Blended Learning: "The Best of Both Worlds"
Blended learning, also known as hybrid learning has rightly been described by many as superior to both distance education and conventional, face to face education as it combines “the best of both worlds”. Pedagogically speaking, the online environment fosters a constructivist approach to learning more easily and transparently than the traditional classroom does. It encourages student input and interaction, allowing the teacher to become more of a “guide on the side” than a “sage on the stage”. It also allows for the display of course content in an organized, systematic way. Furthermore, it is more flexible in that it caters better to multiple learning styles. While some learners are verbal (preferring text), others may be auditory or visual learners, preferring audio or video, which can also be delivered online. In this sense, some deliberate redundancy in content is considered not only desirable but commendable, as long as the effect is not one of “cognitive overload”.
The face-to-face environment tends to be considered more suitable for certain aspects of education: some experiments and discussions, certain components of team assignments, oral presentations, individualized tutoring of students, and most of all, for reliable assessment. Not that all assessment needs to be conducted in the physical classroom: most diagnostic and formative assessment can be carried out successfully online.
In 2005, I presented a paper on the subject of blended teaching & learning at the annual conference of the International Association of Teachers of English, in the U.K. The paper was entitled “The Transition to Hybrid Courses: Some Practical Implications”. At that time, there was talk on campus of possible future distance course delivery, but sensing justified opposition to the idea of 100% online courses, I felt that exploring less aggressive possibilities was necessary. Besides, the online infrastructure we had gradually built up for our web-enhanced courses could easily cater to blended courses. All that remained to be done was further development, refinement and organization of the online components of courses we already had in place. There was no need to change learning objectives although some could be tweaked to reflect the online course elements more effectively. By 2010, AUB had started offering blended courses, along with the relevant training for faculty members. The class I offered last year in this new format went well.
Pedagogically, it is difficult to argue with blended learning. Technically, though, it may rightly be observed that internet speeds in Lebanon present a hurdle. Lebanon has been very unfortunate in this regard over the past two decades; it has had the slowest connections at the most exorbitant prices. On the other hand, if internet speeds and prices improve soon as promised, new horizons will open up for teachers: better reliability of e-learning in general and, in particular, better prospects for using online video in teaching and learning. Currently peripheral and supplementary, video may become more central, not only to content delivery but also to assessment. Teachers: brace yourselves for this brave new world of teaching and learning.
Posted by May Mikati on 13 September 2011, 8:28 PM
Blended learning, also known as hybrid learning has rightly been described by many as superior to both distance education and conventional, face to face education as it combines “the best of both worlds”. Pedagogically speaking, the online environment fosters a constructivist approach to learning more easily and transparently than the traditional classroom does. It encourages student input and interaction, allowing the teacher to become more of a “guide on the side” than a “sage on the stage”. It also allows for the display of course content in an organized, systematic way. Furthermore, it is more flexible in that it caters better to multiple learning styles. While some learners are verbal (preferring text), others may be auditory or visual learners, preferring audio or video, which can also be delivered online. In this sense, some deliberate redundancy in content is considered not only desirable but commendable, as long as the effect is not one of “cognitive overload”.
The face-to-face environment tends to be considered more suitable for certain aspects of education: some experiments and discussions, certain components of team assignments, oral presentations, individualized tutoring of students, and most of all, for reliable assessment. Not that all assessment needs to be conducted in the physical classroom: most diagnostic and formative assessment can be carried out successfully online.
In 2005, I presented a paper on the subject of blended teaching & learning at the annual conference of the International Association of Teachers of English, in the U.K. The paper was entitled “The Transition to Hybrid Courses: Some Practical Implications”. At that time, there was talk on campus of possible future distance course delivery, but sensing justified opposition to the idea of 100% online courses, I felt that exploring less aggressive possibilities was necessary. Besides, the online infrastructure we had gradually built up for our web-enhanced courses could easily cater to blended courses. All that remained to be done was further development, refinement and organization of the online components of courses we already had in place. There was no need to change learning objectives although some could be tweaked to reflect the online course elements more effectively. By 2010, AUB had started offering blended courses, along with the relevant training for faculty members. The class I offered last year in this new format went well.
Pedagogically, it is difficult to argue with blended learning. Technically, though, it may rightly be observed that internet speeds in Lebanon present a hurdle. Lebanon has been very unfortunate in this regard over the past two decades; it has had the slowest connections at the most exorbitant prices. On the other hand, if internet speeds and prices improve soon as promised, new horizons will open up for teachers: better reliability of e-learning in general and, in particular, better prospects for using online video in teaching and learning. Currently peripheral and supplementary, video may become more central, not only to content delivery but also to assessment. Teachers: brace yourselves for this brave new world of teaching and learning.
Posted by May Mikati on 13 September 2011, 8:28 PM
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