Developing the OBTL Curriculum with Blended Learning to Enhance Student Learning Effectiveness in the Undergraduate ECE Program

Background: The project included continuous assessment, group presentation, self-learning, and individual assignment to assess students' learning outcomes. A self-learning system was set up as e-learning for students to monitor their learning progress during the semester, including two online exercises and a checklist of learning outcomes. The presentation was assessed by self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and lecturer evaluation. Aims: The study aimed to develop an OBTL curriculum in early childhood education (ECE) to demonstrate exemplary cases of effective teaching and learning in the undergraduate ECE program. Method: An action research, dual-scaling analysis, and focus group interviews were conducted to reveal students' learning effectiveness in the study. Seventy-eight Year 3 full-time BEd (ECE) pre-service students (75 females, three males) and 92 Year 1 full-time (all female) BEd (ECE) students were invited to participate in the study. The CLEI (College Learning Effectiveness Inventory) was used to measure student learning effectiveness during the study. Results: The results indicated that the more learning outcomes students achieved, the higher the scores in academic performance achieved. Conclusion: This implies that clear and well-stated learning outcomes can help students learn better. As regards learning effectiveness, students' academic self-efficacy was significantly improved by the end of the two courses. Students showed higher-order cognitive ability to reflect on past experiences and make personal choices based on management of time, goal, and priority setting. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)