Stapa, M.A., Ibrahim, M., &
Yusoff, A. (2015). Engaging vocational college students through
blended learning: improving class attendance and participation.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 204, p.127-135. Retrieved
online from <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815047734>.
Review of Engaging Vocational College Students through
Blended Learning
The
article I chose to review centered on the use of blended learning in vocational
programs. The research, performed by
Stapa, Ibrahim, and Yusoff, attempts to tackle the issue of attendance and
participation at vocational programs (2015).
After a comprehensive overview of “Voc-learning” as they call it, the
scholars conclude that offering a blended learning format that allows for
online and face-to-face meetings is the best solution in improving attendance
and student participation (Stapa, Ibrahim, & Yusoff, 2015). Doing this, they argue, is a viable option
because of the current high school generation’s comfort level with technology
use, particularly social media (Stapa et al., 2015). The general idea is that class content can be
introduced and discussed online, examples can be viewed using social media or
video sharing sites, and then students can meet in face-to-face to apply what
they have learned in a hands-on setting.
In the end, however, the scholars conclude that much more research on
the topic of blended learning within the vocational setting needs to occur
(Stapa et al., 2015).
I
found this article to be very intriguing.
In just a few short weeks of this course, for example, we have learned
that online learning can be very effective.
We have also learned that it can be utilized in many different
ways. For me, the blended model is the
one that I feel holds the most promise because of the same reasons the scholars
cited in their article. This model
allows for students to engage content in an innovative manner, yet it also
allows for direct, in-person guidance by a teacher during face-to-face
meetings. Furthermore, I feel that such
a model could be used at several different grade levels and in several
different subject areas. One question
that I still have, however, is how official attendance is tabulated for the
online sessions. As part of our AYP
goals, attendance rates must meet a certain benchmark, and I would like to know
more about what the effects of online class sessions are on such a category. Additionally, I am curious about whether or
not the vocational school that many of our district students attend, IVVC,
utilizes any online learning in any of its programs.
While
I think that blended learning in the vocational setting lends itself more to
high school, I can also see the benefits of such a program being used in a
middle school setting. For example, I
know that we used to offer some vocational classes at the middle school level,
such as woodshop, sewing, and cooking, a long time ago. However, as budgets were cut, so were the
vocational offerings at Plano Middle School.
If, however, some sort of online learning program were utilized, many of
those classes could be offered again. Students
would not even have to leave the building during non-face-to-face meetings;
instead, they could simply meet using our school library or one of the many
labs we have. In a blended format, one
instructor could meet online with students from several different districts at
the same time, and then they could rotate throughout the different schools
throughout the course to provide hands-on learning opportunities and help
develop student skills in person. Furthermore,
I would argue that if such a program were offered at the middle school level to
many of our students with attendance and participation issues, then their
attendance and participation would improve dramatically. This, in my opinion, would occur because
whatever is offered could be more interesting to them than the traditional core
subjects of math, language arts, science, and social studies. All in all, I feel that a blended learning
program that is linked to Voc-learning could be a winning combination.
