Abstract
The study investigated planning the integration of technologies in higher institutions as a strategy for effective implementation of blended learning in universities in Rivers State. The design used was descriptive. The population of this study consisted of the 4,377 teaching staff in the three (3) public universities in Rivers State, comprising 2,348 male and 2,029 female teaching staff. The universities are the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The sample of this study was 590 elements, comprising 327 male and 263 female teaching staff that were drawn from the population using stratified random sampling technique. Instrument of data collection was a questionnaire that yielded a reliability index of 0.84, using test-retest and Pearson Product Moment Correlation techniques. The data generated were analysed using mean to answer research questions. z-test was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings showed that aligning university's visions with the aspirations of full integration of blended learning into university system, provision of required communication networking infrastructures and modifying curriculum designs to become deliverable through blended learning mode are key ways of integrating blended learning in the university system. Recommendations made included that university managers should consider seriously, the advantages of blended learning in the school system, with a view to using planning to foster the integration of the learning innovation into the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning approach for improving students learning experiences and achievements.
Highlights
The need for enhancing teaching and learning experiences of students has remained a leading agenda in policy decision-making concerning how to improve curriculum implementation strategies for quality and sustainable higher education
Scholars and educationalists have keyed into engagement theory of Greg and Ben to advocate for diversification of learning approaches and the need for teachers to adopt activity-based learning methodologies in teaching-learning settings giving their superiorities to the traditional face-to-face teacher-centred lecture method
Teachers are considered as facilitators of knowledge construction, which is in contrast to the conventional lecture method in which lecturers are regarded as repositories and dispensers of knowledge
Summary
The need for enhancing teaching and learning experiences of students has remained a leading agenda in policy decision-making concerning how to improve curriculum implementation strategies for quality and sustainable higher education. Anusiem (2006) observed that learning ensues from observation to exercise, adaptation of skills and alteration of attitudes resulting in change of behaviour This implied that learning goes beyond observation and listening; it embraces physical activities in which the learners engage their cognitive faculties in manipulation of objects to discover facts and ideas with which to construct and consolidate knowledge. This view agrees with the suppositions of Vygosky's constructivism and Piaget's cognitivitism theses on human learning mechanics, in which the scholars postulated that individuals construct meaning from objects, activities and experiences around their environment (Dele, 2008) Environments in this context is not limited to external conditions of learners’ environs, because internal environments of the learners such as psychosocial and subconscious constructs determine to a great extent, how individuals reflects on their experiences, held beliefs and opinions, which in turn governs how they reconcile new experiences with previous ones in order that new knowledge may be constructed. Teachers are considered as facilitators of knowledge construction, which is in contrast to the conventional lecture method in which lecturers are regarded as repositories and dispensers of knowledge
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