Methods

MECCA educational methodologies aim to build on already well developed in-class instructor practices and adapt them for distance learning educational environments.

The MECCA educational methodologies provide best practices information on the integration of audio and visual communications into distance teaching practices aiming at the vivid presentation of concepts and ideas, at the facilitation of the effective communication between instructors and learners, and at the maximization of face-time, i.e. face-to-face instruction. The latter is considered imperative for effective knowledge transfer between teacher and learners given the inherent social dimension in education, which is not fully exploited in traditional on-line (asynchronous) distance settings.

To overcome shortcomings of traditional eLearning MECCA proposes Blended Learning methodologies that go beyond online learning environments to integrate in-class teaching, hands-on practice, and asynchronous eLearning for maximizing both the flexibility in terms of time and location of an educational environment as well as take advantage of social dimension of education, which provides an opportunity for students to learn from each other as well as from the instructor presentations. These methodologies are further explored in this area.