AERA2014 Presentation Siko, J.P., & Barbour, M.K. (2014, April). Parent and Student Perceptions of a Blended Learning Experience. Presentation at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.

1. Parent and Student Perceptions
of a Blended Learning
Experience
Jason Siko
Assistant Professor of
Educational Technology
Grand Valley State
University
Michael Barbour
Director of Doctoral Studies
Assistant Professor of
Educational Leadership
Sacred Heart University

2. Research Questions
1.What are the perceptions of
students in a blended learning class?
2.What are the perceptions of parents
whose students are in a blended
learning class?

3. Setting
• AY2011-2012
• Large, suburban, Midwestern high school (~1800
students in grades 10-12)
• Culturally homogenous; however, diverse with
respect to SES
• Course: International Baccalaureate Biology –
Higher Level (IB Bio-HL)
o 43 students, grade 11
o 1st half of course – Face-to-face
o 2nd half of course - blended

4. Methods
• Administered anonymous survey via Google
Forms to parents and students
o All students participated (n=47)
o Limited parent participation (n=14)
• Descriptive statistics for Likert and selected-response
questions
• Open-ended questions were analyzed for themes
using constant comparative method (Strauss &
Corbin, 1994)

10. • Liked the independence
o Although some struggled with the autonomy (~liked the “pressure” of
being in class)
o Many admitted to falling behind
• Various “favorites”/”dislikes”
• Some wanted more communication/had
confusion

11. Parents

14. Parent comments
• Excited with a little apprehension
• Some frustration with communication (grades)
o Despite access to online grades
• “ABLE to get lazy…”
• Overall, most seemed glad their student had the
experience.

15. Implications
• Emphasize communication in teacher preparation
for blended instruction to both parents and
students
• Look for ways to mitigate organization and self-regulation
issues

16. Thanks for listening!
Jason P. Siko
Assistant Professor of
Educational
Technology
Grand Valley State
University
Grand Rapids, MI
sikojp@gmail.com
sikoj@gvsu.edu
http://jasonsiko.com
@jasonsiko
Michael K. Barbour
Director of Doctoral Studies, Isabelle
Farrington College of Education
Assistant Professor, Educational
Leadership
Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT
mkbarbour@gmail.com
http://michaelbarbour.com
http://virtualschooling.wordpress.com
@mkbshu