Hello Everybody,
Here are my thoughts about Blended Learning.
I would define blended learning as being a learning process where there is a combination of face to face, traditional learning and online learning using different technologies over the internet.
Blended learning provides opportunities for students to engage with their peers through online communities of inquiry where students can discuss different topics covered in the classroom. Sometimes, due to lack of enough time to discuss a certain topic in the class, a blended setting would extend this discussion over the online community. Moreover, blended approach would also provide opportunities for students to participate online if they missed in class discussions.
One of the challenges of blended learning is managing both in-class and online learning environments. It would require more time and efforts from instructors implementing blended learning approach when scheduling online and in-class sessions and providing support for online technologies. However, time and resources invested in setting up a blended learning would be worthwhile if it increased students’ learning and made the learning more productive.
Most of the professional development activities at my workplace use blended approach where I participate in technical conferences and workshops and share my experiences and ideas on the online community as I develop technical solutions. Online technical community has been an important part of my work because it connects me with other experienced professionals and enables me to learn from them.
Thanks for reading!
Rahim.
