Technology Blended Learning Approaches and the Level of Student Engagement with Subject Content

Abstract

This paper evaluates the implementation of technology
blended teaching and learning in the Foundation Mathematics Program
at a private college of higher education in Kuwait with a view to
identifying improvements in student performance. The traditional
classroom teaching was blended with a significant component of online
learning with MML (MyMathLab), involving in-class tutorials and
outside of class online activities. The aim of introducing this approach
was largely to achieve a greater level of engagement with the course
content and to increase the amount of practice time students devoted to
doing problem solving exercises. The study used data generated by the
MML tools as well as data on success rates from previous semesters
when only the traditional approaches were used for teaching and
learning in the Foundation Program. The study found that there was an
increase of between 12% and 35% in the normal expected time required
for problem-solving practice with the MML system. The greatest
advantage was the student activity monitoring data available from the
system could be used for identifying students at risk of failure and
developing tailored and targeted support programs and strategies. In
addition, comparison of results from previous traditional approach and
the newly introduced blended approach revealed that grade inflation
can be avoided and a greater degree of fairness can result in online
grading.