Institutional adoption of blended learning on a budget

Abstract

PurposeThis research paper aims to explore blended learning implementation in universities that are on a low budget, essentially determining the more important steps to invest during the initial stage of implementation and investing in costly IT infrastructure or training faculty for student-centred learning and relevant pedagogies.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 254 students at the University of Jordan (UJ) has been administered. Student satisfaction with blended learning is related to the two main variables of IT infrastructure and teacher training for blended learning strategies.FindingsThe results indicate that faculty training has a significantly higher impact on predictability of satisfaction than IT infrastructure. Therefore, low-budget institutions should focus first on helping instructors shift to student-centred styles of pedagogies before making large investments in IT infrastructure.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the fact that the chosen setting did not completely lack IT infrastructure, the results may need to be retested with at least two individual institutions, one where advanced IT infrastructure is available and one where it is completely lacking. More can also be done to vary the limited location of the study.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that making costly investments into technology is not a necessary first step during the initial stages of blended learning adoption in developing countries.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the need for more research on blended learning adoption in developing countries with scarce finances and lack of resources sufficient to achieve faculty training and IT infrastructure improvement together. Several universities make costly investments only to lack sufficient blended learning pedagogies which often results in failed blended learning implementation.