Blended education Archieven - UvA Teaching and Learning Centres (TLC)

Fall 2020, a trajectory started to explore how digitalisation can enrich education at the UvA. Although the UvA is a campus university, forms of digital education can be combined with face-to-face education. This so called blended education can contribute to richer and innovative learning environments. To gain and give insight into the current state of blended education at the UvA and into future developments, the Executive Board funded the research project ‘Blended Education’.

The research project consists of several studies, focusing on:

effective blended teaching practices within different disciplines, and
experiences of lecturers and students with blended education at the UvA.

These studies make an important contribution to the further formation and improvement of the university’s vision on digitalisation. The results of three studies on blended education can be found below.

Studies on blended education

Digitisation in education: practices and experiences of teachers and students with blended education at the University of Amsterdam (period 2022-2023)

Team members: Sunčica Bruck, Bart van Loenen, Emma Vermeulen, Natalie Pareja Roblin, Frank Cornelissen, Joke Voogt & Monique Volman

Study 1: Online Survey Report

This study aims to gain insight into how UvA lecturers from various disciplines designed and facilitated blended courses, as well as their perspectives on these experiences. The following research questions guided the research:

How do lecturers integrate on and off campus elements in their blended courses?
How do lecturers integrate digital tools in their blended courses?
What differences do teachers see between their role in blended versus non-blended courses?
How do lecturers experience institutional support for Blended Education and what kind of support would they like to receive in the future?

Read the full report (pdf, 67 p.)

Study 2: Questionnaire Survey

This literature review was conducted in order to synthesize research on what characterizes effective and meaningful Blended Education. The aim of providing such insight is to inform blended course design and pedagogical practices, as well as contributing to the institutional digitalization strategy of the University of Amsterdam.

This study was guided by the following research question: “Which key considerations emerge from the literature pertaining to effective and meaningful blended course design and teaching practices in higher education?”

Read the full report (pdf, 28 p.)

Study 3: Qualitative multiple case study

Lecturers across the UvA are increasingly experimenting with the design blended courses. However, there is little in-depth insight into what ‘blends’ work best and why lecturers – when they design blended courses – make certain choices, such as the ratio of online and on-campus activities, the use of digital tools or the teacher role. In this qualitative multiple case study we investigate what features of blended courses were perceived as successful by students and lecturers. Results contribute to inform further development and improvement of blended education at the UvA.

Read the full report (pdf, 23 p.)

What makes blended courses successful in the experience of teachers and students?

Emma Vermeulen, Suncica Bruck, Bart van Loenen, Natalie Pareja Roblin, Frank Cornelissen, Joke Voogt & Monique Volman. 09-06-2023.

Blended education

Blended learning in 'Introduction to Criminal Law'

Clear structure, varied work formats and clear communication made the blended learning course Introduction to Criminal Law a success