Barbara Means

Online and Blended Postsecondary Learning : An Evidence-Based Perspective Barbara Means

Online and Blended Postsecondary Learning provides a comprehensive yet accessible synthesis of new knowledge about the benefits and challenges of technology-enabled teaching and learning in higher education. Summarizing the last ten years of research, trends, and strategic issues in online and blended learning, this book draws from major studies and meta-analyses as well as original scholarship to present a coherent and balanced account of digital learning’s opportunities and limitations. Across ten chapters, the authors illustrate how empirical research and professional practice have evolved in light of the explosion of urgency around remote learning and the widespread consumer availability of artificial intelligence tools.

They review theoretical underpinnings of how students learn and explain how the affordances of current and emerging technologies can support effective, evidence-based instructional approaches. The authors then discuss institutional contexts for supporting effective practices, an increasingly critical issue in the age of AI. The book explores how the intentional design of blended in-person and online learning can optimally leverage affordances of technology while maintaining essential interpersonal aspects of students’ academic experiences.

Researchers, graduate students, and teaching faculty in educational technology, learning sciences, and instructional design programs, as well as administrators of university teaching and learning centers and online programs, will come away well-equipped to make informed decisions about policy and practice in a landscape that is changing rapidly, full of obstacles, and in need of enduring, foundational principles of teaching and learning.