A Comparative Study of Blended Learning Activities between Two Classes

Abstract

Numerous studies on blended learning suggested that students embraced this learning approach and yet there are not much comparative studies on the merits of online versus face-to-face activities. Online discussion, online debate and face-to-face debates between two classes of undergraduate student teachers were conducted. The author was interested to examine if the blended approach with another class would enhance learning. Data are analyzed from tracked statistics provided by the learning platform and the subjects’ opinions on a questionnaire. It was found the numbers of views for online postings were enormous but the number of messages posted was not that many. Students gave the highest ratings to the question on “having face-to-face activities with students of the other class has added value to my learning” and the lowest ratings to the question on “I feel more comfortable to communicate with my teachers and classmates online rather face-to-face”. The findings suggest that student teachers have no problem of using information technology to support different activities but they still preferred the traditional face-to-face learning activities.