This presentation outlines the iterative stages involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating a blended course of English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) at a university in Japan, delivered in the spring semester of 2017 over a period of fifteen weeks. First, the basic Successive Approximation Model (SAM) will be introduced as the guiding instructional design model upon which the course was created. Afterward, the stages of the blended course design will be explicated with a focus upon assessing Japanese students’ English language needs and their e-learning readiness, determining the course overall goals and module learning objectives, optimizing course technologies and the availability of technical support, designing the course syllabus, materials, tasks, and activities, organizing team teaching, as well as managing formative and summative evaluation. Additionally, the way in which the iteration process has allowed for the discovery of some possibilities and problems at the early phases of the blended course design, and the refinements which were made to benefit from the affordable opportunities and to mitigate the difficulties will be discussed. Finally, the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric and its effectiveness in raising course quality assurance will be reviewed.

1. Parisa Mehran
ETA-ROC 2018
Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of
an English Blended Course

3. Osaka University Global English Online
(OUGEO)

4. Instructional Design for Online Course Delivery
Photo: https://community.articulate.com/articles/10-
things-you-could-create-instead-of-an-e-learning-course

5. ADDIE Model
Analysis
Design
DevelopmentImplementation
Evaluation
Needs,
Requirements,
Learners’ current
capabilities
Learning
objectives,
Delivery format,
Activities and
tasks
Developing course
materials,
Piloting
Measurement of
performance,
Learning
analytics
Training
implementation,
Observation

6. Successive Approximation Model (SAM 1)

7. Successive Approximation Model (SAM 2)

8. Designing and Developing a Blended Course
Using SAM

9. Checklists and Rubrics
Photo: https://community.articulate.com/articles/your-
handy-e-learning-course-review-checklist

10. The Standards Checklist by
Marjorie Vai and Kristen Sosulski (2011)
The checklist contains items on:
• learning outcomes
• ease of communication
• pedagogical and organizational design
• visual design
• engaged learning
• collaboration and community
• Assessment
• Feedback
• evaluation and grading
• ease of access

11. Quality Matters Higher Education Course Design Rubric
Standards, Fifth Edition (2014):
“A set of eight General Standards and 43 Specific Review
Standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended
courses”

12. 1 Course Overview and
Introduction
2 Learning Objectives
3 Assessment and
Measurement
4 Instructional Materials
5 Learner Activities and
Learner Interaction
6 Course Technology
7 Learner Support
8 Accessibility and
Usability

15. Detailed Analysis of the Situation

16. Detailed Analysis of the Situation
Needs
Analysis
e-learning
Readiness

17. Needs Analysis Survey
Listening
Speaking
Pronunciation
278 Japanese undergraduate students
12 instructors

18. Placing emphasis on EGAP  ESP courses
Having three levels based on CEFR (Common European
Framework of Reference)
Integrating all four skills with special focus on speaking
Focusing on pronunciation training
Course Design Implications

19. Alizadeh, M., Mehran, P., Koguchi,
I., & Takemura, H. (2018).
Language needs analysis and
internationalization of higher
education: The unaddressed factor
in Japan. JACET Kansai Journal,
20, 156–173.

20. When one thinks of Japan
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com
mons/3/39/ASIMO_4.28.11.jpg

21. Low digital literacy among Japanese “digital
natives”
Technology has not yet been normalized in
Japanese educational settings

22. e-Learning Readiness Survey
Willingness
Educational
Use
Personal
Use
AccessOwnership Computer
Literacy
 299 Japanese undergraduate students
 The study focused on:

23. Are Japanese Digital Natives Ready for Learning
English Online?
The answer is clearly “no”!
Japanese digital natives also tend to use
their phones for gaming, entertainment, and
personal communication far more than for
educational activities (Lockley & Promnitz-
Hayashi, 2012)

24. Digital literacy training (e.g., typing)
Desktop computers and mobile devices
Edutainment and gamification
Learning/Teaching Implications

25. Sample student-generated AR-based poster 1
Code: 238935

26. Mehran, P., Alizadeh, M., Koguchi, I.,
& Takemura, H. (2017). Are Japanese
digital natives ready for learning
English online? A preliminary case
study at Osaka University.
International Journal of Educational
Technology in Higher Education,
14(8), 1–17. doi:10.1186/s41239-017-
0047-0

28. What To Do?
• Determining the course overall goals, learning objectives, and
learning outcomes
• Designing a multidimensional syllabus: skill-based and task-based
• Increasing motivation and global awareness among Japanese
learners of English
• Addressing copyright issues
• Writing the course calendar
• Designing tasks, activities, and quizzes
• Preparing tutorials and rubrics for writing and speaking assignments

29. English Listening
Lesson Library Online
Course Content & Copy Right issues

32. Global Explorers
https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/

34. Prototyping
• Creating a sample for demo at the Osaka
University FD Seminar
• Uploading the course content on Blackboard
• Checking the quality of the content on Blackboard
mobile applications
• Iterative review cycles to evaluate, refine, and
modify the previous process  Course labeling
• Modifying course learning objectives and
materials  Adding global concerns and issues

35. e-Learning Authoring Tools
Adobe Captivate iSpring Suite

36. Mehran, P., Alizadeh, M., Koguchi, I., &
Takemura, H. (2017). Designing and
developing a blended course: Toward best
practices for Japanese learners. In K.
Borthwick, L. Bradley, & S. Thouësny (Eds.),
CALL in a climate of change: Adapting to
turbulent global conditions – short papers from
EUROCALL 2017 (pp. 205–210). Dublin:
Research-publishing.net.
doi:10.14705/rpnet.2017.eurocall2017.680

37. Alizadeh, M., Mehran, P., Koguchi, I., &
Takemura, H. (2017). Learning by design:
Bringing poster carousels to life through
augmented reality in a blended English
course. In K. Borthwick, L. Bradley, & S.
Thouësny (Eds.), CALL in a climate of
change: Adapting to turbulent global
conditions – short papers from EUROCALL
2017 (pp. 7–12). Dublin: Research-
publishing.net.
doi:10.14705/rpnet.2017.eurocall2017.714

39. • After prototyping and applying the changes,
OUGEO was implemented in the spring semester
of 2017 (April–July).
• The iterative evaluation continued, and some
minor modifications were applied during the
implementation phase such as adding Japanese
translations to the course instructions.

44. An attitudinal survey: Students’
perception on the usefulness of the
course
To add an outsider positionality, the
blended course was peer-reviewed
by a certified reviewer from Quality
Matters (QM) after having been self-
reviewed by the researchers.

45. Students’ overall satisfaction with the course despite the
occasional technical difficulties caused by the
malfunctioning of the learning management system
The QM peer review:
First round: a score of 70 out of 99
Second round: the course currently meets all the
requirements of the Higher Education Course Design Rubric
(Fifth Edition) upon amendment.

46. Lessons Learned
and Advice

47. Be ready to
change
Designing and developing
an online/blended course
is an ongoing process
Do not forget
about OER
resources
Consider time
demands
Check for course
organization and
navigation
Instead of constantly
reinventing the wheel,
look for freely available
resources
Developing effective
online resources is often
much more time-
consuming than creating
classroom learning
materials
No matter how
professionally you have
developed and compiled
your online resources,
they will not be effective
as long as they are not
well-organized.

48. Care about
course
accessibility and
usability
Include information on
accessibility support as
well as technical and
academic support
services
Foster social
presence Always keep
your course
objectives in
mind
Be ready to deal
with technical
glitches
For example, simple
activities such as
introducing themselves to
the class Your objectives are the
core component leading
all your actions and
decisions
No matter how hard you
have attempted at
designing and developing
your course, there are
things that will not work
occasionally or constantly
Think of alternative
solutions

49. Alizadeh, M., Mehran, P., Koguchi, I.,
& Takemura, H. (2018). Evaluating a
blended course for Japanese learners
of English: Why Quality Matters.
Manuscript submitted for publication to
IALLT Journal.

50. parisamehran.wordpress.com

51. #OsakaUniversityGlobalEnglishOnline
#OUGEO

52. x.co/mavrsig jalt.org

53. mehran.parisa@lab.ime.cmc.osaka-u.ac.jp

54. http://sites.google.com/view/ougeo