WEB CONFERENCING TO SUPPORT BLENDED LEARNING IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT: A CASE STUDY IN A SECOND CHANCE SCHOOL

Dafni Meimaridou, Ioannis Magnisalis, Stavros Demetriadis,
and Andreas Pombortsis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Greece

This study focuses on the use of synchronous web services for designing blended courses with collaborative characteristics in the school context. An implementation in the 2nd Chance School of Thessaloniki is presented as a case study, analyzing the design of a blended learning activity integrating a functionally rich web-conferencing tool and collaborative tasks to increase in- course learning interactions expected to lead to improved learning outcomes. This is an explorative study aiming to provide useful experiences/feedback to teachers. Study results indicate that using web-conferencing increases in-course learning interactions leading to a strong sense of classroom community. Important future issues to investigate are directed towards an integrated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), incorporating synchronous and asynchronous characteristics, to better design our blended courses supported by web-conferencing facilities.

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