Author:   Peter J. McAliney

               New York University - Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Ph.D. Candidate

               City University of New York – Baruch College, Department of Management

Executive Overview (100-250 Words)

Large, public urban higher education institutions are key players in outfitting a workforce that can be competitive in a global economy.  However, they do so in a challenging economic environment.  An approach that has emerged to deliver affordable education that will meet these workforce needs is blended learning. The research objective of this study will be to better understand the role that an instructor plays using the Transformative Leadership Model (Avolio & Bass,1991) in a blended learning environment to facilitate transformative learning experiences for students (Mezirow, 1978).  A better understanding of this can provide direction for an academic institution looking to increase the use of this delivery platform for student learning.  As a study in progress, the researcher will present his thoughts on different research methodologies that may be employed including case study, content and/or transcript analysis, observations, surveys and interviews.  The researcher discusses how the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 1999) can be used to analyze interactions between instructor and students, students and students, students and content, students and context, and students and learning objects. Findings from this study have the potential to inform higher education decisions around course offerings, course delivery, access to marginalized student populations, and the development of private-public partnerships in the recruitment of talented instructors.

Descriptors: Blended learning, community of inquiry, transformational leadership, transformative learning