The growth of online technologies and their incorporation into learning environments is based on the expectation that including technologically-based supportive tools into a ‘blended learning environment (i.e., combination of online and face-to-face course components) will substantially improve students' learning outcomes (Kulik, 1994; Kulik&Kulik, 1991). However, very little is known about the motivational, cognitive, and behavioural self-regulation attributes that contribute to student success in blended learning environments as most of the research in this area has been focused on understanding whether similar self-regulation attributes are associated with academic outcomes in either online or face-to-face learning environments. Using a social cognitive view of self-regulated learning as a theoretical framework (Pintrich, 1999, 2004; Zimmerman, 1989, 1998, & 2002) this presentation will examine the relations between students' self-regulation attributes and their academic outcomes in a blended learning course that provided the webcast recording of the face-to-face lectures, online access to weekly quizzes and course assignment and question/discussion boards. Additionally, this presentation will examine whether webcast viewing was associated with students` academic outcomes in the course.
This presentation will explore the role of self-regulatory dimensions such as intrinsic learning orientation, self-efficacy, help-seeking, effort regulation, peer learning, task value, test anxiety and time and environment management, and how these dimensions are related to viewing time on online lecture webcasts, lecture attendance, and other course components. These patterns will then be related to academic outcomes (e.g., final grades). Additionally, this presentation will examine students' webcast viewing patterns and the extent to which the webcast viewings contributed to their overall grades in the course. Some questions include: what are the patterns of lecture webcast viewing across the semester? What are the correlations between academic outcome and webcast viewing for highly resourceful students and how does this differ for less resourceful students?
This research is based on recent changes to the Introductory Psychology course at Trent University. This course was changed to become a course-level blended approach (see typology developed by Graham, 2006) where face-to-face instruction and online supportive tools comprised 50% of the course content each. The face-to-face components of the course included fortnightly labs and the final exam. Students had online access to four major assignments and twenty (roughly) weekly quizzes. Students could either choose to attend the lectures or use the course management system (i.e., WebCT) to access the recorded lecture webcasts. All other components of the course (e.g., assignments, quizzes, etc.) were accessible online.
Seven hundred and sixty four students were enrolled in the introduction to psychology course. After giving written consent for participation in the project, 447 students completed a package including demographic information and the 81-item self-report Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich et al., 1991) and approved accessing their online webcast viewing times, grades, and other course evaluations.
The based on the results, it was clear that students welcomed the addition of recorded webcasts as part of their available supportive tools in the course and appreciated the flexibility of the online components of the course. A small, but significant positive correlation was found between students' overall viewing times and their academic outcomes in the course. Students were generally more likely to view the webcasts either immediately after the weekly lecture or on the days immediately preceding their scheduled exam in the course.
An exploratory path analysis indicated a potential causal relationship between self-regulatory dimensions, access to online course components, and students' final grades. Five dimensions were identified as significant to webcast viewing times which were in tern related to grades: intrinsic goal orientation, time and study environment, and effort regulation. The path analysis also demonstrated that self-efficacy and effort regulation had a significant direct effect on final grade.
Overall, these results support the idea that student success in blended learning environments are mediated by academic self-regulatory skills. Generally, highly regulated students have good grades independent of the online course tools—whether online or face-to-face. However, less regulated students benefit IF they access the online tools. Implications of this observation is the need to support the development of student academic skills, address the tendency to procrastinate, and ensure that struggling students access the course tools designed to support them. Accordingly, online course components in a blended environment are not panaceas.
