The term blended learning originated in the corporate environment about 30 years ago. Back in the 1980s, Boeing Company was developing its employees` skills by listening to CDs and watching videos. The idea was picked up by business schools, whose students are busy people and cannot sit in classrooms for hours.
It seemed that technology would stifle the traditional model of learning. Why waste time commuting to school when you can listen to a lecture online? Why sit in a library if any information can be found on the Web in two clicks? Why speak at a seminar when everything can be discussed in a chat?
But that didn’t happen. Neither teachers nor students are ready to give up live communication. As convenient as e-learning is, it does not provide the same level of development of speech and socio-cultural skills as face-to-face education.
That is why blended learning, combining traditional learning with distance and online methods, is actively developing in the West, and in our country it is just emerging.
The verb “blend” perfectly conveys the essence of this model. Students gain knowledge both face-to-face, communicating live with peers and teachers, and independently, using modern information technologies.
This is not an ordinary classroom activity: the student learns part of the material at home with gadgets in his hands at his own pace. This is not distance education, where the student receives almost no help from the teacher and appears at school only to take exams. And this is not a one-on-one study with a computer: you need to be part of a group and develop with it.
The material is passed from the teacher to the students in face-to-face classroom sessions. Electronic resources are used only to consolidate and deepen knowledge.
The student watches webinars solves online problems, takes online tests, that is, masters the material remotely. But if necessary, he can meet with the teacher and consult on unclear issues.
The main part of the program is delivered online. The teacher acts as a facilitator, keeping track of difficult topics to understand in order to discuss them later in a face-to-face class in a group or individually.
Face-to-face and online learning alternate: first, students master the material on their own via the Internet, then together with a teacher in class, and vice versa.
Students go through the program as usual. But, if certain subjects arouse increased interest, you can take additional online classes on them.
Students go through the program as usual. But, if certain subjects arouse increased interest, you can take additional online classes on them.
In their pure form, these models are rarely used. Usually, they are combined. For example, Face-to-Face with Flex: in addition to attending classes, students study online on their own, and then discuss incomprehensible points with the teacher.
Invite your students to watch the video outside of class and turn on the assessment to test their knowledge of the material. This leaves more time in the classroom to discuss videos and facilitate student collaboration.
Interactive Video Learning Tools:
Who doesn’t love games? Blended learning opens the door to gamification by assigning games to students in and out of the classroom. There are many websites that offer educational games and other options, such as Minecraft Education Edition.
3. Discussions and collaborative activities outside of the classroom.
Systems such as virtual discussion walls or other collaboration tools allow instructors to start discussing a topic before students enter the classroom, leaving time for other activities in the class while they are on-site.
Systems such as virtual discussion walls or other collaboration tools allow instructors to start discussing a topic before students enter the classroom, leaving time for other activities in the class while they are on-site.
At the first stage, you need to collect all the necessary documents, create regulations for blended learning and make changes to the charter of the organization.
To choose the right format, assess how ready the institution’s infrastructure, teachers, and students are to work with online tools. At a minimum, people should be able to use a computer at a basic level, have a laptop at home with a headset and a webcam. If you’re planning to host webinars, educators will have to learn how to work in front of the camera.
Before the implementation of the new program, parents are also told about blended learning, surveys are conducted, expectations and concerns are clarified.
Let it be different formats: videos, texts, presentations, animation. Don’t forget about the checks to reinforce the material at the end of each topic. Develop a long-term study plan. Before each information block, clearly outline the goal of what the group member should learn and why. Specify the time it will take to complete the material.