Development and Evaluation of the Blended Learning Courses at Sam Ratulangi University in Indonesia

International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 2, No. 3, June 2012 Development and Evaluation of the Blended Learning Courses at Sam Ratulangi University in Indonesia. Sary. D. E. Paturusi, Yoshifumi Chisaki, and Tsuyoshi Usagawa examinations given at specified dates and times. On the Abstract—The advancement in educational technology other hand, electronic learning (e-learning) refers to the precipitated by the dissemination of Internet in recent years emergent phenomenon in which teaching and learning occur has a potential to improve the quality of education by via the Internet. Blended learning is the learning paradigm encouraging participation and collaboration between that attempts to optimize both traditional learning and instructors and students. Educational institutions use information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool for distance learning advantages, potentials and benefits while teaching and learning in a number of ways including but not eliminating both learning paradigms shortages and limited to Internet-based content delivery and visualization. challenges [2]. One notable difference in this new approach This research involves the development and evaluation of toward learning is that an instructor acts as a facilitator or a blended learning courses at University of Sam Ratulangi guide to the students. E-learning has the potential to (UNSRAT), Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The current maximize chance of a students to interact with instructors work was aimed to redesign two courses of the existing curriculum based on the ADDIE instructional design model to and other students by online via the Internet, regardless of support student-centered learning and develop e-learning time and place. The effective integration of the Internet to materials. One of the courses was then delivered as two higher education could maximize opportunities for students separate classes, the first class was delivered through to become more involved actively in self-directional conventional learning and the second class was delivered by learning [3]. blended learning. These were done to obtain a comprehensive Although the number of studies on the application of view of students' preferences for learning model. Whereas the other course was entirely delivered by blended learning to e-learning at higher education institutions has increased acquire an evaluation of students' experience in this learning rapidly in the last decade, little is known about e-learning model. experience of Indonesian students and their preferred In this paper, the development of the courses based on the method of e-learning. University of Sam Ratulangi instructional design are described. From the questionnaire and (UNSRAT), Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia is examination results, students' achievements both for searching for the most effective method to integrate conventional learning and blended learning are evaluated. The outcome of the research can be seen as a description of e-learning into their curriculum. “Logic Circuit and Digital students' experience and can offer recommendation on how to Technique” and “Discrete Mathematics” are the core of the design e-learning based courses under the circumstances at second-term courses currently offered to undergraduate UNSRAT. students at Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering in UNSRAT. In the past, those courses were Index Terms—Blended learning, conventional learning, implemented through teacher-centered learning, in which an development, evaluation, Indonesia. instructor took an active role in instruction and students passively received the information. However, we would like to design the course with a student-centered approach [4] [5] I. INTRODUCTION using Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Over the past decade, the rapid development and growth Environment (Moodle) software platform which allows of information and communication technology (ICT) has development of interaction and collaborative construction of enriched teaching and learning experiences and provided a content [6]. chance to involve learners more, as well as improving the This study aims to build the basis for developing quality of education [1], especially in developing countries. student-centered e-learning materials with the Moodle Conventional learning refers to the traditional method of platform and the Analysis, Design, Development, instruction where an instructor and students convene to the Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) instructional same physical location to hold a class meeting, usually with design model. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the instructor positioned at the center of the class circle [2]. students’ experience and their preferred method of It sets restrictions on the place and time of learning as well e-learning, the learning outcome was evaluated in two as the subjects to be learned and the teaching / learning conditions: (1) conventional condition, and (2) blended assessment methodology. Students' achievement is usually learning condition which combined conventional method assessed by written and, in some occasions, oral with e-learning. First, we will review the theoretical background regarding ADDIE instructional design model, conventional and blended method of learning and give a Manuscript received April 20, 2012; revised June 20, 2012. This work was supported in part by Graduate School of Science and Technology, description of the refined version of the curriculum. Second, Kumamoto University, Japan. we will discuss the development of e-learning materials with They are with Kumamoto University, Japan (e-mail: the Moodle platform. Finally, we will conclude our paper by [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]). presenting the results of our study about the learning 242 International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 2, No. 3, June 2012 outcomes of Indonesian students. Fig. 1. Top page of the developed course. In the center column, learning content and corresponding quiz for each week are shown The Moodle contains lecturer information, course II. METHOD syllabus, week-by-week program, materials, assignments and quizzes for each chapter as conceived in Fig. 1. After A. Course Development Based on ADDIE Model completion of learning in each chapter for both courses, an The curriculum of “Logic Circuit and Digital Technique” assignment and quiz were given to assess students' and “Discrete Mathematics” courses were developed understanding about the material. The quiz uses a format in according to the key elements of a curriculum based on which answers were automatically evaluated and the ADDIE model: Analysis, Design, Development, feedback were given immediately to students. Other tabs Implementation and Evaluation [7] [8]. provide access to a general forum which were instructors During the analysis phase, the learning material resources can post class information, assignment reminders and quiz for these courses were identified from some reference books. deadlines, every week. Through this forum, we expected to Students can earn 3 credits in the “Logic Circuit and Digital have interaction between students and instructors as well as Technique” course, and the course constitutes a total of 42 within students themselves. hours of lectures divided into 14 meetings, and covers 7 During the implementation phase, actual instructions and chapters in a textbook. Whereas in the “Discrete delivery of learning experiences was done in the first Mathematics” course, students can obtain 2 credits with a semester of the academic year 2011 for the “Logic Circuit total of 28 hours of lecture divided into 10 meetings, and and Digital Technique” course, on the other hand, for the covers 8 chapters in a textbook. “Discrete Mathematics” course was done in the second Through the design phase, learning objectives for each semester of the academic year 2011. meeting, content, lesson planning and media selection were In the evaluation phase, we provide an assessment of decided and the course structure were defined. “Logic learning outcomes through students' results and recommend Circuit and Digital Technique” course consists of 7 chapters. improvements in e-learning support as well as collecting As the core of the second-term curriculum, upon completion feedback for continuous refinement in both courses. of this course, students were expected to be able to analyze B. Comparison Study of Two Learning Styles and create some simple design both for “Combinational and Sequential Logic.” On the other hand, “Discrete Comparison study was carried out to obtain a Mathematics” course consists of 8 chapters and in this comprehensive view of students' experiences and course, students learned the essential mathematics concepts preferences for the learning model. In the present study, the course, “Logic Circuit and Digital Technique”, was and ideas in discrete mathematics, required for rigorous delivered in two separate classes; one class (Electrical studies in most areas in computer science. Engineering concentration), through the conventional In the development phase, we adopted the Moodle learning method and another (Information Technology platform, an open source learning management system, web concentration) by the blended learning method. In the both application for producing modular Internet-based courses. classes, this subject was a compulsory credits for the Moodle is divided into courses

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