This paper reports on the European funded EMBED project [https://embed.eadtu.eu] which focuses on offering higher education institutions expertise and guidance by developing a conceptual framework and maturity model on blended education. The Project involves a strategic partnership between the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and Delft University, University of Edinburgh, KU-Leuven, Aarhus University, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the National Institute for Digital Learning at Dublin City University. It brings together recognised specialists in blended education to build a multi-level maturity model and framework for pedagogical and institutional change based on progress markers related to stakeholder-focused outcomes.
Importantly, the project adopts a multi-level conception of blended education, including micro-level teaching and learning processes, meso-level institutional innovation and enabling strategies, and macro-level governmental policy and support structures. One of the challenges for the project team, particularly during the establishment phase, was to develop a shared conception of blended education, which goes beyond many of the narrow and instrumentalist definitions in the literature. In this regard the adoption of the term “blended education”, as distinct from “blended learning”, is not insignificant, especially as the project aims to encapsulate a more dynamic, transformative and future-focused understanding of the concept. The current reality is that there are many definitions of blended learning in the literature and even leading proponents of the concept do not always agree on what they mean by the term. While Garrison and Kanuka’s (2004) definition that ‘At its simplest, blended learning is the integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences’ (p.96) is frequently cited and frames the perspective adopted in the original Handbook of Blended Learning (Graham, 2006), there is still no singularly accepted definition in the literature. The key point is that that many popular conceptions of blended learning often fail to encapsulate a sense of pedagogical disruption.
With this point in mind the EMBED project funded over three-years seeks to better understand how new models of blended education provides an opportunity to fundamentally redesign or transform how we approach teaching and learning so that students, teachers and higher education institutions may benefit from increased flexibility, effectiveness and efficiency. As Garrison and Vaughan (2008) argue in their seminal book on the topic, blending should not be an addition that simply builds another expensive educational layer. On the contrary, it should challenge us to do things differently and serve as a catalyst for helping educators to reimagine the nature of teaching and learning in the digital-era. Put another way, blended education is a dangerous idea, as it should question the status quo with the potential to seriously challenge many traditional sacred cows of what constitutes effective teaching and learning.
Building on this premise the paper describes how the EMBED project has grappled with and resolved the thorny issue of definitions during the establishment phase. It then outlines the four main intellectual outputs associated with the project and reports on a number of methodological issues associated with the current research in progress at the micro-level to investigate how teachers engage in blended pedagogy to enhance educational outcomes. Finally, we invite discussion on the value and usefulness of the EMBED project to the wider policy and institutional context, with particular relevance to Irish higher education.
Topics: Innovations and Design in Online and Blended Learning , Topics: TEL Policy & Strategy
