Mass courses in the initial study phase - Blended learning and homogenization

This paper presents a new 'blended' course, which was developed to redesign the initial study phases of the Department of Communication. The main aim is to provide high-quality education in social-scientific methods for more than 1300 first-year students each academic semester. The question was how to manage the large number of students and maintain subject-specific and pedagogical quality as well as personal guidance at the same time. To meet this challenge, the new blended learning scenario entails lectures and professional online seminars. The lectures cover subject-specific theory, whereas, the professional online seminars focus on practical experience for the students as well as teaching study skills, supporting learning and reflection. In this manner, the new blended learning framework interlinks subject-specific theory, practical experience, study skills and reflections, whilst simultaneously enhancing students' media competencies. Conclusively the paper discusses the implementation process and the results. If and how the didactical framework achieves a homogeneous and high-quality knowledge base of social-scientific methods is the question to be answered. In order to present the measurable impact, the quality assurance methods and the evaluation data are disclosed additionally. © 2009 IADIS.