Blended Learning and the Videoconferencing Modality for the Teaching and Learning Doctoral Candidate

Abstract

This paper simply documents the changes to a foundations course for teaching and learning doctoral candidates at a Midwest university, required due to the recent pandemic conditions and subsequent healthcare precautions. The main change to this already blended modality course, Critical Policy Analysis, involved modifying three face-to-face (F2F), in person sessions, essentially transforming them into three videoconferencing sessions using the ZOOM application. My reflection provides what can only be considered to be a discussion of very basic findings, but amongst those findings are that digital tools often appear to ‘work’ very seamlessly and hence exceed our collective expectations. The breakout sessions structured into the course, for example, provided a real-time experience comparable in most ways to small group discussions held previously when the course was offered in a physical classroom. However, some of the students struggled with the online portion of the class (course modules, with electronic reserve readings, discussion posts, and crafting a white paper/report, all online) and felt at times less than proficient working online. A few indicated preference for classes in person.
Also included in this paper are some of my observations as a long-time online instructor and researcher in the educational communications technology field. I argue that this latest iteration of blended learning is here to stay, and that this change will pose both promise and peril for education in the years ahead.

Keywords

• Education
• blended learning
• videoconferencing

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