Requirements of Using the Blended Educational System from the Viewpoints of the Faculty Members

Abstract

Background: Implication of blended learning could compensate both the limitations of time and geographic distance presented in traditional classroom methods and deficiencies of class interaction and learners support that are peculiar to e-learning methods. To this aim, the present study was designed to examine and analyze the requirements for blended learning implications in higher education from faculty members' point of view. Methods: The study was conducted during spring of 2016 at the Semnan province Payam Noor branches. Participants in this study were 70 academic members of Semnan Payam Noor University, who were randomly selected by the Krejcie and Morgan formula from 85 faculty members. The data collection instrument was a newly developed questionnaire, the validity of which was determined by seeking views of 15 specialists in e-learning using the Delphi method. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated through calculating internal consistency of items (α = 0.95). To analyze factors underlying specified requirements by the questionnaire, a factor analysis was conducted by the SPSS V.18 software. Results: Factor analysis of academic members' views resulted in 5 factors constituting “infrastructure, political, professional, organizational, and instructional" requirements. From academic members' point of view, infrastructure requirements with nine loaded items were the most preliminary considerations for blended learning implication and accounted for 49.24% of the total variance. The second factor, political requirements, with six loaded items accounted for 7.75% of total variance. The third factor, professional requirements, with five loaded items, accounted for 6.29 of the total variance. The fourth factor, organizational requirements, with three loaded items and the fifth factor, instructional requirements, with two loaded items accounted for 4.61% and 4.34% of the total variance, respectively. Conclusions: The findings showed that successful implementation of blended learning would result from considerations, such as “allocation of sufficient funds" and “provision of necessary software/hardware facilities" for blended learning in policies of universities and higher education institutions.