Available online at http://www.jceri.com
Journal of contemporary Educational Research and Innovations Vol.5, No.1, pp. 18-20., Jan. – Feb., 2015 ISSN 2249–9636 (Online) ISSN 2250–0618 (Print)
BLENDED LEARNING AWARENESS OF HIGHER SECONDARY TEACHERS P.C. Nagasubramani*
*
Assistant Professor, Education wing (DDE), Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamilnadu, India. (Received 6th January 2015, Revised 17th January 2015, Accepted 29th January 2015 )
Abstract
The study was intended to find out the Blended learning awareness of Higher Secondary Teachers in Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. Random Sampling Technique was used to compose a sample of 1000 Higher Secondary Teachers Mean, Standard Deviation and t values were calculated for the analysis of data. The result revealed that the Gender, Locality and Type of family had no significant difference but, Teaching subject and Internet users exhibited significant difference in respect of their Blended learning awareness of Higher Secondary Teachers. Keywords: Blended learning, Higher Secondary Teachers
Introduction Information technology (IT) has grown exponentially during the past two decades around the world, leading to changes in nearly every field of practice. The technological changes have not only yielded new tools and techniques, but have shaped a generation of students who seamlessly engage in the online and real-world environments in many facets of their lives. In India 30.2 crore people are using internet now. An increasing acceptance and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by the population has happened in the last decades. In particular, a great acceptance of using e-learning has been registered. The use of e-learning has many benefits such as providing greater flexibility of study, giving more control to the students over their learning and assessment process, and generating personalized and adapted content to each student. On the other hand, the use of e-learning has also presented several problems such as the loss of the student-lecturer relationship , the lack of motivation when students have to selfregulate their study, the isolation feeling when students have to study alone in front of a computer, and the difficulty of legally defending scores achieved with e-learning systems. A possible solution to those problems can be found in the use of Blended Learning (BL) or Hybrid Learning. Clearly, blended learning is becoming one of the viable training options in corporate, government, military and non-profit organizations around the world. Millions of learners around the planet are likely learning in this fashion each day. Additionally, blended learning was recognized as one of the top ten emerging trends in the knowledge delivery industry by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) in 2003. Blended learning courses provide a particularly interesting focus for research into the evolution of e-learning. Such courses involve a mixture of traditional and e-learning mechanisms and are typically run on campus. According to the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI 2005) blended learning courses are gaining in prominence globally as ICTs are deployed to complement rather than replace traditional forms of tertiary learning. Need for the Study Blended learning is viewed as the integration of face-to-face and online learning, focusing on the use of internetbased technologies, such as emphasizing the role of online activities for extending and developing face-to-face learning. Blended learning describes learning activities that involve a systematic combination of co-present interaction and technologically-mediated interaction between students, teachers and learning resources. Blended learning has been considered as an important alternative approach to overcome various limitations of both face-to-face and online learning, because the blended learning approach adopts the advantages of both types of learning. Additionally, blended learning is more effective than fully face-to-face or online learning in terms of students’ satisfaction and faculties’ responses, time and place flexibility, ease of using resources, increase of interactions, and effectiveness of interaction between peers and instructors. In this era of technological advancement, blended learning is considered to be an *Corresponding Author:
[email protected] © Published by JCERI
Journal of Contemporary Educational Research and Innovations,
Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.18-20., Jan.-Feb., 2015
essential ingredient of education. Blended learning awareness is an important factor of Higher Secondary Teachers. It accounts a lot for the innovation and instructional flow in class rooms. Therefore, the investigator made an attempt to study the awareness about blended learning of Higher Secondary Teachers. Statement of the Problem The problem selected for the present study may be stated as follows, “Blended learning awareness of Higher Secondary Teachers”. Objective of the study The researchers have framed following objectives for the study to find out the difference in Blended learning awareness if any, among: 1. Male and Female Higher Secondary Teachers 2. Rural and Urban area Higher Secondary Teachers 3. Arts and Science subject teaching Higher Secondary Teachers 4. B.Ed. Trainees coming from Higher Secondary Teachers 5. Internet users and non users of Higher Secondary Teachers Hypotheses of the study For the present study, based on the objectives the researchers framed the following hypotheses, 1. There is significant difference between Male and female Higher Secondary Teachers in respect of their Blended learning awareness. 2. There is significant difference between Rural and urban area Higher Secondary Teachers in respect of their Blended learning awareness. 3. There is significant difference between Arts and Science subject teaching Higher Secondary Teachers in respect of their Blended learning awareness. 4. There is significant difference between Nuclear and Joint family Higher Secondary Teachers in respect of their Blended learning awareness. 5. There is significant difference between Internet users and non users Higher Secondary Teachers in respect of their Blended learning awareness. Methods of the Study Normative survey method was employed. The tool is administered to the samples of 1000 Higher Secondary Teachers. The data was collected and subjected to statistical analysis to arrive at a conclusion. Tools Used Blended learning Awareness Questionnaire was constructed and standardized by Sharmila V. (2014). This Questionnaire consists of 20 items. Each item in this awareness questionnaire is set against two responses. An individual’s score is sum of all the scores of 20 items. For scoring, weight of one is given to right response and a weight of zero is given to false response. A total score of the students reveals their level in awareness. The maximum score for this awareness questionnaire is 20 and the minimum is 0. The questionnaire used in this study, in order to measure students Blended learning Awareness has construct validity. Also the intrinsic validity found by the author (Sharmila V.) of this tool was 0.94 and the reliability was found to be 0.88 by the split-half technique. The investigator has also found the reliability of the tool as 0.86 by the split-half technique and the intrinsic validity as 0.93. Thus the Blended learning Awareness Questionnaire has reliability and validity. Sample of the Study In this present study, 1000 Higher Secondary Teachers working in different Higher Secondary schools were taken as sample. The random sampling technique has been used in the selection of the sample. The samples were collected from the Higher Secondary Teachers of various Higher Secondary schools in Madurai District, Tamil Nadu. Statistical Techniques Used The following statistical techniques have been used in the present study for the analysis of collected data. 19
Journal of Contemporary Educational Research and Innovations,
Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.18-20., Jan.-Feb., 2015
1. Descriptive Analysis 2. Differential Analysis Difference between the Means of the Blended Learning Awareness Sl. No. Variable N Mean S.D `t’ Significant value Male 350 12.67 6.72 Gender 0.62 Not Significant 1. Female 650 11.80 8.86 Rural 300 13.68 7.76 Locality 0.84 Not Significant 2. Urban 700 14.20 8.58 Arts 600 13.85 8.09 Teaching 2.86 Significant 3. Subject Science 400 17.28 7.87 Nuclear 750 13.17 8.84 Types of 4. 1.14 Not Significant family Joint 250 12.38 6.87 Yes 550 18.16 7.25 Internet 2.84 Significant 5. Users No 450 14.88 8.74 Major findings of the study (i)The verification of the hypothesis based on the analysis of data indicates that there is no significant difference in the Blended learning awareness of Male and female Higher Secondary Teachers (t=0.62). (ii)The testing of the hypothesis based on the analysis of data indicates that there is no significant difference in the Blended learning awareness of Rural and urban area Higher Secondary Teachers (t=0.84). (iii)The testing of the hypothesis based on the analysis of data indicates that there is significant difference in Blended learning awareness of Arts and Science subject teaching Higher Secondary Teachers (t=2.86) and it is inferred that the Science subject teaching Higher Secondary Teachers have more Blended learning awareness than the Arts subject teaching Higher Secondary Teachers. (iv) The testing of the hypothesis based on the analysis of data indicates that there is no significant difference in the Blended learning awareness of Nuclear and Joint family Higher Secondary Teachers (t=1.14). (v) The testing of the hypothesis based on the analysis of data indicates that there is significant difference in Blended learning awareness of Internet users and non users Higher Secondary Teachers (t=2.84) and it is inferred that the Internet users Higher Secondary Teachers have more Blended learning awareness than the non users Higher Secondary Teachers. Conclusion To sum up, the following conclusions have been reached in the light of the present investigation. Gender, locality and Type of family had no significant difference but, Teaching Subject and Internet users exhibited significant difference in Blended learning awareness of Higher Secondary Teachers in Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. References Alfred Ho., etal. (2006) Testing the Reluctant Professor's Hypothesis: Evaluating a Blended-Learning Approach toDistance Education.Journal of Public Affairs Education, 12 (1),81-102. Garrett, H.E. (1979). Statiscs in psychology and education, Hyderabad : International Book, Bureau. Gary S. Moore., etal. (2013) Using Blended Learning in Training the Public Health Workforce in Emergency Preparedness. Public Health Reports, 121 (2), 217-221. Hue, Ly Thanh; Ab Jalil, Habibah, (2013),“Attitudes towards ICT Integration into Curriculum and Usage among University Lecturers in Vietnam”, Online Submission, International Journal of Instruction, V.6, n2, P.53-66. Jared Keengwe and Jung-Jin Kang. (2013) A review of empirical research on blended learning.EducationalInformationTechnology,18,479-493. Ya Ting Teng., etal. (2009) The trend of blended learning in Taiwan: perceptions of HRD practitioners and implications for emerging competencies. Human Resource Development International, 12 (1), 69-84. 20
