An Evaluation of Blended Courses : Reflections from Undergraduates

Blended learning approaches are increasingly adopted in the higher education context, with various levels of success. This study explored students’ experiences and evaluations of a blended course in an undergraduate’s programme in information systems at a New Zealand university. This paper presents ten emerged themes, drawing on six in-depth focus groups’ interviews with undergraduates. The themes indicate that students are not only accepting of blended approaches but also perceived blended approaches useful for their learning and enjoyable to a certain extent. The emerged themes also uncover students’ reflections of their learning abilities and preferences in instances of the rising uptake of blended approaches across the higher education context. These study findings are potentially useful in providing practical contributions by informing learning institutions’ key considerations when implementing blended approaches to undergraduates who are relatively new to the method and learning environment. Full paper available at https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2019/174