Implementing Blended Learning for 1000 Mechanical Engineering Students

The module Techniques of Programming of the RWTH Aachen University is one of five case studies within the EU funded project Blend-XL – Finding a Balance in Blended Learning with eXtra Large Students Groups. During the project the module changed from a face-to-face module into a blended learning one. Therefore a blended learning concept has been developed which includes a special virtual learning environment. With the help of the blended learning concept the main problem areas of this module, the different previous knowledge of the students and the motivation of them, have been faced. The first research cycle of the case study has been implemented. This paper describes the corresponding evaluation results and the outlook to the second cycle. 1 The Project Blend-XL Teaching large student groups with more than 100 students is especially in the first year of study a common phenomenon. In the core modules of the study the large group is often taught in big lecture theatres. This leads to a lack of communication between the teacher and the students, which is often found de-motivating. As a result, the exam results have a lower success rate and the attrition rate is higher than in small-scale education [1]. The idea behind the project Blend-XL – Finding a Balance in Blended Learning with eXtra Large Student Groups is that the effective use of ICT can make the large-scale education more motivating and more personal. Designing pedagogical models for learning situations with blended learning a mix of face-to-face and online activities is the main focus of the project. The project started in October 2005 and is funded for three years by the Socrates Minerva Programme of the EU. The output of the project will be five blended courses, an educational design model for blended learning situations, scenarios and cases from educational practice, a toolkit for blended learning, a digital handbook for teachers and a virtual centre of expertise on blended learning. All the outputs are focused on large student groups. In the project five European partners are involved, the RWTH Aachen University in Germany, the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the Academy of Humanities and Economics in Lodz in Poland, the University of Zilina in Slowakei and the University of Maribor in Slowenia. In the project the action research methodology is used [2]. The case studies will perform two cycles during the project, so that the experiences of the first cycle can directly improve the second cycle and the development of the pedagogical model is based on many experiences. In the following the first cycle of the case study Techniques of Programming of the RWTH Aachen University is described. ha l-0 01 97 21 5, v er si on 1 14 D ec 2 00 7 Author manuscript, published in "Conference ICL2007, September 26 -28, 2007, Villach : Austria (2007)"