The art of combining digital learning tools with more traditional face-to-face teaching has given rise to the term “Blended Learning”. There are demands for both technology and traditional learning methods.
What is Blended Learning?
Blended Learning is not a mere combination of online and face-to-face modalities but refers to a well-planned mix of meaningful activities in both modalities.
The mixture requires consideration of several factors, primarily focused on learning outcomes and the learner-centred classroom environment.
The main features of Blended Learning are:
- Increased student participation in Learning.Â
- Improved interaction between teachers and students.Â
- Responsibility for Learning.
- Time management and flexibility.
- Better student learning outcomesÂ
- Better institutional reputation.Â
- More flexible teaching and learning environmentÂ
- More receptive to self-learning and continuous LearningÂ
- Better opportunities for Experiential Learning
The advantages of BL for students include an increase in learning capabilities, greater access toÂ
 Information, improving satisfaction and learning outcomes and opportunities that both teach by with other knowledge and others.
About the meet
The State Council organized the Educational Research and Training meet as part of the monthly group leader development program for state school leaders.
Preparing digital educational content in national languages, recording audio lessons for those with limited internet data, introducing rotation and flipped learning, updating internet facilities in schools, and the need for more IT assistants in schools – these were some of the related issues with blended Learning discussed by government school leaders during an ongoing leadership program.
Discussions were organized by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) as part of the monthly cluster leader development program for state school leaders.
The September session will focus on “developing an understanding of the possibilities of blended learning and roles”, understanding the new initiatives of the Directorate of Education and building a “listening room with teachers”.
Both principals and mentors took part in the discussions. Given the lessons of the Covid19 crisis, school principals said schools are likely to continue the practice in the post-pandemic as the pandemic has increased online learning.
Awadhesh Kumar Jha, Director of Sarvodaya Coed Vidyalaya in Sector 8, Rohini, said: “Covid has enabled us to introduce online learning practices, and we plan to continue these in the future as they allow students to have the opportunity at their own pace to learn.
Relate to content at your own pace. These practices have also improved self-study among students, who are much more convenient to find study content online and use it for coursework.
However, Jha also highlighted a concern: the lack of access to data and the Internet among public school students, mostly from economically weaker backgrounds. “Our students have feature phones or low-end smartphones that don’t have enough storage space.
Saving content becomes a problem. Our teachers often switch to audio notes while explaining worksheets as they take up less space,” he said.Â
In the future, you plan to introduce more learning content in “local languages” so that the students can find the content easier to understand.
“We have posted videos and plan to do so more often in local languages so that students can connect with teachers at a higher level,” he said.
Several leaders such as Mayur Vihar, Dwarka, Sangam Vihar, Jafrabad, Najafgarh and Ramesh Nagar also believe that online Learning is difficult to adopt due to scarcity of resources, it will benefit students who graduate in one world at a time. More digital.
