Effectiveness and efficiency of blended learning model for developing leadership skills

ISBN: 978-1-911218-17-3

Institutions of higher education are increasingly adopting blended learning, because it has been widely demonstrated that blended learning could be a better learning model than pure face-to-face classroom teaching or online learning. However, literature reviews show that many institutions mostly implement blended learning rather than evaluate the potential benefits. As blended learning continues to grow in popularity, so researchers must explore the potential and limitations of this field in depth. The aim of this paper is to present research results of effectiveness and efficiency of a hybrid learning and teaching model for developing leadership skills among graduate students. The authors focused on two important things. First, the authors investigated how to enhance benefits of blended learning for leadership training for working students and, second, the authors explored the drivers of blended learning for working students in order to achieve high quality teaching and learning experiences. Blended learning has been shown useful and beneficial when used to attract experienced teachers from abroad to university courses when they cannot come for the whole semester. Therefore, the paper analyzes theoretical aspects of employing a blended model to teach degree level as well as executive level studies in a university context, and the applicability of this model in the context of leadership courses. In order to empirically test how efficient and effective the hybrid model is for teaching and learning leadership, a qualitative case study research strategy was chosen. This strategy allowed interpretive, contextual, and authentic evaluations instead of objective, non-contextual, and inauthentic evaluations. The research results are based on the case study of recently developed leadership studies course at one Lithuanian university. During the research, it was found that blended learning provides powerful and efficient methods for course participants, however, several things need refinement. In particular, some aspects of learning design, learning material and modifications at organizational level.