The document describes a case study of blended education at Delft University of Technology involving 12 courses and 3,000 students. It outlines the blended learning cycle used, which is based on a flipped classroom model where students prepare for face-to-face sessions at home through activities like watching pre-lecture videos and doing simple exercises. Class time focuses on interactive sessions and feedback. The case study found that the blended approach improved student activation and conceptual understanding through more practice and feedback opportunities. However, instructors need support to fully integrate online and in-person learning and adapt their teaching methods.

1. Blended Education in Practice
a case study at Delft University of Technology
12 courses - 3.000 students - 32 instructors - 26 observations
Student solves
computer-aided
exercises, exercises from
book, interactive exercises
Individual / small-group
problem solving
Activate prior
knowledge,
acquire new
knowledge
Processing
new concepts,
problem solving
Problem
solving
Conceptual
understanding of
new concepts
Face-2-face
Sel
f-studystud
ent
•
•
Student watches
pre-lecture video
Student makes simple
exercise
Teacher introduces new
concepts and context
Understanding tested
through interactive
quiz with immediate
feedback
Acquiring new knowledge
Processing new knowledge
What
The blended learning cycle, depicted below, is based on the flipped classroom model. Students prepare the face-to-face sessions at home.
The classroom time is used for more interactive sessions and personal feedback. Students process new concepts by doing exercises at home.
The use of Blackboard,
pre-lecture material, MyMathLab
practice questions, etc. was very
good! This was my third time taking this
course and this time I passed with a 9 because
I truly understood the material, thanks to the
pre-lecture videos and questions.
The use of the pre-lecture videos was
really good and helpful. They made me keep
up with this course, and I was prepared for
each lecture, ready to actively participate in
the lectures, which I really liked. The
same counts for the use of
FeedbackFruits.
Highlights
Some highlights based on the observations and interviews with instructors and students:
Activation
○ Students feel they are more active;
○ Students experience a clear structure of the course.
Conceptual understanding
○ More time for practice and interaction during lecture due to the flipped learning structure.
○ Concept map shows the relations between different topics.
Feedback
○ Most students appreciate instant feedback from MyMathLab and FeedbackFruits;
○ Students appreciate the small class size and time spent on exercises during the lectures.
Contextual problems
○ Many students value the examples of applications. They would like to see more examples;
○ The available context examples are sometimes too difficult or not realistic.
Next Steps
The blended approach in the model could be a promising way of enhancing students’ learning
experience. The instruction is more activating, students receive more feedback during the
course and the interactive quiz system helps instructors to see if students understand a
specific subject. However, it should be noted that behavioural change is difficult. Students
should be explicitly instructed on how and when to prepare lectures and practice the content.
Instructors need to be inspired and sometimes motivated to adapt the way they teach.
Some recommendations:
○ Instructors should make a point of integrating the online and face-to-face sessions;
○ Continue to evaluate leading to ongoing adaptations of the courses;
○ Renaming parts of the course can sometimes make a lot of difference in how students
experience something;
○ Organise workshops for instructors on how to implement the new learning strategies
and tools.
Why Delft University of Technology initiated an innovation project, blending its
interfaculty mathematics education in response to rising student numbers
and developing technology. The goal of this project is fourfold:
○ Improve results;
○ Increase efficiency;
○ Transfer mathematical knowledge to other courses;
○ Better connect to today’s students.
To realise the four goals, the project team defined four educational
principles, based on research into good teaching in education. These four
principles are:
○ Activation: stimulate active participation of students in every week of the course;
○ Conceptual understanding: put emphasis on the conceptual understanding of
the mathematical topics;
○ Feedback: give students regular feedback on their progress;
○ Contextual problems: use contextual problems related to their field of study.
How
Johannetta Gordijn, MA
j.m.w.gordijn@tudelft.nl
Ambi Oosterhout, MSc
a.d.oosterhout@tudelft.nl
Wiebe Dijkstra, MSc
w.p.dijkstra@tudelft.nl