engleski

The Impact of Blended Learning on Students’ Skills and Competencies

Abstract Blended learning is broad by definition, but always includes a combination of face-to-face and online activities. The digital transformation usually takes time because the innovation lies not only in the technology to be used, but also in the methods of instruction. Teachers need to be learning alongside their students and students, though digital natives ; they need additional training as well. UAS Baltazar Zaprešić, the only institution of higher education in Croatia with an undergraduate programme of cultural entrepreneurship and management, aiming to better meet the needs of the market and increase job opportunities for its graduates, has initiated a pilot blended-learning project. It includes a group of third-year Cultural Management undergraduate students and Communication Management graduate students. The desired outcome would be a flex model of blended learning which includes face-to-face lectures complemented by online activities. These activities are accompanied by an action research which aims to assess how blended learning affects student skills and competencies in the areas of culture and communication. Each teacher included in the project has given their course a new design, in order to accommodate the desired course outcomes. Action research used triangulated qualitative and quantitative methods, targeting not only to assess the impact on competencies and skills through the grading system but also the attitudes and experiences of participants in the process, teachers and students alike.The action research has shown that the introduction of blended learning in UAS Baltazar has proved to have a number of advantages that range from cost- effectiveness and time management to easier exams and overall studying for students, to being a preferred type of teaching for the majority of students.

Blended learning, cultural management, education

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