| Popis: |
Blended learning was recently found to be more effective than either face to face instruction or online learning separately, by a meta-analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education (Means et all, 2009). However, the implementations of blended learning approaches face many challenges. For the purpose of this research, Graham’s (2006, p.5) definition was adopted: ”Blended learning systems combine face to face instruction with computer mediated instruction.” This study evaluates the process of creating a blended learning program, as part of a project ran by the National Agency for Civil Servants in order to improve the competencies of the civil servants and ultimately the quality of the service the public administration provides to the citizen. The program included twenty blended learning courses that were created based on existing traditional, face to face, courses. Forty trainers were selected and trained extensively in order to create and to implement the program. The blended learning courses were piloted for five months with more than 400 participants with various backgrounds and levels of experience. This project aims at investigating the following research question: how can the processes of transforming traditional courses into blended learning courses be improved in the context of public administration? In order to answer the research question, a case study method was chosen, and the tools used for collecting data were surveys and interviews conducted with the trainers and the participants, and both quantitative and qualitative results from the pilot program were also included in the analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, lessons to be learned and recommendations can be identified. |
