is a changing journey, not a prescribed destination, where learners, teachers, and administrators must reinvent themselves to harness the positive in this disruptive innovation of blended learning - closely related to flipped classroom - which combines eLearning with face-to-face and peer, interactions in problem-based learning. Blended learning does not necessarily lead to cheaper and better delivery outcomes, but it makes higher education more customisable to different learning styles and hence more accessible.