Characteristics of Blended Learning Environments: Case Study of a Postgraduate Programme in Los Andes University

Hybrid learning environments combine presential teaching and virtual classrooms, which use information and communication technologies. This definition is based on the desire to combine and bring together two models of teaching-learning: the traditional system of face-to-face learning and the e-learning system, maintaining the possibilities offered by each one. The aim of this article is to present the main results of a study to identify the characteristics of hybrid learning environments, which should be taken into account in their design and development. The research consisted of a case study of a hybrid postgraduate course taught at the University of Los Andes. An analysis was carried out on the set-up of the ten subjects of the course and on the impressions of students and lecturers throughout the programme which ran during the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007. This approach allowed the identification of a teaching-learning proposal that was very positively rated by the lecturers and students that took part in the process. They all agreed that the learning objectives of the individual subjects and the programme as a whole had been achieved. Data were compiled using qualitative techniques (interviews, observation of physical and virtual classrooms) and quantitative techniques (surveys). The analysis of the results led to the identification of a series of characteristics of the hybrid model which could contribute to the general understanding of blended learning environments.