A quasi-experimental study of a blended course integrated with refined web-mediated pedagogy of collaborative learning and self-regulated learning

Abstract

Innovative teaching methods integrated with web technologies have been increasingly used in higher education. However, there are few studies discussing effective web-mediated teaching methods for both students and teachers. To help students learn and develop their academic involvement in a blended course, and improve their thoughts regarding this course, the author in this study re-designed and re-developed a combined teaching method for the course. The author conducted a quasi-experimental study to explore the effects of different combinations of web-mediated CL with/without initiation and SRL with/without feedback on involving students and enhancing their thoughts regarding this blended course. This research involved 227 second-year university students from four class sections, including three experimental groups (CISF, CIS, and CI groups), and a control group (C group), who received different combined interventions. In this research, students in CISF group (web-mediated instruction that integrated CL with initiation and SRL with feedback) significantly improved their involvement by the end of the course. In addition, students in CISF group had positive thoughts regarding web-mediated CL with initiation and SRL with feedback. The implications and discussion for teachers who plan to design teaching methods for online courses are also provided in this paper.

Keywords:

• web-mediated collaborative learning
• web-mediated self-regulated learning
• initiation
• feedback
• involvement
• students' thoughts

Acknowledgement

The author would like to express appreciation for the financial support of NSC100-2410-H-130-014- and NSC99-3113-S-214-001- from the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Notes on contributor

Chia-Wen Tsai is an associate professor in the Department of Information Management, Ming Chuan University. Dr. Tsai is one of the Editors-in-Chief of International Journal of Online Pedagogy and Course Design, and International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction. He is also the Associate Editor of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, and International Journal of Information Communication Technologies and Human Development. He is interested in online teaching methods and knowledge management. Readers can contact him by email: [email protected]