Are Design Elements in Blended Learning Courses Factors of Student Completion Rate?

Over the past decade, 80 to 90 percent of courses at universities and colleges in the United States were delivered as blended learning courses. However, systematical research has rarely been done to identify the measureable impact and effectiveness of the design of blended learning on learning related outcomes. In this article, the authors first identified five design elements: (a) Online Activity as an Extension of In-class Activity, (b) Self-directed Learning Activity, (c) Collaboration an