How are Universities involved in Blended Instruction?

The purposes of this study are to examine faculty involvement in blended instruction and their attitudes towards the instructional method. The study also explored how universities support faculty in their current practices on blended instruction and the challenges in supporting faculty. The target population of this study was Institute of Higher Education (IHE) coordinators and faculty members of 151 extensive doctoral research universities classified by the Carnegie Foundations. Two online survey instruments, one for the coordinators and the other for faculty were administered to the target population. Of the 151 targeted population, 34 IHE representatives and 133 faculty members from 33 universities responded to the survey questionnaires. The study found that the most commonly selected blended method (64.4%) was face-to-face instruction with supplementary online instructional materials. In addition, faculty (95.9%) actively participated in designing, developing, and/ or maintaining their instructional materials. Most had positive attitudes towards blended instruction as they believed it played a role in improving the quality of their instruction. In addition, participating universities reported providing faculty with the necessary help such as an online help desk, workshops, instructional designers, and technology specialists in support of goals to increase the number of online or blended instruction. However, faculty workload (70.6%) and lack of faculty motivation and enthusiasm (61.8%) were the biggest challenges in pursuing the institutional goals. Based on the findings, suggestions are made to promote blended instruction.