How to Implement Efficient Blended Learning: The Effects of Teacher Support and Task Difficulty

Abstract

We adopted an experimental study in a blended learning environment to explore the impact of teacher support and task difficulty on learning achievement. The experiment was conducted using a mixed design of 2(cognitive support and emotional support of teacher) x 3(low, medium, and high task difficulty) with a simple 40 college students. Procedures comprised the implementation of three blended lessons separated by a five-minute interval, each of them composed of video-assisted online learning and traditional classroom teaching scenarios. Results showed that:(1) the main effect of task difficulty was significant. (2) the main effect of teacher support was not significant. (3) the interaction between task difficulty and teacher support was significant. When learning low-difficulty tasks, students blended learning achievement with teacher emotional support was significantly higher than cognitive support. The learning effect with teacher cognitive support was significantly higher when learning medium-tasks and high-difficulty tasks. Provided with teacher emotional support, students learning outcomes of low-difficulty tasks were significantly higher than that of medium and high-difficulty tasks; Under teacher cognitive support, there is no significant difference in the different task difficulties. Therefore, it is worth noting that teachers should adjust teaching strategies based on the nature and difficulty of learning tasks to improve blended learning outcomes.