"blended " learning and student performance

Blended learning boosts student performance and reduces anxiety

This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Iowa, who presented their findings earlier this week at the American Physiological Society’s (APS’s) Institute on Teaching and Learning.

The team found that “blending” online courses and weekly class meetings characterized by “facilitated bidirectional information flow”, i.e., an emphasis on conversations , especially among students (peer learning) improved academic achievement. Fewer students withdrew from the class and 95%+ earned course grades C- or higher (compared with 82% in the traditional lecture and 81% in the online course version of the class.)

Interestingly, students enrolled in the blended format also reported less anxiety at the end of the semester.

Source: Rogers et alia (2018)