Five Reasons to Turn Classes Blended
With so many educational tools at their disposal, more and more teachers are combining synchronous and asynchronous online learning to create a blended classroom environment.
This blended approach provides a number of advantages to both instructors and students, who can benefit from the best of both options to achieve an optimal online educational experience.
Increasingly, students are taking advantage of online learning to achieve a higher education. With blended classrooms, educators can make sure these students are benefiting from solid instruction – and still learning at their own pace. Students can shorten the time dedicated to writing papers and researches thanks to common form of research submission that is used on online learning platforms,
Online learning methods
In the past, most online learnings had to be done through asynchronous methods – assignments delivered and submitted via email or online message boards, where students were able to pace themselves through the course according to their individual schedules. With the evolution of online learning technology, today’s students have the ability to engage in synchronous learning. This environment offers a real-time, virtual classroom type of experience, where teachers can interact easily with students to answer questions, provide clarification, and ensure that students are absorbing and understanding course material.
Blended learning uses both techniques to provide more rounded instruction to students – combining a live instructional session with assigned activities that students can complete on their own time and at their own pace.
Blended learning experiment
University of Tennessee’s Lisa C. Yamagata-Lynch conducted an experiment in 2012, using a 15-week blended online graduate level course to determine how educators can use both learning technologies to create an optimized learning experience for students. Yamagata-Lynch’s study looked at her students’ abilities to perceive different types of scientific materials in different circumstances – at school in a discussion with a peer group, and alone at home, focusing on the subject.
The two-day study focused on five students, who were asked to listen to a lecture and then discuss the information. The discussion covered what the students already knew about the topic, as well as some of the new information they learned during the lecture and how this previously unknown information could be incorporated into the information they already had. Then, in the evening, the students were instructed to begin online synchronous and online asynchronous learning – both with the lecture itself and with practical exercises to apply their new knowledge.
According to Yamagata-Lynch’s data, feedback received from the students who participated in the experiment indicated that they felt that “being part of an online blended synchronous and asynchronous course gave them the opportunity to experience a higher level of participation in a flexible learning environment.” In her conclusion, Yamagata-Lynch says scholars now need to address how learning institutions can incorporate both techniques to create an online learning environment where all kinds of students can learn effectively and achieve success.
In my conclusion, I can say students nowadays are ready to use online learning, moreover part of them wants to take part in creation (both - technology and educational program)
Benefits of blended learning
Incorporating online educational resources along with real-time, live instruction can be extremely advantageous for both students and teachers. More and more, students are choosing to attend schools that offer blended programs, for a number of different reasons. Teachers can also benefit from the opportunities that blended learning can provide.
Many learners have other responsibilities that can make attending regular classes in a brick-and-mortar facility a challenge. Recognizing the daunting task students face this day and age by asking for a help writing services to make life easier. The flexible learning schedule provided by blended learning classrooms means that students can further their education while maintaining their existing family, work, and other commitments.
Mental health challenges
For students who struggle with issues like depression or anxiety, or learners who may have experienced bullying in the past, the stress of attending regular classes can be discouraging – and, in more severe cases, may prevent the student from even enrolling in a college or university program. A blended classroom alternative lets them move at their own pace, keeping them from becoming overwhelmed.
Varied learning styles
Traditional educational techniques are generally only effective for a specific type of learner – which means that students who benefit from less-traditional methods used to be left behind. With blended classrooms, the variety of educational styles means students can engage with course material in a number of different ways, providing more diversity and giving more students the tools they need to succeed.
The technology of online blended classrooms allows teachers to easily access the effectiveness of their instruction, enabling them to make changes to the learning environment as needed for the benefit of their students. Educators can also provide immediate feedback to students, helping them improve their performance as they go rather than waiting to see test results at the end of the semester.
The most important element of blended learning is that it makes learning fun. Teachers can use all kinds of content to instruct a blended classroom – audio, video and even visually engaging presentation materials keep students more engaged and interested in learning the course material. By making the classroom an interactive environment, students will be more likely to enjoy the learning they do at home – and will participate in the live discussions more enthusiastically.
With the role of schools and educators evolving with our society, it’s important for teachers to keep an open mind about introducing technology into the classroom – and investigate how their students could benefit from an online environment that incorporates elements of both synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. More students will be choosing to pursue online education, and it is vital that online instructors provide these learners with a strong program.
The advantages that this blended learning method offers instructors and learners makes it a key part of ensuring that future students receive an effective and well-rounded educational experience. All students deserve to have the opportunity to succeed academically, and an online blended classroom provides them with the skills they need to achieve this success.