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Disappearing lecturer
The 'sage on the stage' model of learning is seen as outmoded by some academics. Photograph: Adam Simpson
The 'sage on the stage' model of learning is seen as outmoded by some academics. Photograph: Adam Simpson

Have big university lectures gone out of fashion?

This article is more than 9 years old
No longer can students sit passively and imbibe information – today's 'blended learning' approach demands engagement and ideas

The best lecture I ever went to saw an inspirational academic – Professor David Ian Rabey; credit where credit's due – cracking an egg over his own head. A roomful of undergraduates watched, fascinated and aghast, as the yolky glop slid down his face and dripped on the floor. He carried on talking (about King Lear as it happens), and we listened like we'd never listened before. I've never forgotten it.

But most lectures, let's face it, aren't so compelling. And the model of the "sage on the stage" is now seen as somewhat outmoded – or at least, as only one way, and not always the best, of teaching students.

Increasing numbers of universities are now using blended learning on degree courses, and some academics predict that it's the model of the future. But what is it exactly, what does it mean for students, and does it help them learn any better than the old-fashioned hand-cramping method of taking notes for an hour four times a week?

Blended learning, explains Mike Boxall, higher education expert at PA Consulting Group, involves using a diverse range of teaching methods and resources to offer more effective learning experiences. Each activity will ideally be designed around the circumstances and learning styles of different student groups.

"In practice, the term gets applied to a wide range of approaches," Boxall says, "from the Open University model – consisting mainly of online courses supplemented by face-to-face seminars in local centres, access to personal tutors and self-organising support groups – to "flipped" classroom models where students are expected to master the content of courses in their own time and then attend small group discussions and seminars to consolidate understanding and application of the course materials."

Blended learning isn't an entirely new concept – MBA programmes, for example, have had to develop creative teaching methods to accommodate their high-flying students, who need flexibility to help them fit study around work and childcare, as well as the demands of occasionally being deployed to different time zones. But full blown blended learning is now expanding as new technologies come on-stream.

Last year Birmingham became the first UK university to use Canvas, one of the many e-learning platforms now available to higher education institutions. In the first three months alone, Canvas was rolled out across 4,600 of the university's courses. The company's vice president of research and education Jared Stein says however that technology shouldn't be used in teaching simply because it's there: it should be used when it can offer something different and better. "We have always prioritised technology to enhance interactions between people, to create a system that is there when you need it, that connects with you when there's new content," he says.

Instead of sitting in front of a lecturer, Birmingham University's students may now find that they're asked to view selected nuggets – journal articles, video, podcasts, presentations – uploaded by their course leader "and then come and engage with the concepts in a more workshop-like session," says Matt Sherlock, assistant director for learning environments. "And the technology is really facilitating that. A lecturer can do a quick 10 minute presentation on the train, whack that up to the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment)… the expectation is that students do preparation before arriving to unpack the information in more detail [face-to-face]. What blended learning does is assure students that they have many ways of engaging with that material."

Fetching up for a session with a tutor having skipped the prep work clearly isn't going to cut it: Sherlock acknowledges that students don't always understand the requirements of the blended learning approach when they first arrive "and more work needs to be done to explain it."

The method may also be better suited to some learners than others – a last-minute lazybones should probably try to find a different type of course. Boxall doesn't pull his punches: "It demands more active engagement from the students themselves, which may be unwelcome to those looking for a spoon fed educational experience," he says.

At Manchester Business School, Ffion Rees, head of MBA marketing and recruitment points out that an ability to engage with the blended learning method can be an integral attribute for successful completion of a particular type of degree. "An important part of blended learning," she says, "is the onus of responsibility placed on the students to manage their time and workload effectively, both key skills for an MBA" – and one might argue, for any graduate who has hopes of a holding down a job.

It's not just students who need to adapt. "It certainly involves big changes in styles and skills from academics, who are less the authoritative providers of knowledge and must become more like learning coaches and mentors for their students," says Boxall. "Not all academics welcome this, but the best relish the challenge."

There has been some criticism that adopting a blended learning model risks reducing the contact hours students have with lecturers, but Sherlock maintains, "it's not the volume of contact hours that have changed, it's the quality that's changed – and improved."

There's clearly a world of difference between the contact time that involves sitting with 250 others in a lecture hall while a teacher presents, and personal and small-group sessions where students are encouraged to develop their understanding and skills in developing and testing their own arguments. "The growing emphasis on contact hours – without discrimination as to the modes, quality and group sizes involved – risks becoming counter-productive," says Boxall, "as institutions might tend to "manage to the measure" and fill students' weeks with rote lectures delivered by junior staff rather than encouraging and supporting more individualised learning models.

As to whether it's cheaper for universities to stick substantial portions of courses online, the answer seems to be a resounding no.

"The upfront cost of moving to this type of learning is very high," says Sherlock. "There's making the multimedia content; then you need a platform to deliver it, the infrastructure to create that content and the need to up-skill staff and students to be able to make the most of it."

Boxall too scoffs at the idea that blended learning equals bargain basement. "There is no evidence that blended learning, or even fully online learning, is cheaper to provide or less demanding of tutor inputs," he says. "If anything, blended learning that substitutes big lectures for more small group work and individualised feedback is actually more demanding of tutor time and other resources – such as space – than conventional modes. So blended learning is not a cheap option or a cop-out for reluctant academics, but should only be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of students' learning experiences."

The proof of the pudding, of course, is in the, er, degree result. So, for all the extra effort involved, is blended learning effective? The jury, it seems, is still out. The Open University is currently assessing whether its efforts at blending the learning experiences of its students has improved retention as well as results. At other UK institutions, the fully blended approach is still in its infancy.

"I've certainly seen research that shows no significant difference to outcomes or even improvements" says Stein. "It's an extremely young concept, of course, but technology is changing, culture is changing, and the possibilities are vast."

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