The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Dec 4, 2023
Blended Learning Environments to Foster Self-Directed Learning is the eighth book in the Self-Dir... more Blended Learning Environments to Foster Self-Directed Learning is the eighth book in the Self-Directed Learning Series by North-West University, South Africa. The volume provides strategies and approaches to promote self-directed learning (SDL) in blended learning environments, featuring contributions from authors experienced in active learning strategies in online and blended learning contexts. They emphasise the importance of technology-enhanced learning, particularly blended learning, in improving students' overall learning experience by promoting SDL. The book, which is licensed for free use, consists of 10 chapters that delve into various pedagogical methods to enhance SDL in blended learning contexts. The target audience for this book is scholars and practitioners who
e-Tutor: understanding the use of Facebook for informal learning through the lens of uses and gratifications theory
Interactive Technology and Smart Education
Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe university students’ motivations for using Faceb... more Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe university students’ motivations for using Facebook as an informal learning tool and explore the key barriers that may inhibit learning on the social media platform. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was adopted in this study. Participants were 82 university students who participated in “e-Tutor” – an informal learning activity, conducted through Facebook. Focus group interviews were conducted, and students’ interactions on Facebook were also analysed to understand their motives for using the social media platform for learning. The uses and gratifications theory was used to explore student motivations for participating in the learning activity. Findings Results suggest that students perceived Facebook as a potential tool for learning and identified multiple motivating factors for their participation that included information seeking, convenience, connectedness, entertainment and reward seeking. Results also show that t...
Blended learning (BL) has been a popular mode of course delivery in higher education, aiming to p... more Blended learning (BL) has been a popular mode of course delivery in higher education, aiming to provide students with better learning experiences by integrating face-to-face (f2f) instructions and affordances of digital technology. However, lack of knowledge about how students perceive BL cross-disciplines can make it difficult for teachers to provide consistent learning experiences to students, yielding inequity in learning experiences. This study aims to explore how university students perceive BL, and to compare differences in perceptions across subjects. Participants were 407 university students from eight subject disciplines. Data were collected through a questionnaire and were analysed using SPSS. A one-way ANOVA was performed to compare the differences between the groups. Results showed, students were generally happy about use of BL, despite facing multiple barriers in using the learning approach. Results further revealed, students studying tourism/hospitality, and business s...
The International Journal of E-Learning and Educational Technologies in the Digital Media, 2016
Many higher education providers have opted for blended learning as a modern mode of course delive... more Many higher education providers have opted for blended learning as a modern mode of course delivery to reach isolated communities around the globe. This paper describes how the Maldives National University (MNU) caters to the disadvantaged community of the country who live in a number of scattered islands. It mainly highlights how the University adopted and applied blended learning to reach the citizens of the Indian Ocean archipelago. It also describes the course delivery model being applied, the barriers facing the university in implementing flexible learning and how the challenges are being mitigated. The identified challenges include the negative perceptions of the general public about flexible learning, learners" habits and attitudes towards blended leaning, the internet speed and bandwidth issues face by both the students and teachers and, limited qualified teaching staff. Despite the challenges, it is evident that the course delivery model is appropriate and is being effectively applied at the university. In the recent years the flexible learning courses offered by MNU are very popular among the islanders and the demand of the programs has been rising. Records show that in the past six years enrollment in courses offered through blended learning has remarkably increased and has stayed steady. The numbers indicate that the learning model being used by the University is effective for the isolated community of the nation.
Higher education institutions have been increasingly adopting blended learning as a course delive... more Higher education institutions have been increasingly adopting blended learning as a course delivery mode in the recent years. This article reports a systematic review of the current literature on the advantages of blended learning. Starting from 855 papers, ten articles met the predefined inclusion criteria for the literature synthesis. The papers were screened and analysed through three screening phases. Major themes focused on the advantages of blended learning were drawn from the final ten papers and include a) increasing students’ academic performance, b) increasing students’ social abilities, c) decreasing course drop-out rates, d) increasing students’ satisfaction and, e) increasing teaching and learning flexibility. The results also indicate that different higher education institutions adopt blended learning approach for different reasons. Implications of this review and future research directions are proposed.
Reaching the Unreached through Blended Learning: A Case Study from the Maldives National University
With the advancement of interactive technology, many educational institutions have opted for blen... more With the advancement of interactive technology, many educational institutions have opted for blended learning as a modern higher education model to reach disadvantaged groups in societies. This paper explores how the Maldives National University approached the dispersed community of the Indian Ocean archipelago through adaptation and application of blended learning. It also focuses on how the University introduced and developed flexible learning, the delivery model being used, challenges faced and the strategies being used to overcome them. The barriers include perceptions of general public about flexible learning, learning habits and styles of the learners, the internet speed and bandwidth and limited staff capacity. However, statistics of the recent years shows that this learning model is appropriate in Maldives as flexible learning courses are quite popular among the dispersed island community. In the last six years the student enrollment has stayed steady and thousands of workin...
Higher education institutions have been increasingly adopting blended learning as a course delive... more Higher education institutions have been increasingly adopting blended learning as a course delivery mode in the recent years. This article reports a systematic review of the current literature on the advantages of blended learning. Starting from 855 papers, ten articles met the predefined inclusion criteria for the literature synthesis. The papers were screened and analysed through three screening phases. Major themes focused on the advantages of blended learning were drawn from the final ten papers and include a) increasing students' academic performance, b) increasing students' social abilities, c) decreasing course drop-out rates, d) increasing students' satisfaction and, e) increasing teaching and learning flexibility. The results also indicate that different higher education institutions adopt blended learning approach for different reasons. Implications of this review and future research directions are proposed.
Many higher education providers have opted for blended learning as a modern mode of course delive... more Many higher education providers have opted for blended learning as a modern mode of course delivery to reach isolated communities around the globe. This paper describes how the Maldives National University (MNU) caters to the disadvantaged community of the country who live in a number of scattered islands. It mainly highlights how the University adopted and applied blended learning to reach the citizens of the Indian Ocean archipelago. It also describes the course delivery model being applied, the barriers facing the university in implementing flexible learning and how the challenges are being mitigated. The identified challenges include the negative perceptions of the general public about flexible learning, learners " habits and attitudes towards blended leaning, the internet speed and bandwidth issues face by both the students and teachers and, limited qualified teaching staff. Despite the challenges, it is evident that the course delivery model is appropriate and is being effectively applied at the university. In the recent years the flexible learning courses offered by MNU are very popular among the islanders and the demand of the programs has been rising. Records show that in the past six years enrollment in courses offered through blended learning has remarkably increased and has stayed steady. The numbers indicate that the learning model being used by the University is effective for the isolated community of the nation.
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Papers by Ramiz Ali