Know About Blended Learning in 2022

In this article, we are going to talk about blended learning. People have moved out of the traditional classroom and shifted to online classes. even the UGC has suggested shifting 40% of teaching online. No matter how advanced the technology is, there are some unique features of offline courses that cannot be replaced.

As the world is leveraging digital technology and moving towards digitisation, there are many new improvements in how we work that you will witness in your life. It is rightly said that the current generation will see a technological revolution.

Technology has brought a classroom into a home just right next to the bedroom and has enabled continuous learning even in the crucial time of Covid-19. It was technology that changed the way you learn.

Today, you can’t imagine learning without the use of technology because it has opened the doors to endless opportunities for you. When technology is making your path more accessible, it becomes an essential part of your life.

As stated by Mr Anant Agarwal, Chief Open Education Officer at 2U, Founder of edX, and Professor at MIT in his published article

“When we look at learning as something that can happen on campus AND off-campus, in-person AND online, we start to uncover the possibility of moving between work and school without having to choose one, or getting a headstart on college before we leave high school. This brings us to a model of continuous, lifelong learning. More to come.”

What is Blended Learning?

Before conceiving the notion let’s first understand the very basics.

Blended learning is a hybrid learning system where we have a touch of technology along with the charm of offline classes. This system lets you learn online using technology as well as attend offline classes. It’s all about making your learning experience amazing.

Why do you need it?

There are many reasons why there is a need for blended learning, however, we will talk about a few of them here:

Increased Productivity– As per the study done by IOWA University, it is found that the blend of online and offline classes increases the productivity of students. Many students have shown improvements by using the blended learning method. There are some parts that students can learn offline easily while some concepts need help from online classes, especially where graphics are required.

Sense of Ownership– it is clear that when a teacher is in the class, the students submit, and they lose their exploring quality as the teacher does everything for them, however, when they are in online classes, they take ownership of the class and are proactively involved in it.

Grooming for Tech-World– It is true that those who are not tech-savvy, face a lot of challenges. Since companies want people to be well-versed in technology, especially information technology, they tend to give priority to those students only who are good at this. So, in other words, blended learning does this job smartly

Cost-Cutting- Cost-cutting is a massive benefit of blended learning because, through this method, you cater to a huge audience. This feature of online classes is considered a game-changer for the educational world. That’s the reason a lot of universities are moving to online learning.

Related: Solutions to the challenges of blended learning

Model & Types of Blended Learning

There are various methods of blended learning where students get trained in multiple streams. It depends on what suits the student. Let’s check out the types of blended learning.

Flipped Classroom Models– In Flipped Classroom model, there is an option where a teacher-led classroom takes place and the rest of the video lectures can be watched at home at the student’s convenience.

The Enriched Vertical Model– Being quite similar to Flipped Classroom model, there is a beginning of classes online, although there are requirements for offline face-to-face classes. You can say that online learning works as a supplement to this method of learning.

The Individual Rotation Model– There are many educational settings in which the individual rotation settings can be applied. In this model, we see that teachers sort out students as per their needs or in fact software can also do this job better.

The Flex Model- This is a flexible model where a student can choose the model of learning that he/she can follow that is something that suits him/her. This model is specially designed for those students who have not completed their course and somehow returned to their education. It is a kind of a bridge course

Advantages

Good for a Bigger Class– The biggest benefit of blended learning is that it allows you to cater to as many students as you would like to. Since it doesn’t require a physical space where you can stand and teach, you just need a reliable connection and a device like a Laptop or PC, and you are connected to the world of learning with just your screen.

Cost-Effective– In case, you want to share some study material, you don’t need to go and print those for the number of students you want to distribute, now you can simply share that study material with your students in the learning management system and your students can access it from there.

Great for Non-Technology Students– If we change the entire educational system to the online method only, we might get some students but we will lose a lot of students who don’t have hands-on experience in online classes or even if they have good hands, they somehow do not like it. That’s why a hybrid system works better.

Disadvantages

Lack of Motivation– This is something that I don’t like about online or blended learning and that is lack of motivation. Not every student is made for a common blended learning method. No technological advancement can replace offline learning because there is someone to interact with.

Must be Tech-Savvy– To get benefit from blended learning, one has to have a basic knowledge of technology. If the students are not trained in today’s technology, they might not cope with blended learning at all.

Credibility Issue– This is another big issue with online learning that students cannot resist peeping on the web and finally Google for a lot of things that they should search for. Since everything is available on the internet readymade, it reduces your habit of exploring things on your own

Must read: Guide to tech integration institutions for blended learning model

Blended Learning is Not Simply Mixing Technology with Teaching

It’s not as simple as it looks. A lot of people think that blended learning is just mixing teaching with technology. But, it is much more than what it looks to be. It is a perfect combination of teaching and technology. Classes are crafted carefully to make students’ experiences richer as far as learning is concerned. A report by TOI has covered an article stating how the dynamics shift after introducing an online mode of teaching.

Conclusion

Blended learning has been a great option for those who are looking for a perfect mix of teaching with technology. As there are a lot of great courses available online along with the touch of offline classes. This change is inevitable and has to come before us within our generation.