Abstract
<p class="3">The ongoing integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into higher education courses is often called <em>blended learning</em> although it often relates to course design. It is usually understood in place categories, as a combination of traditional classroom-based sessions and Internet-enabled distance or online learning practices. One alternative understanding of ICT integration can be constructed of time categories, with an understanding of ICTs more as process- and project-related. Two such design frameworks are conceptually presented and then used together in a small case study in a pilot experiment in physics at the preparatory level for entering engineering programs at a university in Northern Sweden. These are a) time shift mechanisms between synchronous and asynchronous learning modes in the course process and b) agile frameworks mechanisms adapted from work process developments in the software industry. Both are here used to address common procrastination problems in flexible education. Data were collected in student interviews and analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results show student satisfaction with the work rhythm and that a feeling of presence, which enables easy interaction, can be facilitated by synchronicity.</p>
Highlights
A course is an artefact in formal education, a defined content in combination with learning objectives and normally a set time for completion
An interesting thing with the advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the area of higher education is, we argue, that it resulted in spatial conceptualizations of ICTs and the roles they can play in teaching and learning, in four ways: Transport: To use ICTs as transport metaphors to make distance learning possible, transferring campus education from a normal place at campus out to reach new groups, by sending, recording content, or recreating classroom events
Our data shows that a part of the satisfaction relied on the provision and design of asynchronous learning materials on the learning platform, which we not had set out to study per se, but showed to be important for the cognitive presence of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008)
Summary
A course is an artefact in formal education, a defined content in combination with learning objectives and normally a set time for completion. The course is seldom questioned as such in higher education, it has some serious drawbacks in relation to student learning strategies, habits, and pace. It can be seen as an element in an industrial system. If a student cannot complete in the set time, the student fails. This can be a failure of the system if the student can learn under different conditions. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often recognised for increasing learner flexibility in the modification of time and place conditions, but can thereby increase problems, such as procrastination
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