Improving Students' Independence and Collaboration with Blended Learning

Now that web-based learning has emerged as a major trend in higher education. Many people have opportunities to develop and enhance independent or collaborative learning through a material which can be supported by technology and online learning. This study was aimed at 1) finding out how Blended Learning was implemented to improve students' independency and collaboration in listening class, 2) finding out how Blended Learning can improve students' independency and collaboration, 3) finding out students' response toward the implementation of Blended Learning in listening class. The subjects of this study are an English lecturer and the second semester students of English Dept. which consists of 28 students who are taking Listening Class. The research designs used are descriptive qualitative and quantitative research. The instruments of this study are observation, interview, and open-ended questionnaire with likert scale. The techniques of data analysis for quantitative research uses a simple percentage and qualitative research is with data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion: drawing or verifying. The result of the research showed that 1) the use of blended learning in teaching listening offered ways for lecturer to be more effective in the teaching and learning process, 2) blended learning was able to improve students' indepedency and collaboration in listening class, and 3) this study demonstrated the positive response for the students.