“It’s the Combination That Works”: Evaluating Student Experiences with a Multi-element Blended Design in First-year Law

Abstract

This mixed method study involved twenty students enrolled in three consecutive intakesof an Australian Bachelor of Laws program’s introductory unit. Pioneering a multi-elementblended design, the unit featured three key elements: summary videos, self-test onlinequizzes and interactive discussion boards. These elements were chosen based onevidence-based research into digital tools found effective in enhancing students’ face-toface learning experience in blended and fully online designs. The study’s main goal was toevaluate how students utilized these elements and in what ways their previousexperiences with blended designs influenced their learning process in this unit. A focusgroup and online surveys were used to collect data. Based on literature review, four areasof student experience with this blended designs formed a particular focus of this study:student expectations, support, resources, and collaboration. It was found that studentsextensively used videos and quizzes for catch-up, revision, and clarification, whilediscussion boards were not perceived as useful, with students preferring to havediscussions face-to-face, in and out of classroom. Findings also indicated that students’expectations of and previous experiences with blended learning can be leveraged tostrengthen blended designs.