Abstract:

In 2015 our institution has developed three different concepts for Blended Learning. All courses in the Executive Division will be placed and developed under one of these three concepts.

The concept development was an implementation project initiated by the institutions' management. The institution has experienced that the content and quality of online and blended learning-courses have been uneven, and the expectations and demands of content and student support has not always been clearly communicated to our online teachers.

The objective of the project was to increase the quality of our courses, to develop tools and checklists for the teachers and administration, and find good working methods for continuous development and dialogue. It was extremely important that administration and academic staff worked closely on this. The administration was leading the project, but academic staff participated in different work groups along the way. Our main goal was facilitating learning and increasing learning outcomes for our students.

Our institution has delivered flexible and online courses for more than 20 years. We are constantly striving development, and for the last three years we have had an internal pilot program where everyone could apply for funding for the development of courses to enhance students' learning outcomes. The positive experiences from these pilots should now be implemented through the concept development project.

We also based the three concepts on relevant research nationally and internationally.

We believe the three concepts will make it easier:
1) to sell our courses to potential students (what can you expect if you attend the different courses)
2) for the teacher to know what content is expected in the course
3) for the students to get the learning support and structure needed in a flexible course

We have implemented a number of measures to inform the teachers and provide opportunities for increased expertise in blended learning .

We would love to share our valuable experiences on all of this with the participants of INTED 2016.

Keywords:

Online Learning, Blended Learning, Higher Education, Adult Learners, Quality Assurance, Development.