The most noteworthy aspect of education is illuminating the learners’ minds; however, it would be inconclusive if schools/colleges fail to keep up with the ongoing global standards. Hence, they update their methodologies accordingly to facilitate the best teaching and learning.
One of the latest modern educational techniques is hybrid learning, which has gained prominence in recent years. The amalgamation of face-to-face and online education is an innovative approach, but without proper execution and implementation, it can go haywire.
Therefore, it is only fitting to take a look at some useful ways in which we can balance the blend between the two:
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Restructuring the Teaching and Learning Tactics
Traditionally, the approach has been that teachers would introduce a chapter in the class and proceed to explain it in detail. It is an instance of passive learning where students primarily depend on the instructors.
Hybrid learning facilitates the implementation of major changes; teachers assign topics that students prepare at home so they can ask relevant questions the next day. Also, whether at home or online, they can use online resources, helping to learn in diverse ways.
On the other hand, teachers must learn the ways of using digital tools to maximise asynchronous learning, helping to achieve the following:
- Using multimedia content to provide engaging learning opportunities.
- Ensure curriculum progression and learning outcomes.
- Determining the amount of online learning materials helps teachers to conclude how much they need to prepare during the face-to-face classroom sessions.
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Recording Teaching sessions
Online classes are not meant to replace conventional in-class sessions; neither is it superior or inferior in capacity. Nonetheless, it compliments the educational system for providing a convenient way of accessing knowledge.
Likewise, recorded lessons are a part of the hybrid learning system that ensures students can gain access to learning materials. It allows teachers to save time by recording essential topic analysis and avail it for students’ at-home access.
Also, teachers can record critical parts of live online classes, enabling students to go through them repeatedly in case they have trouble understanding the lesson.
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Foster Collaboration
Striking a balance between synchronous and asynchronous activities is a key element for the success of the approach. The former refers to those that teachers conduct in real-time, while the latter occurs at different times, mostly offline.
Irrespective of the structure of the modes, teachers must establish the time, frequency and purpose for each and establish collaboration. Besides, many studies have indicated that creating a sense of community furthers self-paced learning.
Therefore, instructors can include ice-breaking sessions, group projects, peer review or feedback sessions, etc. As a result, it will help to motivate learners, keep them on track, and promote cognitive learning
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Determine the Learning Goals and Outcomes
What should the students learn? What is the ultimate purpose of this particular topic? What should they be able to do by learning the formula? In what way should they conduct the strategy to succeed in real life?
The above questions are examples teachers can consider while determining the goals or outcomes; knowing the outcomes is necessary to plan the strategy better. Moreover, only after defining the goals one can:
- Design the hybrid lesson plans.
- Properly align the face-to-face and online interactive classes that go hand in hand with the learning outcomes.
- Set deadlines and plan activities accordingly for particular sessions.
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Select Appropriate Instruction Delivery Methods
Stagnant, textbook-oriented and monotonous are the perfect words to describe outdated academic practices. Fortunately, the education system has moved beyond that, and institutes have adopted modern and well-researched methods to impart enriched learning experiences.
The hybrid model is one of the most effective strategies that relies on the optimum usage of the latest tools and varied formats. Hence, teachers must use multi-media to develop and deliver lessons:
- Podcasts and recorded lessons
- Learning tools for microlearning sessions
- Web conferencing tools to conduct discussions and debates, etc.
- Consider the usability and accessibility of the particular tools and methods.
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Tracking the Progress
The traditional educational system consists of summative examinations that provide little to no chance of assessing the student’s potential. It is partly useful in assessing students’ subject knowledge.
On the other hand, when institutes use a hybrid learning model, it provides several ways of tracking student’s ongoing progress. Besides, since they move to a combination of in-class instruction and independent learning, teachers must focus on the learning outcomes of both modes.
Additionally, they can use appropriate applications to track particular areas where students excel and struggle. Then, they can create learning materials and activities to improve their performance in the problem areas.
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Carrying Out Learning Surveys
One of the primary challenges of the hybrid system is that teachers cannot understand which blended activity works well. That is where teachers can use surveys to conduct thorough feedback from all stakeholders.
These surveys include questions related to the in-class as well as online activities and teaching methodologies. Hence, students, teachers and parents provide their evaluation of such activities, enabling the instructors to gain helpful insights.
With the help of feedback and digital tools, teachers can develop their lesson plans and activities to foster cognitive learning.
Final Thoughts,
The hybrid system, also known as blended learning, is an educational approach that mixes face-to-face and traditional . In order to ensure its success, teachers must determine the goals, identify the effectiveness of the activities, and monitor the ongoing progress.
