Cost-effectiveness analysis applied to a blended-learning-model Massimo Loi & Alberto Cattaneo 1 SFIVET, Lugano, Switzerland Abstract This paper describes briefly an attempt to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the blended-learning-model characterizing the project OpenCampus. It was not possible to follow the methodology accepted by the main literature because of a lack of accessible cost data. For this reason a perceived cost-effectiveness ratio was estimated. Keywords: blended-learning, OpenCampus, cost, effectiveness. 1. Introduction This study intends to examine the applicability of the cost-effectiveness analysis to the project OpenCampus implemented in 2005 by the State School of Applied Computer Sciences and Economics (SSIG), a vocational 3-year advanced school in Bellinzona, Switzerland. The OpenCampus project aims at introducing a modality of teaching/learning centred on the Blended-Learning-Model (BL) for some subjects in the two different curricula (full-time vs en emploi) offered by this school 2 . The stakeholders of this project are the teachers, the school’s board and the students, but this paper takes only the students’ perspective. The actors directly involved in the project are mainly 14 teachers out of 23 engaged with the BL training offer 3 and approximately 100 students from the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd years. In this paper we intend to present a preview of the methodology and main findings of our analysis. The results are based on an ad hoc questionnaire distributed to the students at the end of the 1 st semester 2008. The results of the 2 nd semester 2007 questionnaire were used only in a few cases. 2. Methodology We assimilate the educational process to a productive one. Therefore, our analysis is characterized by three different dimensions: 1. Outcomes: perceived learning effectiveness and quality of life of the OpenCampus BL model (compared to the traditional classroom model); 2. Process: quality of teaching and of didactic materials (still under study); 3. Input: perceived time dedicated by the students to study and/or to reach the school. 1 The authors thank Dr. Chiristelle Garrouste from Stockholm University for the precious advices and for the proof reading help. 2 Some more details about the project are available in Cattaneo (2007). 3 All the 23 teachers are asked to reach a minimum number of objectives concerning the use of the online learning environment, even if not teaching at distance.