Blended learning in undergraduate mathematics at the University of Pretoria

Ansie Harding, Johann Engelbrecht, Karen Lazenby, Irene le Roux

he University of Pretoria (UP) is one of the largest residential universities ir. South Africa. The academic offerings are organized into nine facult: Engineering, Information Technology and the Built Environment; Law; Educa­tion; Humanities; Economic and Management Sciences; Health Scien Veterinary Science; Natural and Agricultural Sciences; and Theology. Tb university offers 1, 235 programs, including 302 undergraduate and 933 po--graduate programs to approximately sixty thousand students. Of these, abou sixteen thousand students are traditional paper-based distance education student-The University of Pretoria is committed to delivering education of a super. -quality. As has happened around the globe, changes in the teaching and learni:.. environment over the past few years, together with developments in the field с information and communication technology (ICT), have transformed the eel tional environment at the University of Pretoria. The traditional model of contac education has been significantly expanded, and new learning environments 1. been created using innovative, flexible educational opportunities (Boon, 2003).

The Department of Telematic Learning and Education Innovation (TLEI was founded in 1998 with the task to lead, facilitate, and actively participat' actions aimed at educational innovation, with a focus on establishing flexible lean: ing environments. To support such an approach, the TLEI Department, together with a team representing core support departments and lecturers, spearhead-the creation of an integrated virtual campus.

Blended Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics at the University of Pretoria

Following an in-depth comparative study that was conducted in collaboration with two other universities, the course management system WebCT was selected and implemented. Student services were Web enabled and wrapped around WebCT to provide students, faculty, and administrators a seamless and secure Web interface to access information, perform transactions, and engage in learning activities. By the end of 1999, 12, 700 students used Student Online Services and close to 1, 600 students were enrolled in WebCT-supported courses (Lazenby 1999). Currently more than 27, 000 students use Student Online Services and more than 26, 000 students have access to Web-supported courses. A portal (Lecturers Online) was also developed for lecturers. Since 1998 the growth in the use of the Web environment has been exponential, as indicated in Figure 29.1.

Top management at the University of Pretoria supports the promotion of ICTs in teaching and learning. Strategic targets have been approved: to have 50 percent of undergraduate modules and all postgraduate programs sup­ported by appropriate information and communication technology. The reac­tion to the target setting has been varied. The Faculty of Engineering, Information Technology, and the Built Environment reacted positively by pre­empting the due date and aiming to have all their undergraduate modules on the Web by the end of 2004. Other faculties did not react as positively in general, although there are champions in all the faculties. This is reflected in the number of modules per faculty department that are currently avail­able on the Web (see Table 29.1).