The current situation of COVID-19 pandemic not only has shown some weaknesses of education in the digital era, but especially potential changes emerging from this experience. Challenging aspects such as students’ difficulties to be more autonomous and teachers facing unknown needs in managing new learning and teaching pedagogies are under discussion (Palau et al., 2021). As a result, blended learning is foreseen to be strengthened worldwide, and it will be much more frequent than nowadays given its effectiveness and benefits. Blended learning profits the goods of teaching and learning in physical spaces combined with online actions, and it causes positive effects on learners’ autonomy and students’ motivation (Aalinezhad et al., 2021; Wong et al. 2020) in comparison to only face-to-face onsite teaching, and compared to only asynchronous distance learning (Günes & Alagözlü, 2021). 

In this context, it is crucial the professional development of teachers to enhance self-regulated learning outcomes, but not all teachers can respond equally and it is related to attitudes and approaches to the self-regulation implementation (Cleary et al., 2021). Similarly, the way teachers understand and provide feedback may provoke remarkable impact on learners. There is a growing consciousness about the assessment being formative. For instance, using learning portfolios and strategies alike, teachers can promote self-regulation of learning, improve peer feedback quality, and ease the logical thinking ability in students (Zhong & Yang, 2021). Thus, both teachers and students have a central role in the switch to a blended education where aspects such as autonomy, teachers’ feedback, digital competence, and so forth, must be considered.

In this context, this work presents part of the ongoing project “Fostering higher education students’ autonomy through blended learning” (BLEARN_AUTONOMY), funded by the EU (Reference: 2020-1-ES01-KA203-082513). The project counts with the strategic partnership of six European universities based in five countries. These are the Catholic University of Lyon (France), the University of Minho (Portugal), the University of Stavanger (Norway), the University of Vic- Univ. of Central Catalonia (Spain), the University of Warsaw (Poland), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain). 

This paper will take stock of the literature in order to investigate some hypothetical links between blended learning and students’ autonomy. It will inquire in which ways teachers respond to students’ cognitive and socio-emotional needs, since the sharp transformation of everyday life in higher education institutions has put pressure on everybody’s shoulders (Gelles et al., 2020). The paper will attempt to spell out the clues of students’ experience. It will take their autonomy into account by looking at their adaptations (Biwer et al., 2021) and their engagement (Chiu, 2021). The explanatory results from the six participating universities will contribute to give answers to new worries in Higher Education in terms of switching paradigm towards blended learning.

One of the main objectives of the consortium is to write a handbook with research-based guidelines for teachers in higher education. The research question was in what conditions does the interaction between teachers and students enhance students’ autonomy in the following dimensions: cognitive, meta-cognitive, affective skills and critical thinking for learning? A main concern of the project is how this happens in blended learning environments, and this paper aims at giving a response.

The analyses will draw on the evidence produced by the following instruments of data collection, which have been circulated among teachers and students of the six universities participating in our project. The methodology will combine data from different sources, with a sort of explanatory design because the analysis of quantitative results will report the situation, and using qualitative results we will explain it with greater concretion. Data gathering has been conducted since spring 2021 and will last until summer 2022. One of the used instruments is a questionnaire addressed to students. It is composed of four parts, and an exploratory factor analysis with preliminary results showed consistency identifying the latent constructs underlying the set of variables. This questionnaire has received 293 responses to the moment, from 25 different subjects. The preliminary analysis also shows reliability of the tool as a whole (Cronbach's α = 0.935), as well as its blocks separately, counting on sets like the one referred to the digital competence (α = 0.938) and the one devoted to study the experience with teachers’ feedback (α = 0.899). On the other hand, these data will be further explained with a series of techniques and instruments aiming a more contextual approach: 1) A short questionnaire asking teachers to describe formal features of the courses participating in this research. 2) Teachers’ reports on how they give feedback to students in each course. 3) Students’ view registered by means of semi-structured interviews and oral reflections 4) At the end of the project, we are planning to conduct three or four international focus groups with students from the different universities (i.e. made up of six nationalities each). With all the previous data analysed, these focus groups shall delve into the previous results. For the analysis, we use JASP and CATMA softwares for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. All the ethical aspects affecting this research were approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal and Human Experimentation (CEEAH) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and are being accomplished as agreed. All participants sign the informed consent, and all results are pseudonymised.

One finding from the (still ongoing) questionnaire comes taking into consideration that some respondents stated having used learning portfolios as university students (n=112), whereas others don’t have used learning portfolios in their learning process (n=181). Comparing these two groupings, it appears that the former (i.e. using portfolios), presents better digital competence than the latter (i.e. students not using portfolios). Most remarkable differences, with significance of p < .001 in a Mann–Whitney U test, appear in their perception that the development of digital competence contributes to managing feedback, to developing creativity in learning, and to monitoring learning. Students using portfolio also show better digital competence (p < .05) in terms of communication and collaboration, where they find themselves more capable of managing their digital identity; as well as in terms of digital content creation, as they are more capable of developing digital content and integrating and re-elaborating digital content. Thus, using portfolios makes students more prone to evaluate positively aspects related to their digital competence and autonomy. Initial results from twelve interviews and oral reflections from students reinforce the need of stretching the roles of students and teachers also in Higher Education. Students value personalisation of learning at the university level, and the opportunity to have quick and personalised feedback from lecturers, so they can keep developing their own capabilities and competences. This process must result in more autonomy. Participants consider positive the boost of blended learning, some point it as a “must” in education, and they highlight the benefits rather than finding cons. These are just preliminar specific highlighted points. Further qualitative data on teachers’ self-assessment and students’ experience will qualify this data. The conclusions will tentatively sketch some answers to the framework research question on teachers’ activity and students’ autonomy.

Aalinezhad, P., Salehan, Z., & Noroozi, Z. (2021). Investigating the Effect of Blended Learning on Iranian EFL Learners’ Autonomy, Self-esteem, and Vocabulary Achievement. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 4(6), 155–162. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2021.4.6.18 Biwer, F., Wiradhany, W., Oude Egbrink, M., Hospers, H., Wasenitz, S., Jansen, W., & de Bruin, A. (2021). Changes and Adaptations: How University Students Self-Regulate Their Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.642593 Chiu, T. K. (2021). Digital support for student engagement in blended learning based on self-determination theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 106909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106909 Cleary, T. J., Kitsantas, A., Peters-Burton, E., Lui, A., McLeod, K., Slemp, J., & Zhang, X. (2021). Professional development in self-regulated learning: Shifts and variations in teacher outcomes and approaches to implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 111, 103619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103619 Gelles, L. A., Lord, S. M., Hoople, G. D., Chen, D. A., & Mejia, J. A. (2020). Compassionate flexibility and self-discipline: Student adaptation to emergency remote teaching in an integrated engineering energy course during COVID-19. Education Sciences, 10(11), 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10110304 Günes, S., & Alagözlü, N. (2021). Asynchronous Distance Learning and Blended Learning in terms of Learner Autonomy, Motivation and Academic Success. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 20(3). http://www.tojet.net/articles/v20i3/2033.pdf Palau, R., Fuentes, M., Mogas, J., & Cebrián, G. (2021). Analysis of the implementation of teaching and learning processes in Catalan schools during the Covid-19 lockdown. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 30(1), 179-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2020.1863855 Wong, K-T, Hwang, G-J, Choo Goh, P. S., & Mohd Arrif, S. K. (2020). Effects of blended learning pedagogical practices on students’ motivation and autonomy for the teaching of short stories in upper secondary English. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(4), 512-525. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2018.1542318 Zhong, Y., & Yang, M. (2021). Formative Assessment in Higher Education Classrooms: Second Language Writing Learning. International Journal of TESOL Studies, 3(4), 61-78. https://doi.org/10.46451/ijts.2021.12.05