Abstract:

Pre-service training in Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) is going through a transition process. Currently, a teacher degree can be obtained through two programs: integrated (nursery, primary & secondary education (SE); 180 ECTS, at a university college (UC)) or specific (SE; 60 ECTS, at a Center for Adult Education (CAE) or university). The Flemish Minister of Education decided to integrate teacher training (TT) at levels 6 and 7 of the European Qualification Framework which implies that the TT at CAE - the largest provider of teachers for SE (about 45%) - will be transferred to universities and UCs, challenging these institutions to provide the capacity needed. Blended learning (BL) – conceived as “learning that happens in an instructional context which is characterized by a deliberate combination of online and classroom-based interventions to instigate and support learning” (Boelens, et al., 2015) – can be the key to overcome these potential capacity problems.

In the past decade, BL has been put forward as the “new normal” (Hinssen, 2010) in higher education (Graham, et al., 2013; Norberg, et al., 2011). This “new normal” is facilitated by a plethora of innovative and user-friendly learning environments and educational technologies. The potential benefits of BL for learners and institutions are obvious. Institutions can distinguish themselves with qualitative BL programs and ‘overcome’ the limitations of their infrastructure to serve more learners. Learners on the other hand may be provided with more learning opportunities and more control on their learning process. These benefits can only be fully unlocked if institutions develop a clear vision on qualitative BL; that is embraced by the teaching staff responsible for (re-)designing blended curricula.

We developed an online instrument to assess teacher educators perceptions of BL in their institutions. This contextualized instrument is founded on the e-learning Maturity Model (Marshall, 2010), the E-xcellence project (Ubachs, et al., 2007), and the Quality Framework for Online & BL (Blieck et al., 2017). All 41 Flemish TT institutions were invited for this study and 236 teacher educators participated. During the presentation we will discuss the development of the new scale and the main results; hereby focusing on the TT teams with the largest response. Results of this study will inform TT institutions on the actions they can take to foster BL in their TT programs, and how they can streamline their human resource policy towards delivering BL.

References:
[1] Blieck, et al. (2017). Validation of a conceptual quality framework for online and BL with success factors and indicators in adult education: a qualitative study. TOJET, 16(3), 162-182.
[2] Boelens, et al. (2015). BL in adult education: towards a definition of BL. Retrieved from www.iwt-alo.be/publications (Deliverables; 2015)
[3] Graham, et al. (2013). A framework for institutional adoption and implementation of BL in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 18, 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2012.09.003
[4] Hinssen, P. (2010), The New Normal, MachMedia, Edison, NJ.
[5] Marshall, S. (2007). eMM core self-assessment workbook. e-learning.geek.nz/emm
[6] Norberg, et al. (2011). A time‐based BL model. On the Horizon, 19(3), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748121111163913
[7] Ubachs, et al. (2007). Quality assessment for e-learning: a benchmarking approach (1st ed.). European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

Keywords:

Pre-service training, blended learning, governance, teacher educator.