Is blending the solution? : a systematic literature review on the key drivers of blended learning in higher education

Abstract

Higher education institutions have been increasingly adopting blended learning as a course delivery mode in the recent years. This article reports a systematic review of the current literature on the advantages of blended learning. Starting from 855 papers, ten articles met the predefined inclusion criteria for the literature synthesis. The papers were screened and analysed through three screening phases. Major themes focused on the advantages of blended learning were drawn from the final ten papers and include a) increasing students’ academic performance, b) increasing students’ social abilities, c) decreasing course drop-out rates, d) increasing students’ satisfaction and, e) increasing teaching and learning flexibility. The results also indicate that different higher education institutions adopt blended learning approach for different reasons. Implications of this review and future research directions are proposed.