Navigating new terrain: Designing blended learning to develop digital literacies for students in a tertiary institution
The way blended learning, the integration of online with face-to-face learning and teaching (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004), is designed impacts on how learning and teaching will be implemented. For current tertiary learning design in New Zealand, it is central to explore which pedagogical practices might be part of a blended design to engage Māori and non-Māori students and enhance digital information literacy. Within this study, digital information literacy is identified as being intertwined with content learning and, as such, digital information literacy has become a vital component of students' tertiary learning. I found limited literature pertaining to blended learning design and online affordances to foster students' digital literacies and digital information literacy in particular. Furthermore, additional research seems required that presents a holistic view of applying Māori pedagogical concepts and practices online. This research investigated some of the points at which a range of contemporary learning and teaching issues connect, which have been little researched before in a combined way at a mainstream tertiary institution. With this in mind, the overall aim of this research was to critically examine how blended learning can be designed to support digital literacies and digital information literacy in particular. To achieve this aim, an inter(vent)tion with multiple resources was designed and developed, informed by research and existing projects. Questions were posed which explored students' and teachers' experiences of blended learning design and digital information literacy, how to support independent learning in such a design, the existing strategies and resources to support digital information literacy, the importance of active learning and teaching and of embedding digital information literacy by aligning development with learning outcomes and assessment demands, the application of Māori pedagogical concepts and practices that support Māori and non-Māori students in blended learning, and, finally, the significance and functions of online affordances for blended learning design. A combined approach of educational design research and Kaupapa Māori theory was used to investigate the research questions. The iterative nature of educational design research complemented the principles of Kaupapa Māori research which guided the study. Within this theoretical framework an interpretive qualitative research design, aspects of an advocacy-liberatory approach (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010) was used with participation from teachers and students from one tertiary provider. Data were collected from students and teachers utilising open-ended questionnaires, focus groups and individual interviews. The findings show that, for tertiary teachers, the development of blended learning design and of digital information literacy is driven by their understanding of learning, of online affordances and the application of learning theories. It was identified that the development of appropriate blended learning design is complex, influenced by learning contexts and the conflicting priorities held in addition to being a course teacher. The research findings have implications for curriculum and programme design, professional development for tertiary teachers and the institutional support of learning design.
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