QUALITY ASSURANCE AND MASS COURSES – BLENDED LEARNING IN PRACTISE

This paper presents a new Blended Learning concept, which was developed for the initial study phase of the Vienna Department of Communication. The main aim is to provide high-quality education in social-scientific methods for an amount of more than 1300 first-year students each academic semester. To date two major courses of the initial study phase were redesigned and implemented based on the new Blended Learning concept. Both courses – STEP 4 - Introduction to Communication Science Research and STEP 3 - Introduction to Communication Science Work – are granted five ECTS-Points.

The question was how to manage the large number of students and maintain subject-specific and pedagogical quality as well as personal guidance at the same time. To meet this challenge, the Blended Learning scenario closely entangles lectures and professional online seminars. The lectures cover the subject-specific theory, whereas, the professional online seminars focus on practical experience for the students as well as teaching study skills and supporting learning. The professional online seminars are held on two different platforms: the exercises and topic-specific guidance are provided on the learning management system “Fronter” and the structured reflection for improving learning takes place on the ePortfolio platform of the University of Vienna. The general didactical setting is attuned to tie all items together as closely as possible. Thus, this framework interlinks subject-specific theory, practical experience and study skills, whilst simultaneously enhancing students’ media competencies.

Conclusively the paper discusses the implementation process and the final results of the new Blended Learning concept of the Vienna Department of Communication. If and how the didactical framework achieves a homogeneous and high-quality knowledge base of social-scientific methods is the question to be answered. In order to present the measurable impact, the quality assurance methods and the extensive evaluation are disclosed additionally.