Simultaneous Class-based and Live Video Streamed Teaching: Experiences and derived principles from the Bachelor Programme in Biomedical Laboratory Analysis

The Bachelor Programme in Biomedical Laboratory Analysis at VIA's healthcare university college in Aarhus has established a blended class which combines traditional and live broadcast teaching (via an innovative choice of video conferencing system). On the so-called net-days, students have the choice of either attending teaching sessions in the traditional way or working from home via the Internet. The education was motivated to expand the use of technologysupported teaching, by offering a flexible study programme, thereby increasing the recruitment base. The analysis described in this article sheds light on the pedagogical challenges, the educational designs possible, the opportunities and constrains associated with video conferencing as a pedagogical practice, as well as the technological, structural and organisational conditions involved. In this paper a participatory action research project is presented. The objective of the project was to identify potentials and barriers from an ICT-supported learning perspective; to develop robust educational designs and teaching scenarios, and to qualify teaching staff in teaching activities which involve the use of the blended class model, thus ensuring the anchoring of the project. Data was collected through video recordings, "the question of the day" to the students, focus group interviews with the teachers and a Pedagogical Day workshop. The analysis focuses on the experience gathered as seen in relation to four quadrants of study activities. From here a number of general principles and perspective were derived for the specific program which can be useful to contemplate in general for similar educations. It is concluded that the blended class model using live video stream represents a viable pedagogical solution for the Bachelor Programme in Biomedical Laboratory Analysis at VIA. However, full implementation of the concept will require re-design of some teaching activities as well as competence development among teaching staff.