A Study of Proportion, Relation and Support Needs of Blended Learning Activities : A Case Study of lnformation Technology and communication

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to study the proportion of blended learning activities (PBLA): offline learning (OFL) and online learning (ONL), 2) to study the relation between the, standard in each course and learning methods (theory, practice, and theory/practice), and 3) to study the needs of the PBLA that must be supported. The results of these studies were used to help or to support teachers who taught in the field of Information Technology, Information Technology and Communication Category, Higher Vocational Certificate, The Office of Vocational Education. The research methodology was survey method. The research process consisted of 3 steps. The first step was to define two sampling groups. The first group was experts group in teaching and learning. This group was 7 teachers from universities and the office of vocational education that were used for evaluating the questionnaires. The second group was 73 teachers who taught in the field of Information Technology from the colleges of the Office of Vocational Education. The second step was to synthesize the PBLA. This step consisted of 1) analyzing the PBLA, 2) preparing expert group, 3) constructing research tools, and 4) collecting data. The third step was to analyze and interpret the collected data. The results of this study were shown as follows. 1) The PBLA was 45% of OFL, consisted of classroom learning, learning with printed media and instructional package, and 55% of ONL, consisted of learning with searching information on website, content on computer network and web-based instruction. 2) The relations between the PBLA and learning methods were theory learning (46% of OFL and 54% of ONL), practice learning (47% of OFL and 53% of ONL), and theory/practice (46% of OFL and 54% of ONL). 3) The needs of PBLA support were 35% of OFL and 65% of ONL.