In 2019 a big, research-intensive university rolled out 16 management-driven large enrolment blended-learning courses

Jasmine Huang, Kelly Matthews and Jason Lodge (all Uni Queensland) asked focus-groups of academics and ed designers how it went

What this was about

Writing in the journal, Higher Education Research and Development they report the university planned to produce 50 more blended courses over two years, leveraging digital technologies, “to enable complementary learning activities off-line and on-campus.”

“The aim was to deliver exceptional educational value to students, including increased flexibility, better student outcomes, self-directed learning, and more interaction online and on-campus between both staff and students.”

The outcomes were

The researchers identified core issues for academics and learning-designers involved

* they were motivated by care for students but felt a lack of agency from not designing and implementing the courses

* they questioned the effectiveness of the management-created courses for “better student learning”

* academics felt disempowered by the process and were concerned that the university’s expectations for the courses, “were too structured and did not represent the way academics designed and implemented their courses.”

* however, there was a mixed response to whether the courses worked for students and were worth all the effort by staff involved – some thought not, others saw potential

* but staff felt ignored, that management was interested in what students thought, not in the efforts and ideas of teachers

“We heard academic voices echoing a similar sentiment as they aspired to be good teachers in a programme that they felt was undermining good teaching. What counted in the blending and UniBL model was timelines, deadlines, and technologies but not them as teachers concerned with, and caring for, students and their disciplinary learning,” the authors report.

when the chemistry’s not right 

Staff involved, “perceived institutional drivers for blending to be misaligned towards indiscriminately translating all courses, necessary or not, to an online format akin to a polished massive open online course product” the authors report.