Driving, sustaining and scaling up blended learning practices in higher education institutions: a proposed framework

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have recognised the role of blended learning (BL) in enhancing teaching and learning quality; many of these institutions have implemented BL initiatives as part of their quality enhancement efforts. Despite these efforts, HEIs face sustainability and scalability challenges and issues. There have been pockets of innovative BL practices but these practices are not prevalent across courses and programmes within institutions. In response, this paper proposes a framework to inform institutional strategic planning for driving, sustaining, and scaling up BL practices in HEIs. There are seven strategic dimensions in this framework: (1) curriculum; (2) vision and policy alignment; (3) infrastructure, facilities, resources, hardware and support; (4) professional development; (5) student learning support; (6) partnerships; and (7) research and evaluation. When the strategic planning of HEIs considers these strategic dimensions, they are more likely to drive, sustain and scale up BL practices in their institutions.

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