Role of the University Lecturer in an Online Learning Environment: An Analysis of Moodle Features Utilized in a Blended Learning Strategy

Abstract

Successful implementation of an online blended learning strategy as a framework of learning has been considered an important characteristic of innovative higher education organizations. This is a condition where many higher education institutions must strive for high quality teaching and learning, and also to operate efficiently and effectively in delivering a profound student engagement. Thus, the emphasis must not be based solely on the purchase of a learning management system (LMS) but also on the role of university lecturers in utilizing an LMS and its features, which involves applying instructional design and learning activities to elicit the students’ self-regulated learning process. This study was conducted to examine specific roles of university lecturers as instructors in delivering an engaging learning process in both classroom and virtual-class sessions as well as assessing the student’s learning outcomes. Moodle logs files and reports, learning outcomes data, and interview data were collected. The quantitative and qualitative statistical analyses reveal that there are several behavioral characteristics of the instructor’s role in utilizing Moodle features to design engaging learning activities and to assess student learning outcomes effectively. Having these results, best-practice teaching and learning activities for online blended learning and the competence profile of the university lecturer can now be defined for the purpose of a training and development program.