Effective Blended Instructional Design: A Case Study of Distance Learners’ Perception, University of Lagos By Comfort O. Reju & Joy C. Iyiegbuniwe Distance Learning Institute University of Lagos Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract Any distance learning system as a learner-centered instructional system demands adequate input from the learners to appropriately design an effective learning package or a whole instructional programme. This paper therefore reports a survey study of learners’ perception of blended knowledge contents towards effective learning outcomes. A case study of Business Mathematics students majoring in Accounting at the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos, Nigeria was used for the study. Analysis of the data collected covering essential demographical information, presents an overwhelming evidence of the importance of Mathematics in Accounting studies. The results of the survey underline the necessity of redesigning most programme curricula to reflect proper weighting of their academic components in a blended fashion so as to provide a wholesome knowledge acquisition leading to an academic award or profession. Keywords: Blended Instruction, Mathematics, Accounting 1.

Introduction

The importance of Instructional Design (ID) in course development for open and distance learning (ODL) systems cannot be overemphasised considering the peculiarity of self-learning situation that characterises the system. Moreover, the issue of quality in all aspects of ODL becomes more demanding especially in course material design and development due to the general perception of employers when choosing graduates from conventional educational institutions and ODL institutions, the latter still being poorly rated in most developing countries, especially, in Nigeria.

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In simple terms, instructional design principles focus on achievement of measurable instructional objectives, based on tested educational theories and practices. Thus, setting appropriate objectives and designing content in a well structured manner so as to achieve the learning objectives through efficient assessment procedures are critical

in

self-learning

educational

systems.

However,

in

ODL

systems,

characterised by flexibilities in various dimensions, without minimising quality, learning objectives are not restricted to only institutional decisions as the learners equally have personal expectations of “what to learn”, during their learning transactions, in addition to their choices of “where to learn” and “when to learn”. Most distance learners are adult learners, while some are engaged in professional practices that demand enhancement of skills and competencies to ensure their value-added services in their workplaces. Expectations of various distance learners, therefore, need to be taken into consideration when designing most professional programmes and their component academic contents or courses. Most professional programmes require a good mix of knowledge areas in a competitive environment. Hence, the justification for a blended approach in designing many academic programmes in ODL systems. This paper presents a survey research report on perceptions of distance learners who are studying Accounting at the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. 2.

Mathematics in Accounting

Mathematics as a subject has remained mysteriously difficult and unpopular for most students. This is despite the fact that no one is in doubt of its importance in almost all careers, especially in business and technological fields (Yushau, 2006). At the undergraduate level, Mathematics provides one of the most interesting preparations for a range of careers after graduation, from accountancy to research and development. Evolving from counting, calculation and measurement, Mathematics has always been a part of human life and its importance can be seen in every aspect of our modern lives.

The emphasis of Mathematics in Accounting is on

computational skills and their practical application, with practical application being predominant. For instance, while computational formulas are covered in the material on interest and mortgages, the use of prepared tables based on those formulas are also always presented and emphasized. Page 2 of 12

In distance learning institute of University of Lagos, Business Mathematics includes Mathematics courses taken at an undergraduate level by Accounting students. These courses are slightly less difficult and do not always have the same depth as other Mathematics courses for those majoring in Mathematics or science fields. The applications of Mathematics in business is directed towards the area of accounting such as the planning and control functions, enterprise risk management and internal controls, among others. Practical applications of Mathematics are predominant among accounting students while computational skills are highly emphasised.

3.

Blended Instructional Design

Effective teaching starts with effective planning. According to Gagnƒ, Wager, Golas, & Keller (2005), ‘instructional design provides a systematic process for planning instructional events based on a systematic process of applying principles of learning and instruction to plan for instructional systems’. It is an arrangement of resources and procedures to promote learning. Driscoll (2005) in Sue-Jen (2007) states that ‘Instructional design principles are drawn from many different disciplines such as educational

psychology,

cognitive

sciences,

and

systems

theory.

Hence,

instructional designers and developers use principles of learning and instruction to inform their instructional design practices’. Blended instructional design on the other hand is the process by which instruction is improved through the analysis of learning needs and systematic development of learning materials. Instructional designers often use technology and multimedia as tools to enhance instruction. Instructional design provides an important starting point in making the selection and in blending the appropriate tools to meet the needs of the learners. 4.

Related Work on Blended Instruction (BL)

Study by Muralidhar (2003) showed that Mathematics classes need to be interesting, lively, and slow-paced. Mathematics course content should be practical and relevant to accounting. In another project carried out by Lozzi, and Osimio, (2004), BL Page 3 of 12

strategy was used in teaching Mathematics undergraduate courses. The result showed that there was an improvement in the students’ performance in Mathematics. Groen and cArmody, (2005) also used BL in teaching first year Mathematics subject, Operations Research Modelling. They found that the blend serves to introduce students to the diverse environment and experiences comprising professional practice. The majority of students responded favorably to the blend. While relatively little research has assessed blended learning, still less research has focused on technical subjects such as Mathematics and Accounting. Therefore, this paper extends the literature by presenting survey results relative to Mathematics in the study of Accounting course. Due to the relative newness of blended instructional delivery, the study is primarily comparative in nature. Specifically, we studied the perceptions held by Accounting students of Distance Learning institute, University of Lagos in relation to Business Mathematics.

5.

Research Problem

Muralidhar (2003) states that learning Mathematics is a cognitive process, and that learners’ perceptions can play an important role in their decisions about how much Mathematics they will need and how they will approach the mathematical content which they will need to study.

Students’ poor participation and achievement in

Mathematics and Mathematics related subjects are generally attributed to their negative perception towards the discipline. Would this be applicable to Accounting students of Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos? 6. Purpose of Study The study was aimed at: -

Assessing students’ perception towards mathematics and mathematics related subjects.

-

Examining the need for mathematics in accounting in the blended instruction.

-

Identifying mathematics as a requirement in accounting career.

7. Research Question Page 4 of 12

To understand the study better, the following questions were raised: -

What are the students’ perceptions towards mathematics and mathematics related subjects?

8.

-

Do you need mathematics to have a successful career in accounting?

-

Should mathematics be made a requirement for students in accounting? Method

The design used for this study was that of survey type. 8.1.

Population

The data for the study were collected by the author during registration of the students. Out of one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven (1837) students who were offered admission for the 2008/2009 session, only one thousand two hundred and twelve (1212), representing 65% registered for the distance learning programme. First year Accounting students were used so as to ascertain their perception of Mathematics and the related major. Statistical method such as frequency count, percentages and figures were used to analyse the data. 8.2.

Sample

The subject of the study were two hundred and ninety two (292) first year degree students who were all majoring in Accounting and were also enrolled in Business Mathematics as an academic requirement at the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), University of Lagos, Nigeria. The sample was determined using statistical formula method. 149 of the subject were males, while 143 were females. 8.3.

Instrument of data collection

Questionnaire was the major instrument used for data collection for this study. Three hundred and twenty eight (328) copies of the questionnaire were administered to students at the point of registration. The entire self completed questionnaire was returned but only two hundred and ninety two (292), representing 89% were well completed for the study. Page 5 of 12

8.4.

Results

A selected number of figure in the whole analysis are here under presented to reveal the core objectives of the study and give answer to the research questions raised above.

From the Figure 1 above, comparing the perceptions of the male and female genders on the need for Mathematics in a successful career in Accounting, both genders expressed positive response on the usefulness of Mathematics in the study of Accounting.

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Figure 2 indicates that 199 of the genders agreed to the fact that interest in accounting as a career is as a result of good mathematical background; 42 disagreed, while 51 were neutral to this.

Figure 3 shows that 225 representing 77.1% of the respondents disagreed that Mathematics is not all that important in Accounting and so should not be made a requirement for accounting students; 43 representing 14.7% of the respondents agreed to this, while 24 representing 8.2% of the respondents were neutral. The Page 7 of 12

study revealed also that male gender expressed stronger responses than the female gender.

Majority of the year one Accounting students of Distance Learning Institute, University of Lagos were between 22 to 32 years of age. As seen in Figure 4, they ageed that Mathematics is needed for a successful career in accounting.

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Figure 5 above shows that greater percentage of the students have good mathematical background which informed their interest in Accounting as a career.

From Figure 6, the Accounting students within ages 22-32 years ageed that Mathematics should be made a requirement for the students studying Accounting in the University.

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From the responses, 262 representing 90% of the students are single, while 30 representing 10% are married. From the figure 7 above, 70% single students and 7% married students indicated that Mathematics should be made a requirement for the students in Accounting; 12% single and 2% married said Mathematics should not be made a requirement in accounting, while 7% single and 1% married were not sure. Moreover, 61% single and 7% married among the Accounting students agreed that their interest in Accounting as a career is as a result of their background in Mathematics; 13% single and 1% married disagreed to this, while 15% single and 2% married were indifferent. Further observation revealed that 86% single and 10% married agreed that Mathematics is needed for a successful career in accounting, 2% of single disagreed and 2% of single were not sure. One result not presented among the figures above was based on the entry qualifications of the students studying through Distance mode of learning, majority of whom were holders of West African School certificate (WASC) or General Certificate of Education (GCE) and the Odinary National Diploma (OND). 189 of them were holders of WASC/GCE; 15 were holders of Nigeria Certification in Education; 83 students were OND holders; 4 of the students were Higher National Diploma(HND) holder and 1student holds B.Sc. However, the OND ceretificate holders whose responses were very positive were fewer in number compared with the WASC/GCE holders. 9.

Discussion of Findings

The participants in this study were adults from 22 years and above, they chose to study through distance mode of learning due to its convenience and flexibility. The findings showed that Mathematics is needed to have a successful career in Accounting. This presents a very strong suggestion of the need for a good blend of Mathematics and Accounting when designing instruction for students choosing the Accounting professional career. The survey also revealed that the interest in Accounting as a career for most of the students was as a result of their good Page 10 of 12

mathematics background - showing the importance of a good foundation in some basic subjects needed for some other higher level knowledge areas. Thus a good blend of such basic knowledge areas within a core academic programme is necessary to bridge the gap for learners who lack the fundamental skills expected to have been acquired previously. The result based on gender, age and marital status of the students expressed that Mathematics is important and so should be made a requirement for Accounting students. It was evident from the study that majority of the students who chose to study Accounting at the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos did so because of their continuous interest in Mathematics. From instructional design perspective, knowledge areas that provide essential skills for both effective learning and good practice after graduation need to be well blended and distributed within the curriculum towards a comprehensive achievement of learning objectives. 10.

Conclusion

From the perception of the students in this study, adequate learning environment should be provided to blend the delivery of both core academic disciplines (e.g. Accounting as in our study) and their associated applied disciplines (e.g. Mathematics as in our study) for effective learning. As revealed in this study, this should begin at the instructional design stage with the balanced distribution and blending of contents within the core discipline to reflect a balanced instructional package. By extension, distance learning materials should be well designed in modules to reflect a blended package for a number of academic programmes that are by their nature and learners need demand such instructional blend. For distance learning programmes that have a blend of self-learning and face-to-face deliveries, there is also the need for improved classroom facilities to support the instructional delivery associated applied subjects (e.g. Mathematics). For example, most Mathematics problems today are easily solved using various computing platforms which should be provided to enhance interest in the subject. More studies need to be carried out on various academic programmes similar to our study so as to guide instructional designers and institutions on policies aimed at Page 11 of 12

providing effective learning and ultimately balanced and skilled graduates from our higher education institutions, especially distance learning institutions. 11.

References

Alaneme, G.C., Olayiwola, P.O. and Reju, C.O. (2009). Combining Traditional Learning and E-Learning Methods in Higher Distance Education: Assessing Learner’s Preference. Proceeding of the 2009 International Symposium on Computing, Communication and Control. October, 9-11,2009. IACSIT,CTES,METS. www.iacsit.org.singapore. Balarabe Y. (2006). The Effects of Blended E-Learning on Mathematics and Computer Attitudes in Pre-Calculus Algebra. http://www.math.umt.edu/tmme/vol3no2/TMMEvol3no2_SaudiArabia_pp176_183.pdf Boyle, T. (2005). A dynamic system method for developing blended learning. Education, Communication and Information. Vol. 5. No 3, pp. 222-232. Gagnƒ, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C., & Keller, J. M. (2005). Principles of instructional design (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Groen, L. and cArmody, G. (2005). Blended Learning in a first year Mathematics subject. Proceedings of UniServe Science Blended Learning Symposium, pp 50-55. Keith, T. J & Clement C. C. (2008). Blended Learning in a Graduate Accounting Course: Student Satisfaction and Course Design Issues. The Accounting Educators’ Journal. Vol XVIII, pp. 15-28 Lozzi, F. and Osimio, G. (2004). The Virtual Classroom in Blended Learning Mathematics undergraduate courses. http://www.icmeorganisers.dk/tsg15/Iozzi&Osimo.pdf Muralidhar, S. (2003). Students’ ideas about mathematics. McGill Journal of Education, Volume 38, Number 3, 475-478. Sue-Jen, Chen. (2007). Instructional Design Strategies for Intensive Online Courses: An Objectivist-Constructivist Blended Approach. Journal of Interactive Online Learning Volume 6, Number 1, ISSN: 1541-4914.

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