Blended Learning Boom

Blended learning is not necessarily a new thing. Since the advent of the internet, its use as an educational resource has been well documented and online learning has existed for some years now. Blended leaning itself aims to combine the benefits of various teaching solutions including traditional face-to-face classroom sessions and online e-learning. But it is perfecting the recipe between the classrooms and the technologies that has seen it continue to expand and grow in popularity amongst students and teachers alike.

Universities have been quicker to latch onto the benefits of e-learning. Whilst blended learning combines three distinct forms – classroom, distance learning and online or e-learning; there is also a growing trend towards full online learning courses and the creation of virtual universities. The introduction of open universities and blended learning techniques offered students a way to study at their own pace through the use of traditional teaching methods and mixed media such as video and audio content. This concept worked perfectly for those students who found full-time study difficult perhaps because of personal circumstances or work commitments. Universities found it to be a cost effective way of providing higher education to all students regardless of their geographic constraints.

As the World Wide Web began to grow, distance learning went with it and full online learning and virtual universities were created to provide a method of delivery for a wide variety of courses. Following on from the blended learning techniques adopted in distance learning, students were able to study at their own pace, in their own time and wherever they wanted. But it was not without its problems. Courses were often not engaging enough or students lacked the motivation to see the courses through. I can certainly attest to that. Many felt that the loss of the social aspects of traditional learning was to blame, a deficiency which took some time to address.

Today, the rise in social networking websites has allowed the inception of virtual classrooms where students can engage with each other without loosing the freedom e-learning provides. The continued expansion of blended and online learning allows students the ability to interact in a way which was never before possible in the virtual world. Students now have the ability to start discussion groups, file share, have real time meetings and classes and to just simply chat.