An Empirical Study on Blended Learning in Higher Education in 'Internet + ' Era

In order to investigate the overall cognition of blended learning, we made a questionnaire survey and interviews with students and teachers of 10 universities and colleges in Anhui Province. Based on this investigation, we design a Rain class blended learning model which fully utilizes the modern network technology and mobile terminals to closely link pre-class and after-class learning to classroom teaching by using Wechat terminal. In order to validate the application effect of the model, a quasi-experiment is conducted between two groups of students. We used SPSS 23.0 in recording and analyzing the data for inferential statistics, two independent samples T-test, variance analysis and descriptive statistical analysis. The difference was statistically significant with P < 0.05. The study found that students have higher interest and acceptance to blended learning, but miscellaneous online resources and excessive interference information have negative impacts on students' online learning participation behavior. The hypothesis about the influencing factors of blended learning has been verified empirically, that is, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, a learning atmosphere are important factors affecting learners' acceptance of blended learning. A teaching practice proved that the new learning model has achieved remarkable results in improving learning efficiency and quality of students in large classroom, cultivating students' learning initiative and stimulating their interest in learning.