Abstract:

Emirati Education has started to move with the international trend towards blending face-to-face with online instruction when developing new educational processes. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide teachers and students with creative learning context to enrich the teaching and learning process. Nontraditional students are rapidly becoming the majority group on campuses across UAE. These students are often hard pressed for time and in order to provide them with equal learning opportunities many universities and colleges are currently responding by offering classes using a variety of delivery methods and formats. Blended instruction has mainly involved the teacher making decisions regarding the combination of online and in-class learning activities required for the course. The students and the teacher, elected the combination of activities they believe will best meet their learning needs. In this study, synchronous online discussions were integrated with traditional face-to face instruction in an undergraduate educational course offered mostly to students. The purpose of the study was to examine students’ perception of this “blended” course and explores the extent to which students’ needs and insights are met in this type of environment. Precisely, the study pursued to find out the extent to which students’ were satisfied with their learning experience. A survey was conducted that consisted of Likert-scale and open-ended items. The study shows that the use of blended learning has a positive effect in improving learning and the students were generally satisfied with the course design. For the students, synchronous online discussions may improve interaction, collaboration, and active learning. In addition, merging online and face-to-face discussions could ensure more productive utility of class time for higher education courses scheduled for short period.

Keywords:

Blended learning, students, UAE, Universities, experiences.