Barriers and enablers to K-12 blended teaching

Abstract

The attributes of post-pandemic blended teaching (BT) will more closely resemble pre-Coronavirus conditions than the outbreak’s emergency remote teaching. Thus, barriers and enablers for teachers transitioning to BT after emergency remote teaching will be similar to those of early BT adopters. K-12 research has identified external and internal barriers and enablers to technology integration but has largely overlooked those of BT. This study involved analyzing 62 interviews of K-12 blended teachers to discover factors that enabled BT, stood as barriers to initial and continued blending efforts, and helped teachers overcome barriers. Teacher-perceived barriers included, among others, costs perceived as outweighing benefits, lack of administrative support, and student characteristics. Enablers included teachers’ dispositions, cohort support, and various classroom benefits. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• Blended learning
• elementary and secondary education
• school administration
• teacher preparation
• adoption barriers and enablers

Disclosure statement

• The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

• The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

• All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

• The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

• Informed consent was obtained prior to all interviews.

• Approval was obtained from the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Brigham Young University. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Courtney N. Hanny

Courtney N. Hanny is a Master’s student in the Instructional Psychology and Technology program at Brigham Young University. Her primary research interests currently revolve around building student supports in blended learning contexts, including those provided by teachers, parents, and peers.

Karen T. Arnesen

Karen T. Arnesen is a Ph.D. student in the Instructional Psychology and Technology program at Brigham Young University. She has been an English language arts teacher, a magazine editor, and instructional designer. Her research and design interests are in blended teaching, personalization, and self-regulation.

Qi Guo

Qi Guo is a Ph.D. student in the Instructional Psychology and Technology program at Brigham Young University. Her research and design interests are in online and blended learning, personalization, and student engagement and motivation.

Jordan Hansen

Jordan Hansen is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University with a primary major in International Relations and a double-major in German studies. He has been working in instructional design with BYU since his first semester and his research and design interests are in blended teaching, tech-integration and second-language acquisition.

Charles R. Graham

Charles R. Graham is a Professor at Brigham Young University who studies technology-mediated teaching and learning, with a focus on the design and evaluation of blended and online learning environments. He also researches the use of technology to enhance traditional teaching and learning. His current research publications can be found online at: https://sites.google.com/site/charlesrgraham/