Abstract:

The term ‘blended learning’ has been used as an overarching umbrella term to refer to any combination of face-to-face and technology-oriented teaching. The institution or faculty decide on the mix or the ‘blend’ of modalities and activities to help students engage with the content. The issue, however, does not lie in the term blended which is self-explanatory, but in the learning, as pointed out in countless studies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty and students found new ways to teach and learn online, involving technology on an unprecedented scale. The HEIs are now able to blend traditional lessons with technology tools and focus on (more) self-study.

Simply introducing technology into the classrooms does not ensure engagement or guarantee learning. While previous studies have touted the benefits of blended learning over traditional lectures as adding flexibility and autonomy, other studies have insisted that traditional teaching with face-to-face exchanges cannot be replaced. For example, more flexibility assumes that students are self-efficient and self-disciplined to continue learning independently without a faculty’s intervention. More significant independent learning depends on students’ willingness to participate in active learning tasks using traditional and modern tools. In both cases, the role of the student and faculty member changes, sometimes significantly, with many challenges ahead. If the future of education lies in blended learning, then we will need to understand this topic more deeply. Thus, this paper will address the following question: How can HEIs ensure authentic autonomous learning in blended classrooms? We will attempt to identify a means for faculty to find the right ‘blend’ for their teaching topics.

To examine this question, five business schools in Switzerland were mandated for a 2-year project entitled “Development of essential digital skills in the form of blended learning for the BSc Business Economics.” The goal of the project is to develop a pilot blended-learning course, delivered during the first semester of studies, for all new students in the Business Economics program of the five business schools.

This paper shares the results of one part of that study, i.e., an online student survey to gauge how they benefit from the blended learning format and what they perceive as the advantages/disadvantages of this method to encourage independent learning. The purpose is to use student comments to create effective blended learning environments in business management education.

The originality of this study resides in our ability to analyze a large number of students from five different Swiss business schools with different percentages of courses online or onsite and provide rich insights into the student’s preferences for blended learning in business management studies. We intend to create a model from these results that could be adapted to other courses and programs.

Keywords:

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), blended learning, technology tools, business management studies, Switzerland.