An effective way of designing blended learning: A three phase design-based research approach

Online learning is common in higher education, but has its drawbacks. As a result, blended learning (BL) has emerged as an alternative to alleviate the challenges of online learning. The purpose of this design-based research study was to determine what elements were needed to assist a higher education instructor inexperienced in designing and teaching a BL course to successfully create and implement it, and to document the instructor’s perceptions about the first experience of teaching a BL course. The BL course was designed, implemented and redesigned to make the BL course an effective and efficient learning environment through the three phases of this design-based research. Qualitative and quantitative research methods including instructor interviews, learning environment observations and student surveys were employed to collect data. Results indicated that iterative analysis, design and evaluation of the created BL course provided an opportunity for the researchers to find applicable solutions to any real-world problems that the instructor faced in the course. Besides, the design and implementation of BL led the instructor to shift from a passive teaching approach to an active teaching approach and allowed the students to become active and interactive learners through the process of three iterative design cycles. Although challenges were identified, she had an overall positive perception toward teaching the BL course. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Influence of Electric Fields and Conductivity on Pollen Tube Growth assessed via Electrical Lab-on-Chip

Pollen tubes are polarly growing plant cells that are able to rapidly respond to a combination of chemical, mechanical, and electrical cues. This behavioural feature allows them to invade the flower pistil and deliver the sperm cells in highly targeted manner to receptive ovules in order to accomplish fertilization. How signals are perceived and processed in the pollen tube is still poorly understood. Evidence for electrical guidance in particular is vague and highly contradictory. To generate reproducible experimental conditions for the investigation of the effect of electric fields on pollen tube growth we developed an Electrical Lab-on-Chip (ELoC). Pollen from the species Camellia displayed differential sensitivity to electric fields depending on whether the entire cell or only its growing tip was exposed. The response to DC fields was dramatically higher than that to AC fields of the same strength. However, AC fields were found to restore and even promote pollen growth. Surprisingly, the pollen tube response correlated with the conductivity of the growth medium under different AC frequencies—consistent with the notion that the effect of the field on pollen tube growth may be mediated via its effect on the motion of ions