Blended Learning Supporting Self-Directed Learning and Communication Skills of Srinakharinwirot University's First Year Students☆

Abstract The expansion of the Internet offers online courses which provide flexibility and individual learning to accommodate students’ learning styles, including the face-to-face learning. Blended learning has been employed in classrooms to nurture the skills of students in the 21st century. This paper has studied the effectiveness of the blended learning model in self-directed learning and the development of communication skills of students by using the experimental research methodology. Data collecting tools consisted of self-directed learning and communication skill tests. The sample group used in this study comprised 84 first-year graduate students in the Faculty of Science at Srinakharinwirot University who registered in the Information Literacy Skills course in the first semester of 2013. They were divided into two groups. Forty-one students were placed in the experimental group and forty-four others were placed in the control group. Percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used for data analysis. The results revealed that the blended learning classroom students had higher scores in self-directed learning and communication skills than the normal classroom students. This suggests that blended learning is beneficial not only for the Information Literacy Skills course but also for general courses that assist the first-year students to adjust to university life and prepare them for the work place.