Educational Technology - Blended Learning
M.R. Heydari; E. Zaraii Zavaraki; M. Vahedi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: After the Corona epidemic, educational systems were forced to move to online instruction and learning. Despite its advantages, online instruction could not overcome some of its challenges, such as the sense of presence of learners; therefore, the importance of using the blended ...
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Background and Objectives: After the Corona epidemic, educational systems were forced to move to online instruction and learning. Despite its advantages, online instruction could not overcome some of its challenges, such as the sense of presence of learners; therefore, the importance of using the blended learning approach for the educational systems of the world, especially the educational system of our country, was clearly clarified. Blended learning, which overcomes the challenges of online learning and face-to-face learning by blending online and face-to-face learning, and brings benefits such as increased flexibility, increased cost effectiveness, and time saving, has attracted the attention of teachers and learners. However, a fundamental challenge for the teachers is designing, implementing and evaluating a blended learning in order to achieve high-level learning and presence. In this regard, it is important to pay attention to cognitive presence and teaching presence, which are elements of the community of inquiry framework. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of blended learning on the level of cognitive presence and teaching presence of elementary school students in the science course.Methods: The research method was a semi-experimental of pre-test-post-test type with a control group. The statistical population included all fifth-grade students in Shahryar, who were studying in the academic year 2022-2023. Using available sampling method, 60 students were selected; 30 students were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 30 students to the control group. The experimental group spent six sessions in the form of blended learning and the control group spent six sessions in the form of face-to-face learning. In order to check the changes before the intervention, a pre-test was performed on both groups, and after the intervention, a post-test was performed on both groups. The data collection tool in this research was the questionnaire of cognitive presence and teaching presence of Arbaugh et al. (2008). The reliability of the questionnaires of cognitive presence and teaching presence was calculated based on Cronbach's alpha values of 0.91 and 0.83, respectively. To analyze the research data, statistical methods were used at two descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (correlated t-test and multivariate covariance analysis) levels.Findings: Based on the results of paired samples t-test, there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test stages in the variable of cognitive presence in both experimental and control groups and in the variable of teaching presence only in the experimental group (p≥ 0.001). The results of covariance analysis showed that the effect of blended learning on cognitive presence and teaching presence was greater than that of face-to-face learning (p≥0.01).Conclusion: The results of the research showed that blended learning and face-to-face learning are both effective in increasing cognitive presence, but only blended learning is effective on teaching presence. Blended learning has a greater impact on cognitive and teaching presence compared to face-to-face learning. Therefore, blended learning by blending face-to-face and online learning has more effectiveness in the amount of cognitive and teaching presence and can be a suitable alternative to fully face-to-face learning in the educational system of our country, and it is suggested that the educational system adopt this approach in formal mainstream education.
