We are already familiar with the concept of eLearning. The COVID-19 pandemic has played one huge role in shifting education pedagogy to online learning and not many of us are complaining. After all, getting freedom from the four walls of classrooms is nothing short of a blessing for us irrespective of whether we are students or educators. 
 

At first glance, online learning seems the best approach to teach and learn. It allows teachers to teach from anywhere and students to learn from anywhere, anytime. Hence no wonder that many educational institutes and businesses are adopting eLearning solutions to teach and train their learners. But the online learning model has its fair share of limitations. Let us look at them one by one:
 

• Creates a sense of isolation - There is no question in the fact that friends or colleagues make your life merrier. But online learning makes you isolated at home and do your things on your own. 
• Asks for discipline - Online learning is no different from a regular form of exercise. It demands determination and discipline. Not everyone is disciplined enough to go for self-paced learning.
• Can cause health issues - Since an online learning program needs you to spend more time on your laptop screen, it may cause eye strain and other health issues due to bad posture.
• Technical issues - Technical glitches are one major cause of concern in online-based learning. You might be engrossed in an interesting lecture, but your operating system may get hanged or you may get caught by a network problem. Such issues are sometimes hard to solve on their own and can disrupt your routine.
• Distractions - Home-based learning will also collide with a lot of distractions. Whether it is a TV program running in the next room or guests appearing at your door unannounced, you may find it hard to stay away from all these interruptions.

To overcome the limitations of online learning and to make the best use of both eLearning and classroom learning, we need to find the optimum solution that lies in the middle. That’s why we have blended learning. 

How do we define blended learning?

As the name suggests, blended learning is the blend or the combination of two very distinct learning approaches, which are classroom learning and technology-based learning. In recent years, the blended learning approach has been common in practice especially in higher educational institutes. 

Different types of blended learning

A blended learning model can be implemented in different forms depending on the requirement of the institutes. Here we are discussing 5 different models of blended learning that are common in practice.
 

• Station Rotation - In this blended learning model, students rotate through various learning stations on a fixed schedule. Here, at least one of the stations must be an online learning station.
• Lab Rotation - In this type of model, the online learning station is located in an allocated computer lab.
• Individual Rotation - This model also requires students to rotate through stations, but here the difference is that they rotate according to the individual schedules set by a teacher or software algorithm.
• Flipped Classroom - In this model, students learn at their homes through online courses, while the teachers use class time for teacher-guided practice or introducing new projects.
• Enriched Virtual - Here, most of the coursework is done by students outside their classrooms via online classes and some lessons are taken as face-to-face lectures with a teacher. 

Which model works best for whom, depends on many factors. The institute should go with the model that benefits both students as well as teachers and maintain a healthy and productive learning experience.

Advantages of blended learning

Blended learning offers numerous advantages to both educators as well as learners. Some of them are mentioned below.

Self-paced learning

Blended learning offers students a chance to learn the course at their own pace whenever and wherever they want. Since the online material will be available all the time, students can brush up on their concepts again and again in case they forget. 

Interactive learning

With a blended learning model, educators can make their usual face to face teaching session more interactive and approachable. They can focus on weak students individually and at the same time, they can share course-related materials in the form of videos, animations and audios to make the learning more interactive.
 

Time saving

This is no news that online learning helps to save time for both educators and students. In classrooms, teachers can educate the learners about the subject and then share assessments and feedback through the eLearning platform. Time management is one of the major reasons why people prefer the blended learning approach.
 

Facilitate various pedagogical approaches

Blended learning allows teachers to adopt different methods to teach that are beyond the lines of textbooks. Not only can they share content in different formats but also they can demonstrate various real-life applications of the concepts that are being taught in the class. This will encourage the students to learn better and have a good grasp of the subjects.

Conclusion

Needless to say, blended learning is a much-needed technology in recent times. Both learners and educators will be helped through this approach. But we should also remember that not every approach is advisable to everyone. What might work well with one person is not necessarily beneficial for another one. So we need to look out for the best solution for our institute and follow the same. Coconut learning offers full support in deciding what’s best for your institute or business. To contact our support team, click here.