Strategies for Institutionalizing Blended Learning in Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of a Ghanaian Public University

Abstract

This paper presents strategies adopted by a higher education institution towards the implementation of its BL policy framework. It does so by reviewing the BL implementation process of a public university in Ghana, noting that there are barriers that have impeded the uptake of blended learning, for which reasons it examines the strategies that can be implemented to overcome these barriers. The insights are drawn from a case study involving qualitative approaches, utilizing interviews with stakeholders in the public university. The paper examines the question: How do educational institutions employ Blended Learning (BL) strategies that contribute to the transformation of the university? Using an inductive approach, the researcher interviewed twenty-two management staff and used Strauss and Corbin’s constant comparative method as the analytical technique to analyze the data. This paper develops an institutional strategy framework that can be used by managers in higher education to facilitate change processes, overcome faculty resistance, and embed blended learning in institutions. The seven constructs of this strategic framework consist of institutional vision and approach, promotion and planning, integrated infrastructure, motivation and encouragement, training, assessment and evaluation and sanctions.