Introducing Blended Learning Practices to Social
Sciences Stream in Higher Education– Strategies and
Challenges
Anjali Korala1
Department of Political Science and Public Policy, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo
1
anjali@poli.cmb.ac.lk,
Keywords— Political Science, Blended Learning, Mind Mapping,
Concept Mapping
Incorporating information technology into the teaching
and learning activities in higher education has now become an
essentiality in preparing students to face the globalized,
information technology centred world. Nevertheless, the
subject content itself and the lack of exposure of the students
to the information technology in the social science stream had
become two main obstacles in achieving this goal. Therefore,
the introduction of blended learning practices to the social
sciences should be concerned with the value laden nature of
the subject content as well as the ability of the students to get
engaged in with such activities. Thus, the changes to be
introduced in the classroom should be well informed both
from the student’s perspective and as well as the teacher’s
perspective.
In this context, a teaching learning activity was conducted
to introduce blended learning practices to the undergraduates
majoring on Political Science and Public Policy during the
course unit PSC 2220 – Approaches to Public Policy and
Administration. The aim was to familiarize the students with
IT based learning techniques. Data both from the teacher and
the students was acquired in order to identify the most
appropriate problem to be addressed through blended learning
practices. Basing on teacher’s observation and the survey
conducted among the students it was identified that students
have a problem in logically relating the facts or lessons.
Through the survey, it was identified as a problem by 52.5%
of students, and all the students agreed to the use of diagrams
and charts to explain the lesson logically. 89.7% of students
considered the introduction of mapping techniques/software
which will allow to create logical diagrams as a better solution
among the others.
Basing on the data a teaching, learning activity was
initiated to introduce a free online mapping software
‘mindmapmaker’ to the students which would allow them to
create their own diagrams. The software was easy to log in
and it was free. Students were divided into 12 groups each
with 4 students and they were given one model of policy
making to be concept mapped or mind mapped. The selected
lesson from the syllabus was the ‘Policy cycle’. Although the
course content focus on the policy cycle based on David
Easton’s Input-Output Model, there were several other types
of policy cycles such as ‘elite theory’, ‘incremental model’
etc.., which were necessary to be explained in the class at least
briefly. But the time constrains prevents these additional
topics been discussed during the classroom. Therefore, this
activity was designed where the students get the opportunity to
gain additional knowledge and also to address the issue of
logical construction of a lesson. The necessary instructions
were provided to them during the class and also presentation
slides and a tutorial video were uploaded to the LMS. Students
were instructed to use their spare time to meet in groups and
prepare the mind map/ concept map. Then to upload the soft
copy of the mind map/concept map they created as a group as
well as individually to the LMS for assessment. This activity
was expected to achieve two outcomes; (a) Students being
able to construct mind maps/ concept maps by groups. (b)
Students being able to construct mind maps/concept maps
individually using the mapping software. After completing the
activity, students were asked to provide their feedback through
a google form.
39 students had provided feedback on the activity and
their responses were as follow; (a) 92.3% of students said that
the activity helped them to understand the lesson logically, (b)
89.7% of students said that the activity helped them to learn
from their fellow students, (c) 23.1% of students said that the
activity was time consuming and 66.7% of students said that
although the activity was time consuming it was manageable.
10.3% of students said the activity was not time consuming,
(d) 97.4% of students said that they would like to use the
software more often. As reasons they stated that the use of the
software was easy, enjoyable and especially it helped them to
understand the lesson. Furthermore some has stated that it
helped them to cover a larger area of a lesson, (e) Students had
encountered problems when it comes to using the computer
lab (poor internet connection, not enough machines to work
on, submitting through LMS), (f) 97.4% of students stated that
they would like to do such activities again during the
classroom.
With the completion of the activity, it was evident that
blended learning techniques can be used (a) to improve
students’ analytical skills in social science stream (b) to
improve students’ inter-personal skills, and (c) to improve
students’ personal IT related skills. Nevertheless, there are
limitations in using such blended learning strategies in social
sciences, since most of the course content are value laden and
requires more time for teacher-student interactions.