Topic 4: Blended learning
Many educators nowadays implement blended
learning designs in their courses. The development of technology has brought
the possibility to use different digital platforms and tools for education that
can aid teaching and learning and facilitate their processes. Blended learning
is an educational approach that combines online educational materials and
opportunities to interact online with traditional classroom methods. In
contrast with online learning, blended learning requires the physical presence
of students and teachers however; traditional classroom-based learning is
combined with computer-mediated activities regarding the content (teaching
& learning activities, instruction) and delivery (assessment and feedback)
(1).
One important aspect in blended learning design
in to personalize the online teaching & learning activities to meet the
specific needs of each student. Teaching should be adapted to each student’s
strengths and weaknesses in a dynamic way. Hence, the digital platform or
tool that is selected for blended learning should be adaptive in terms of
instruction and assessment. If the tool follows a traditional, linear, ‘one
size fits all’ design, then many advanced students might become disengaged
while in the same time students that struggle might get frustrated (2). Of course,
disengagement and frustration might happen also in classroom, however in this
case the face-to-face interaction with the teacher might prevent these
phenomena, as the teacher can identify in
situ difficulties, address questions and provide support. On the other hand,
a digital tool, that is essentially a conveyor of content, should be designed
in an adaptive fashion in order to support students, promote active learning
and support engagement. A truly adaptive tool would be able to identify which
students had not mastered yet a subject, and only those students would receive support
on that particular skill.
Another aspect is that a digital tool should be
designed in a way that can collect detailed information on student performance.
The reason is that students will be able to self-assess their level of mastery during
the course and be able to take action on it (i.e. study more or ask for
additional support), and the teacher will able to identify the possible
difficulty and provide additional support to the student during the classroom
lectures and online. When the right tools are used, the student experience can
be monitored in real-time. Teachers can access the data showing which students
have completed each task, and which students have encountered difficulties and
require individual or small group support. These data can help teachers to be
targeted and time efficient and focus on the students that need help the most.
Using digital learning technologies that are
personalized to each student would be highly beneficial for promoting deeper learning.
However, it might create difficulties for the teachers as their role can get
significantly more complicated (3). If the student’s online activities adapt
to their needs, then the teacher instruction and support will get more
individualized, too. But what happens if the teacher needs to support 100 or
200 students at the same time? Here is why design is very important. If the digital
tool can measure student performance in each task, it could also provide
appropriate instruction or support strategies for each student, thus supporting
both students and teachers for more efficient and targeted activities.
Overall, blended learning can be an excellent balance between traditional
and online learning. However, a blended course should be designed carefully
taking into account the needs of the students, the teacher and the specific
subject. To succeed in this, teachers will need support from their institutions
while sustainable infrastructure should be created. Eventually, a course with
1:1 ratio between traditional and online learning can be created that will have
a higher impact to students than a conventional and traditional classroom.
References:
- Graham, C.R. (2016) Blended learning systems: Definitions, Current Trends, and Future Directions. In: The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs. Wiley.
- VanderArk, T., Schneider, C. How digital learning contributes to deeper learning. http://www.worldwideworkshop.com/pdfs/GettingSmart_DigitalLearningDeeperLearning.pdf
- The role of the teacher in a blended learning classroom. Edgenuity. https://www.edgenuity.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Role-of-the-Teacher.pdf
The question is how much technology we want in education before it takes over. The field of learning analytics and the use of artificial intelligence to provide early warnings of student dropouts, monitor engagement levels and even provide personalised feedback and recommendations are growing rapidly. This solves the problem of monitoring large classes but can also be seen as a worrying trend towards automation and infringement of privacy. Maybe this is another dimension to the blend - how much human versus machine control should we allow?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are ethical and practical issues to address before implementation of such technologies. The role of the teacher to guide and support is irreplaceable. In my opinion, these technologies should be primaly used to help students to develop and manage possible difficulties not to monitor performance for assessment.
DeleteThanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading your last paragraph on the benefits of online blended learning.
ReplyDeleteNice insight. I think, as a teacher we should not overwhelm the students with various tools, perhaps, we can just implement the beneficial ones that will contribute to learning.
ReplyDeleteThe blended learning fits fields like medical science and chemical engineering where application or practice or laboratory experiments are crucial. There is a standard for blended courses in a sense that an online content should not be less than 30% of the total content.
ReplyDeleteThe blended learning fits fields like medical science and chemical engineering where application or practice or laboratory experiments are crucial. There is a standard for blended courses in a sense that an online content should not be less than 30% of the total content.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts on blended learning Io. I came to think of a couple of tools that could be used for personalising the learning activities for the students, and were thinking if you are already familiar with them. One of the things I was thinking of is mastery paths in Canvas (https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/4697-taking-the-mystery-out-of-mastery-paths) and another is Scalable Learning (https://www.scalable-learning.com/#/home). I specifically enjoyed your last paragraph where you reflected upon the need to focus on the subject/content. We had a webinar from University of Halmstad where the planning and reflection tool TCoRe was presented. What TCoRe basically does is to, by three questions, direct the teacher to think and reflect on why certain technology should be used in a course in order to support students' learning. Unfortunately the slides are in Swedish, but if you are interested, you can easily translate the three questions (slide 11) to english (https://ltuse-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/karin_bollden_ltu_se/EXwjxYKtKH5GtYrBEebQ2j4BQSd-rL7eshlZRlJPNxjD5A). Perhaps it is something you can use when you are planning your own teaching and learning activities? All the best /Karin
ReplyDeleteHi Karin! Thank you very much for the tips and info! Very helpful=)
DeleteHi Io,
ReplyDeleteVery nice discussion on blended learning and the possibilities that it can offer. I like that you bring up the discussion on 'personalized' activities that can be tailored in the needs of the specific students. Your discussion about the needs to be adaptive is very important and you connect in a very nice way with the additional challenges that on-line (not face-to-face) interactions can pose. This of course makes it clear that educators need to be aware of these and make sure that they will organize the course in the best way and being able to adapt it when necessary.
Interesting, Io. But I am wondering how much learning can be "measured" and what kind of feedback that a system could provide could scaffold the learning process, rather than impoverishing it (as you just do what the system measures). It would be interesting to look more into this.
ReplyDelete