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    From gimmick to game-changer : a study on the use smartphones to expand access to higher education in sub-Saharan Africa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Okore, Roxanne Hawi
    Today, blended university courses are designed with an unspoken assumption that students will use desktop PCs and laptops for online learning. Recent studies regarding smartphone usage in educational settings explore ways to adapt desktop PC and laptop content for viewing on smartphones; however, the impact of these studies is limited. Smartphones are still subservient to conventional platforms. While this is not an issue in developed countries, it is problematic for developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 20% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa own desktop PCs and laptops compared to 80% smartphone ownership. The dearth of these conventional platforms means many learners in sub-Saharan Africa are excluded from the benefits of blended learning. This research took the first steps to explore whether a student who owns a smartphone and does not have access to a desktop PC or laptop can successfully participate in a blended university course. Shaped by the pragmatist philosophical perspective, the research utilised a mixed-methods case study design. The case examined was Tom Mboya University College (TMUC), a Kenyan public university that exclusively offers on-campus courses. The research progressed in four phases: a feasibility study; survey with students (n = 114); interviews with lecturers (n = 17); and beta-testing of a smartphone-supported blended course with students. Results indicate that smartphones could provide a viable learning platform. Key findings identify that TMUC students and lecturers value smartphone-supported learning due to its ability to enhance collaborative learning activities. Furthermore, the results led to the development of a novel framework entitled ‘Smartphone Only Learning Environment’ (SOLE), that provides guidelines on how teachers can deliver blended university courses solely to smartphones.The research implication is three-fold: First, it facilitates introduction of blended learning in extraordinarily resource-constrained public universities of sub-Saharan Africa. Second, it provides the foundations for critical discussions on smartphone-supported online learning policies; notably, discussions about supporting teachers by providing an institution LMS are necessary. Finally, underpinned by the collectivist culture of sub-Saharan Africa, this research showcases opportunities for educators around the world to uncover learning theories that focus on more collaborative forms of blended learning.
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    Dialogic activity : a study of learning dialogues and entanglements in a vocational tertiary setting : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Education at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Simpson, Ann Middlebrook
    New Zealand’s economic growth continues to place major pressure on the trades sector. To meet future demand for qualified builders, plumbers, electricians, and engineers, trades education has become available at no cost to students for two years. To attract student interest further, tertiary institutions now offer courses in a range of delivery options. Blended learning (BL) is one of these delivery modes and involves a combination of traditional face-to-face and digitally mediated approaches. This research explored students’ dialogic activity in a BL environment, within a trades educational institution. The dialogues that emerged during trades training courses were examined in relation to a complex assemblage of elements, which included interactions between students and teachers, and the digital and materials artefacts in the BL environments. The research used an interdisciplinary lens, employing theories of socio-materialism and dialogism, to unpack forms of dialogic activity that emerged within the BL environment. That same lens was used to reveal the part that material and digital artefacts played in the emergent dialogic activity. Conducted as a multiple case study, the research involved observations of instructors and student participants from three Level 3 pre-apprentice trade programmes, which provided a wide range of data over the course of one semester. Datasets from Automotive Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, as the three cases involved, were analysed to explore the contextual meaning of the learning dialogues and activities in action. The findings revealed that learning dialogues occur in multiple contexts and environments. Artefacts and their properties, BL designs, open and flexible learning spaces, environmental conditions, health and safety considerations, embodiment, multiplicity, mediation, and class culture, all have a significant influence on dialogic activity. The findings offer important insights about the link between course design and learning and identify dialogic activity as an interdisciplinary phenomenon that warrants further investigation.
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    Blending and flipping learning : a journey in innovative curriculum design and delivery : a case study exploring teachers' understandings and perceptions of blended, flipped learning : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Education (eLearning), Massey University
    (Massey University, 2016) Morgans, Frances
    Historically, lecturing has been the dominant form of teaching within tertiary institutions, however the past decade has seen a shift of focus away from the lecturer as the source of all knowledge. As learning and teaching approaches change to meet the needs of a changing society, research is needed into how the academic staff involved in these new methods understand these approaches and deal with them. There is a move towards pedagogies that are more authentic, contextual and social in nature, as these are perceived as more appropriate to equip learners with the skills they will need to participate in a constantly changing societal context. This research study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the perceptions and experiences of staff involved in creating and facilitating a curriculum innovation involving new courses that were blended and flipped. Twenty-five staff members from a tertiary institution in New Zealand took part in the study. Participants held a range of roles and were all actively involved in the curriculum innovation. This thesis adopted a qualitative case study research approach using information gained from a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. While understandings of blended and flipped learning were varied among participants, the perceived benefits of a blended, flipped model included flexibility, increased digital literacy, opportunities for the improvement of self-directed learning skills among students, the freeing up of class time for exploration, the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills and allowing learners to lead and direct their learning. The challenges in design were deciding on the best use of online and face-to-face spaces, designing engaging online activities, having knowledge of appropriate online tools and platforms to use and time. Facilitation challenges included managing and building student’s self-directed learning skills, keeping students engaged online, giving timely feedback to students, and managing group work. By gaining valuable insights into teachers’ understandings of the blended and flipped methods that they were working with, these findings may help to inform institutions using a similar context.
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    Facilitating a blended learning community : a collaborative approach to professional learning : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2009) Bell, Heather
    This thesis has researched the question of "How can blended learning communities be facilitated to support the professional learning of inservice teacher educators?" Inservice teacher educators work to build teacher capability with the ultimate goal of raising student achievement. This relatively small group of people work across large geographical areas and are having increasing difficulty meeting the demands of the teachers. In addition, inservice teacher educators' contact with teachers is often less frequent than is desirable to ensure sustainable shifts in practice. However the growth in internet-based collaborative tools has meant that different ways of communicating are being created at exponential rates. Due to the natural limitations on inservice teacher educators' work, innovative ways of sustaining the professional development they provide are becoming increasingly important. The action research project described in this thesis has investigated one of these innovative approaches; not towards shifting teacher practice but focusing rather on improving the practice of the inservice teacher educators themselves. Five inservice teacher educators known as Isteam (Inservice teacher educators at Massey) formed a professional learning community to investigate the use of blended learning communities which use a combination of both face to face and online learning environments. While this thesis discusses how blended learning communities can be facilitated to support the professional learning of inservice teacher educators, Isteam themselves investigated the potential of using both blended learning communities to support the professional learning of teachers they worked with. Isteam met physically face to face on regular occasions and carried on their learning virtually between meetings through an easily modifiable webpage environment known as a wiki. This thesis discusses how these two environments wove their relative strengths together to build the professional learning of Isteam in ways that far exceeded the possibilities of using one or other learning community on its own. Research findings indicate that blended learning communities require early phases of building knowledge and social relationships, and that developing pedagogical capability relies on these building blocks to be in place first. Blended learning communities worked most effectively to improve the professional learning of inservice teacher educators when the facilitator: 1. Provided a range of online and face to face opportunities for inservice teacher educators to build their professional knowledge and gain confidence and competency in using online collaborative technologies, particularly in the early phases of the community's development. 2. Engaged inservice teacher educators in a range of online opportunities, including non task-related activities, to develop social relationships and get participants 'talking' comfortably online. 3. Challenged inservice teacher educators to use their growing knowledge and social relationships as platforms for critically reflecting on their professional learning and practice issues. As a result of these findings, the inservice teacher educators involved in this research project are now strengthening the communities they have already established to ensure they grow to their full potential, and are mentoring other colleagues to develop their own blended learning communities in response to requests for help. Blended learning communities have piqued the interest of inservice teacher educators at Massey as having powerful potential to embrace the demands of working in the 21st century.
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    Senior secondary school students' engagement within a blended learning course : an exploratory case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in e-learning at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Bloomfield, Gaye
    This research presents an exploration of student engagement within a blended learning course at a New Zealand secondary school. Growing numbers of secondary school students are participating in blended learning courses with both face-to-face and online teaching and learning experiences. However, the uptake and use of blended learning is not matched by an understanding of the nature of senior secondary students’ behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. There are also gaps in understanding about approaches to learning that aid student engagement in a blended learning context. To address this gap in the research, case study methodology was used over four weeks with seven Year 12 students and the teacher of their blended learning course. A qualitative analysis of observations, online usage, document analysis and interviews was undertaken to determine the nature of engagement within the blended learning activities available in one unit of learning. The findings suggest that engaging senior secondary students in a blended learning environment involves a carefully considered and complex mix of cognitively and emotionally engaging activities. Three mechanisms that aided engagement with learning in this blended learning context were the fostering of a learning purpose, the use of scaffolds and providing the opportunity for the learner to personalise their activities. This study contributes to the field of secondary school blended learning by supporting and deepening the literature base about how senior secondary students engage with blended learning activities.
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    Blending in: exploring blended approaches to student engagement
    (2011) Suddaby GT
    The paper reports on a research project in progress, premised on the literature review by Arbaugh, Godfrey, Johnson, Pollack, Niendorf & Wresch (2009) suggesting that beneficial 'blends' in the delivery of teaching and learning will become increasingly important, The project reported on in the paper identifies student learning strategies in blended environments and explores the pathways and strategies that enable teachers to incorporate thoughtful and focussed pedagogical planning and support to the enhancement of learner engagement and achievement through blended approaches to teaching and learning. In order to do this, the project team has identified a 'blended strategies' toolkit for facilitating student engagement through the incorporation of effective blended approaches to teaching and learning. The toolkit provides 'blended' mechanisms and identifies strategies for teachers to use when selecting approaches that best help students engage productively in learning. The toolkit includes strategies minimizing barriers to engagement, enhancing the quality of engaged experiences, and supporting the engagement/re-engagement of those who have either never engaged or have become disengaged. In addition to developing the toolkit, the research has involved its testing in courses, an iterative refining and review process, and the collection of evidence of the changing levels of student engagement and and re-engagement leading to more effective teaching and learning and the better realisation of student learning outcomes. These strategies, described in terms of teacher intention and student perception, reflect Bonk, Kim,& Zeng’s, (2009), aspiration that; “the promises (and hopefully, the benefits) of blended learning are extensive”. The research, incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods, goes beyond the one-cohort one-unit case study approach typical of much of the current literature in this field by focusing on a cohort of four classes and up to a thousand students in each of four New Zealand tertiary institutions incorporating a comprehensive, multi-method approach. The study, by identifying strategies enabling teachers to select the appropriate blended approaches to enhancing learner engagement and achievement for their contexts, facilitates the incorporation of these into the planning and teaching of subsequent course iterations and the implementation of the pedagogies that best help students become fully engaged in the learning process. While agreeing with Garrison and Kanuka’s (2004) view that; “At its simplest, blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with on-line learning experiences”, the researchers recognise that this statement hides the complexity of the blended learning construct and the paper analyses and explores this perspective in moving towards a shared understanding of the term within the New Zealand (and international) tertiary context. The findings as will be reported clearly show that blended approaches to learning and teaching are more than just about the use of technology. They are complex, rapidly evolving and are strongly predicated on good pedagogy .