Abstract:

The pandemic has more than two years affecting humanity, and it has impacted especially higher education, given the closure of Educational Institutions. Blended Learning (BL) is a modality that has proved to be effective in a situation like this, because it brings together the best of Face to Face and Online Learning. Several surveys have been validated in Institutions for Online and BL since before the pandemic, and they coincide with evaluations that have been carried out of an online learning project in a Mexican Higher Education Institution.

Methodological aspects integrate qualitative and quantitative instruments. The qualitative instrument was an interview and the quantitative instrument was a survey that allowed us to assess BL readiness.

Both the qualitative and the quantitative instruments were based on seven factors based on the literature:
1) An institutional dimension: implies what the Institution can do to achieve students’ learning;
2) Design of instruction: it relates to what the teacher can do, in terms of interactivity, and that the student can learn from it;
3) Autonomy and thinking skills: it refers to a series of capabilities that the student can show to learn better;
4) Communication: communities’ agents can communicate online and with this to be in contact in the BL environment;
5) Motivation: it refers to a sensation of wellness for studying, in terms of the benefits perceived for the learned knowledge;
6) Technologic Self-Efficacy: it is the sensation that the members of the community have knowledge of computers and internet, and
7) Perception of satisfaction in learning: it refers to the sensation that the students feel of knowledge achieved in BL.

After the application of the instruments we had five dimensions. The 7 factors we had at last, after an Exploratory Factor Analysis, were:
1) Instructional design;
2) Autonomy and thinking skills;
3) Computer and Internet Self-Efficacy,
4) Access to computers and Internet and
5) Blended Learning Satisfaction. A Structural Equation Modeling analysis showed that Blended Learning Satisfaction was explained by an interrelation of the other four factors enlisted. At first we had an instrument of 39 items, judged by experts in terms of shape and depth, and at last we had an instrument of 24 items. In the qualitative section we had a guide of 40 questions, and a list of 25 questions remained for this guide.

In terms of the Readiness for BL, results indicate that this Mexican Metropolitan institution is ready for Blended Learning. Qualitative results suggest that members of the community prefer Blended Learning as a teaching modality, and in Quantitative analysis, an Exploratory Factor Analysis, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and a Structural Equations Modeling method show that there are five factors interrelated: Teaching Quality, Autonomy Skills of Students, Computer Self-Efficacy, Access to Computers and Blended Learning Satisfaction.

Discussion is done emphasizing that in the post-pandemic world, digital technologies are here to stay, and that BL is a modality that blended learning, although complex, has a number of advantages that must be taken into account in higher education. This pilot study served to tune the instruments and the methodology and we will apply it in about 10 Institutions of Higher Education in the metropolitan zone of Mexico City.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Blended Learning, Technologies in Education, Educational Innovation.