Table 10.1. Types of benefits identified in oracle's leadership training.

"The course made me realize that the individual is Self/internal benefit

much more empowered in today's environment than ever before." (Blended)

"I think the leadership training classes have Self/internal benefit

applications. . . probably throughout my life. So I've sort of taken that approach ... in my dealings with my personal relationships as well." (ILT)

"I think I look at my employees a little differently.. .. Company/internal benefit I see them as capable of delivering much more and that the only way they can deliver that is for me to motivate them." (Blended)

"I guess the most tangible thing I can point to . .. Company/external benefit

is maybe I've kept two or three of my people motivated to the point where they haven't resigned." (Blended)

"I think it just encouraged me to communicate Reinforcement

more with my employees. . . . This is a reinforcement of the benefits of sharing your feelings." (Blended)

To Blend or Not to Blend 143

TABLE 10.2. PARTICIPANT BENEFITS FROM ILT AND BLENDED

METHODOLOGIES, i

Self/ Self/ Company/ Company/

Internal External Internal External Reinforcement

Instructor-led training (N = 6)	1.33	1.17	0.50	0.67	0.17
Blended participants (N=13)	1.46	0.08	1.00	1.69	0.31

We counted and averaged the benefits for blended and ILT learners accord­ing to these labels. In every category except the "self/external" benefits, the blended participants reported more benefits than the ILT participants (Table 10.2).

Although we were looking for trends rather than statistical significance, the data on benefits between ILT and blended learners had a significance of over 90 percent (independent samples test), indicating a fairly strong likelihood of a relationship between total number of benefits (dependent variable) and type of instructional strategy (independent variable).

As blended learners appeared to benefit more and comment more frequently on the sense of community, we turned to the learning community study to focus on the dynamics of community building, particularly how the mix of face-to-face and online interaction might affect the learners.

Dynamics of Blending

According to the literature, learning communities require a level of interpersonal trust (Bonk, Wisher, & Nigrelli, 2004). In fact, we found the development of trust in the blended learning modules to be related to the type of content being taught and the timing of the face-to-face event (that is, which week in the five-week program). It appeared that when people know there is a classroom experience planned later in the program, they might withhold trust until they meet each other face-to-face. This finding surprised us, as many sources (for example, Palloff & Pratt, 1999) comment on the quick development of trust in a solely online envi­ronment. Such results raise a question that deserves further investigation: Is trust more closely linked to course content or the expectation of meeting? A lesson we drew from these findings is that trust may not automatically develop online when a follow-up face-to-face event is planned; instead, it is likely affected by other factors. A blended design may ultimately deepen trust in a community because

The Handbook of Blended Learning

online activities have the potential to extend relationships after face-to-face ses­sions; however, this too requires additional study.

Comments about trust from a few participants include the following:

"It's hard to build a good, solid, working relationship without some kind of

face-to-face."

"I felt more of a connection [to colleagues] in class, but I didn't feel much

of a connection online—it was more difficult to form a connection online.