CHONG Yuan Yi
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science (FOS)

Yuan Yi takes us through his process of applying blended learning in the course CM1102, particularly the strategies he used to engage students, which include bite-sized e-lectures as well as peer instruction activities via groupwork and collaborative learning.

Chong, Y. Y. (2025, January 14). Blended learning Journey in a gateway course: Making learning more personalised and inclusive for our students. CTLT Teaching Connections. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/teachingconnections/2025/01/14/2025-chong-yy/

 

Start with WHY: Identify Learning Challenges in Your Course 

Imagine standing at the helm of a classroom, a vibrant tapestry of minds before you: Years 1 to 5 undergraduates (and NUS High School students), each a unique blend of disciplines, backgrounds, and aspirations. This is the exhilarating challenge I face teaching the chemistry gateway course CM1102 “Chemistry–The Central Science”, where the diversity of the student cohort is as vast as chemistry itself, and every student has different concerns, prior knowledge, learning pace and needs.

How do we make learning more personalised, inclusive, and value-adding for our students? Through my quest of searching for a plausible solution, blended learning (BL) surfaced.

 

What is Blended Learning?

Blended learning is a thoughtful and meaningful integration of online and face-to-face (f2f) learning experiences (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). This approach is not about converting f2f lectures to e-lectures. It is about creating a richer, more adaptive educational journey that meets learners’ needs.

 

Choose a Theoretical Framework That Aligns With Your Teaching Philosophy

Operationalising blended learning in CM1102 called for a framework that could support such a dynamic approach. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Figure 1), with its emphasis on creating deep and meaningful learning experiences through the interplay of social, cognitive, and teaching presence (Garrison et al., 1999), emerged as a natural fit. The CoI framework was also well aligned with my teaching philosophy.

 

 

The infographic in Figure 2 provides a snapshot of how I operationalise blended learning in CM1102, engaging students through a mix of asynchronous online and synchronous f2f instructions. To get students’ buy in, it is important during the first lecture to communicate the rationale behind implementing blended learning. This would include what learning challenges this approach helps to solve, and how it enhances their overall learning experience. To make it relatable, I also share quotes from past student feedback, which highlight the positive impact of blended learning and peer instruction on their understanding and engagement.

 

In our preliminary study using the CoI framework, we identified a gap in social presence, particularly in online discussions when only Canvas Discussions was used. To address this, I introduced a private group chat on the messaging app Telegram to improve student engagement. Telegram offers ease of use, real-time communication features, anonymity, convenience and familiarity for students, making it a good complement to the blended learning environment.

 

Drawing from this experience, I am excited to share three key practical insights, which you might find of interest if you are keen to explore applying blended learning in your courses.

 

INSIGHT #1: Streamline Blended Learning with Canvas

I tailored Canvas modules to foster a habit of consistent engagement and self-regulation among our students, making blended learning flow more intuitive and enjoyable. Results from our preliminary studies suggest that students with self-regulation enjoyed blended learning more, and the operationalisation of blended learning improved students’ self-regulated learning strategies.

 

INSIGHT #2: Design Bite-sized e-Lectures Using the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning

 

INSIGHT #3: Leverage on Peer Teaching and Learning

The best way to learn something, is to teach it. Don’t forget to harness the power of peer teaching and learning. The blended learning approach frees up more time for f2f synchronous instruction, allowing us to engage students in activities that nurture higher-order thinking skills.

 

During synchronous f2f lectures, I find peer instruction (Crouch & Mazur, 2001) effective in deepening students’ conceptual understanding and clearing misconceptions. Beyond the classroom, we provide students opportunities for group work and collaboration through PeerWise collaborative learning, which involves course-wide crowdsourcing multiple-choice questions. More on this in another reflection post.

 

How Did Students Find Blended Learning?

The mid-course student feedback (Figure 3) reveals that more than 87% of the respondents reported a positive learning experience with blended learning in CM1102.

 

In addition, since the blended learning approach provides more opportunities for students to interact with the teaching team, their peers, and themselves, it also helps create a psychologically safe and inclusive learning environment for our students.

 

Guided reflection with the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework

To continually refine and enhance students’ blended learning experience in CM1102, I have found the following three instruments illuminating in identifying strengths and areas for improvement:

• The CoI Blended Learning Evaluation Survey: Available in the appendix of this free e-book ‘Guide to Blended Learning’ (Cleveland-Innes & Wilton, 2018).
• The CoI Survey Questionnaire (Arbaugh et al., 2008).
• The Seven Teaching Principles that Support Blended Learning using the CoI Framework (Vaughan et al., 2013).

 

Table 1
Example of self-reflection of how the design, organisation, facilitation, and direct instruction in BL of CM1102 align with the seven teaching principles that support blended learning. For instance, BLA2 corresponds to online knowledge checks, and BLA3 corresponds to PeerWise collaborative learning in Step 6 and 5, respectively, as shown in Figure 2.

 

What’s Next?

Teaching is a reflective and iterative process. As we move forward with blended learning in CM1102, I plan to explore the Mastery Paths feature in Canvas and integrate generative artificial intelligence to further personalise our students’ learning experiences.

 

Blended learning is not just a methodology, it is the future of higher education. If you are interested in integrating blended learning into your courses, consider what learning challenges you aim to address. Start small, and start with asking, “Why?”

 

References

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., Norman, M. K., & Mayer, R. E. (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. Wiley.

Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S. R., Garrison, D. R., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K. P. (2008). Developing a community of inquiry instrument: Testing a measure of the Community of Inquiry framework using a multi-institutional sample. The Internet and Higher Education, 11(3–4), 133–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003

Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching For Quality Learning At University. McGraw-Hill Education.

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning (1st ed.). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674419377

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2016). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119239086

Cleveland-Innes, M., & Wilton, D. (2018). Guide to Blended Learning. Commonwealth of Learning (COL). https://doi.org/10.56059/11599/3095

Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69(9), 970–977. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1374249

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6

Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008). Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles, and guidelines (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118269558

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. AU Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781927356470.01

 

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CHONG Yuan Yi is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, and one of the founding members of the Science Educator Network (SCENE). He believes in student-centric education. He has a strong interest in blended learning, technology-enabled active learning (TEAL), and engaging students as partners (SaP) in teaching and learning to promote student engagement and motivation in learning. Yuan Yi can be reached at francis@nus.edu.sg.