An Overview of Blended Language Learning
By Edwige Simon, Faculty Director of the Graduate Certificate in Language Teaching with Technology, the University of Colorado Boulder.
WHAT IS BLENDED LEARNING?
The term blended learning can be used to define a wide range of instructional models. In this article, I will adopt the Online Learning Consortium definition for blended learning as a course where “Online activity is mixed with classroom meetings, replacing a significant percentage, but not all required face-to-face instructional activities (OLC website). For example, a first-year language course that traditionally meets five times a week only meets two or three times a week in a blended format and students engage in a variety of online assignments to follow up on what was done in class and to prepare for the next class. This model is also frequently called hybrid learning.
The very use of the word blended (or hybrid) indicates that the online portion of the course is essential rather than supplemental. A teacher who decides to add a number of online activities to a traditional face-to-face (F2F) course did not necessarily create a blended course unless she reduced the amount of F2F meetings. Similarly, a teacher who moves the lecture component of her course online for students to cover on their own time might have created a flipped course but not necessarily a blended course. To avoid any confusion, when discussing this modality with colleagues or administrators, make sure that all parties understand exactly what is meant by blended learning.
WHO’S BLENDING THEIR LANGUAGE COURSES?
While researching this article, I leveraged my personal learning network as well as several social media outlets to reach out to language educators who teach blended language courses. The majority of the teachers who answered my call at first were college instructors, probably because blended learning is still a less common occurrence at the high school level. High school students might not yet have the self-regulation and time management skills needed to succeed in this modality and high schools have a bit less scheduling flexibility, especially when on a block schedule. After further inquiries, I was able to get the perspective of several high school teachers.
DOES IT WORK?
In 2010, The US Department of Education published a meta analysis of over 1000 studies comparing F2F, blended and online courses. The study concluded that blended learning was the most effective of the three models and this finding is consistent with the experience of the teachers I spoke with, such as Nicole Bruland, French teacher in Florida: “The additional help and exposure that I’m able to provide via the blended format has resulted in increased learning gains and proficiency. I’ve noticed that my students in the blended format advance much more easily and quickly than students in the simple face-to-face environment.” However, the effectiveness of blended learning is as much the result of rigorous course design as it is a direct outcome of the modality itself.
BENEFITS AND AFFORDANCES OF THE MODEL
A GOOD COMPROMISE
In the last 15 years, blended learning has quickly become a popular alternative to fully online or fully F2F courses, probably because it affords the best of both worlds. Blended language teachers can combine the benefits of online learning with the strengths of the face-to-face classroom. In addition, the learning curve is not as steep as for online learning, a benefit for teachers and students alike.
I met with Rebecca Cottrell, a Spanish lecturer at Metro State University in Denver (CO) to discuss her department’s decision to add blended courses as a third option to the existing fully online and fully F2F Spanish courses they were offering. These two modalities did not meet all of her students’ needs and her department began offering blended courses for those students who wanted to have some F2F contact but in a flexible format. This is exactly the compromise that blended learning offers.
SCHEDULING BENEFITS
Blended learning presents obvious scheduling advantages. Reducing the number of weekly F2F meetings can help low-enrolling courses attract a few more students. Students might not be able to fit into their schedule a course that meets five times a week F2F, but they might find it easier to accommodate a course that requires two or even three weekly F2F meetings. This is particularly useful for less commonly taught languages where classes tend to be smaller and don’t always reach the minimal number of students. I met with Gisele El Khoury, Arabic instructor and Director of the Language center at Saint Lawrence University (NY). In her experience, “the blended model presents definite scheduling advantages with multi-language majors. Going to a blended format has allowed students to add Arabic when they normally would not have been able to. This is a good strategy for small or new language programs.”
I also spoke with Barb Clouser who teaches Spanish at Hershey High School in Pennsylvania. Her school started offering blended courses to address scheduling issues: “When students have eight periods a day, it’s very intense.” Students frequently had multiple tests on the same day. Clouser now gives her students a window to come and take the tests on the days her class does not meet F2F: “Students like this format, they like having a voice in how they manage their time.”
Alandra Giron, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Department Chair at Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia pointed out some additional practical benefits of the model for her busy students: “They can do most of the work at their convenience. Students don’t have to drive to class, they don’t always have money for gas or parking.” At the community college level where students often hold full-time jobs and have family responsibilities, many courses meet once or twice for two or more hours in the evening. It can be challenging to keep the students engaged for the entire session. The blended model is really helpful in this respect: “It’s fun, you come to class and there is a lot of energy”, says Cottrell, “2 hours and 15 minutes is what we normally have so cutting that down to 1 hour and 15 minutes keeps everyone’s energy up, they are able to stay focused the entire time. My students have really liked the blended format.”
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIFFERENTIATION
The blended classroom allows teachers to focus class time on interpersonal communication. But the real strength of the model is that it allows them to customize their teaching to the individual needs of their students. “Blended learning allows for differentiation in ways that you can’t do in a 5 days a week class” explained Lauren Rosen, Director of the University of Wisconsin System Collaborative Language Program. “It also helps the students be more accountable for their own learning and be more aware of what they know and don’t know.” As long as students are self-regulated enough to take full advantage of the self-paced elements of the model, blended learning has the potential to help students who struggle in the traditional and fast-paced language classroom to succeed as language learners.
Blended learning also appears to be a good fit for shy students, said Bhavya Singh, Hindi teacher in California: “Introverted students who don’t like to speak in front of the classroom like this format. An online assignment allows them to record themselves with the camera off in the privacy of their room.” Of course, the main goal of language learning is to prepare students to sustain spontaneous conversations in the target language. However, the performance-oriented nature of the language classroom can discourage students who are suffering from Foreign Language Anxiety or other forms of social and public speaking anxiety from taking a language. Having less F2F time might be an incentive for them to give a language a try, especially when asynchronous online activities are used to help them prepare and build confidence for synchronous interpersonal exchanges.
Clouser’s approach to blended learning is especially conducive to differentiation. On the days her class does not meet F2F, she works with students who need extra help and practice. This model allows her to “individualize in a way I could not when I had 29 students in the class”.
Bruland also takes advantage of the opportunities for differentiation that the model offers to provides her students with additional exposure to the target language. “This additional exposure,“ she noted, “can also be tailored to student interests, thus engaging them in a way that may not be possible in a simple face-to-face classroom.”
TECHNOLOGY AS A MOTIVATOR
In some instances, the technological aspect of the blended model is the most exciting part of the course. Singh’s students shared with her that they would have been less motivated to continue with the Hindi summer program if it were not for the technology activities she added to the course: “They are middle schoolers, they want to be around games, they bring a lot of applications for us to use in the classroom.”
The blended model allows her to create assignments and tasks that cater to her students’ enthusiasm for computer science and engineering, which are particularly popular subjects amongst her students: “The technology allows me to combine language education with STEM and STEAM subjects, and my students enjoy this very much.”
CHALLENGES OF BLENDED LEARNING
So is blended learning a silver bullet? Definitely not. The model doesn’t work unless students and teachers receive adequate preparation and unless teachers are willing to take on an increased workload, at least at first.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
The teachers I interviewed unanimously raised the issue of adequate student preparation.
“It all depends on students’ motivation,” said Cottrell. “We have students who switch from a hybrid class to a F2F class for the second semester. They’ll just say “That wasn’t working for me, I needed to move.”
When Giron first started teaching blended and fully online courses, she was convinced she could make the model work for every student: “ I thought I could mold anyone into the perfect online/blended student, but some students need to be in the classroom.” Students who struggle with time management find the model particularly challenging. Giron noticed that some students wait until the last minute to complete an assignment and often underestimate the amount of time needed: “They think they can complete a three-hour assignment in 15 minutes. It’s not for everyone. It’s a good fit for students who are driven, motivated and organized.”
At the high school level, students rarely have the self-regulation needed to be successful in this format. Clouser’s high school designed a system that helps scaffold the development of students’ time management skills. She sees her students every other day F2F but she is still in her classroom on the days the class does not meet so students can come in and ask for help. Only the higher levels of the language courses are available in the blended format. Finally, blended students sign a contract where they commit to coming to class every day as soon as their grade falls below 75%.
IS IT MORE WORK?
This question turned out to be quite divisive. According to Cottrell, “If you design your class well, it should not be more work to design your blended course. If it is significantly more work, then you designed your class wrong and you should restructure it.”
But upon further investigation, it appeared that rather than more work, it is the nature of the work and the way the work is distributed that is different from a F2F course. Giron noted for example that “As a hybrid teacher, I feel like I’m wearing a lot more hats compared to when I teach F2F. You will need to do tech support at times.” Cottrell also mentioned that “It is generally more work on the front end, the work is spread out differently.” For a teacher who hasn’t had to design a course from scratch in a while, it can feel like teaching for the first time over again and it can feel a bit overwhelming, but in Clouser’s experience, “It’s going to take a couple years until you feel really good about what you are doing. It is a lot of work at first until you find your feet.”
Rosen explained that blended students do complete more online assignments than F2F students, which can easily lead blended teachers to think they need to spend more time grading: “One thing teachers get caught up in is having to assess every little thing. Yes, you have to give students grades but you can do a lot of check-plus check-minus kind of activities that are low stakes.”
The fact that most online assignments are recorded and available for assessment does not mean that the teacher needs to listen to it all. As Cottrell pointed out: “It’s not fair to tell the teacher, oh you’re not in class with the students but you’re going to do 21 hours of interviews with students every week. Yes, the live chats are recorded but you don’t have to listen to it all. You wouldn’t hear everybody in the classroom.”
A common mistake is to hold the blended classroom to higher standards than the F2F classroom, feel guilty about the time not spent in class and try to overcompensate by assessing everything students do.
While many new blended teachers struggle to control the workload of the blended classroom, they also need to face the misperception of the public and of educators unfamiliar with the model. As Clouser pointed out, ‘This is not about teaching less. I am doing the same things, but in a different way and I am meeting the needs of my students whose needs are much different from the needs of students when I started teaching 20 years ago”.
GETTING STARTED WITH BLENDED LEARNING
Not all language courses are well-suited for the blended format. A first-year course, for example, is not the best candidate. It is a lot to ask freshmen to learn a new language using a format they might not be familiar with. Conversation courses are probably not a good fit for the blended format either. Although it is possible to have conversations online, it is a lot easier to do in the classroom. Second, third and fourth-year courses are probably better suited to be offered in a blended format and finally, any type of writing-intensive course is an excellent candidate.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR STUDENTS
While blended learning might not be a good fit for all students at first, it does present an opportunity to help them develop self-regulation and time management skills, which has benefits beyond being successful in blended or online courses. According to Cottrell, students quickly get used to the new model: “We had to train our students to be good “blended students” and that was really hard at first, it was something we had not considered and we had to build it in the curriculum. It was a rough first week but they learned quickly and we did a lot better.”
It would be tempting for the instructor to give in and cover the online materials in class but it would defeat the purpose of the model and be unfair to those who completed the online work and discourage them from continuing to do it. El Khoury recommends creating incentives to ensure that students come to class prepared: “When we first started with the blended model, the students were not always doing what they were supposed to do. I had to come with online quizzes on the film and documentaries they had to watch.”
WHAT GOES ONLINE, WHAT STAYS F2F?
Cottrell, a seasoned instructional designer, used a backward design approach to design her blended courses. She started with a list of desired outcomes, then she moved everything that did not require F2F interaction outside the classroom, including exams. She designed her courses so that the exams themselves count for a small portion of the students’ final grade, compared to the many in-class formative assessments.
As far as what to do in class and what to assign online or at home, Rosen recommends using class time for speaking practice: “Interpersonal communication is one of the hardest skills to practice” but also the most important one. She also recommends avoiding busy work and making sure that there is a clear articulation between what students do at home and what they do in class. If students don’t see a clear connection, they might be less motivated to complete the online assignments or even come to class. For example, Rosen assigns many presentational tasks outside of class and does follow-up activities in class: “Having 30 individual or group presentations take place in the classroom while the rest of the class listens is a waste of time. If they record them outside of class, students can watch them ahead of time and discuss them in groups, ask questions, and take it from a presentational activity to an interpersonal one.”
In addition to presentational assignments, the best activities students can complete outside of class include asynchronous speaking practice with tools such as Flipgrid or VoiceThread; worksheets; live chats with peers or conversations with trained and vetted language partners using a service such as Talkabroad or Boomalang, for example.
Rosen also recommends assigning interpretive and presentational activities outside of the classroom “because it allows students to go at their own pace, especially if the task is followed by a concept check that gives them immediate feedback that the instructor can see as well.”
Clouser also assigns a wide variety of mostly interpretive and presentational activities online using tools such as Edpuzzle, Adobe spark (now called Adobe Express), and the Canvas discussion board. It allows her to expose her students to Spanish-speaking accents other than her own, and students can work in groups if they want to. Although not required to do so, many students choose to work collaboratively, which helps to build the sense of community that they thought was missing from the school and that partially motivated the implementation of a blended curriculum.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
The success of the blended classroom is heavily dependent on adequate student and teacher preparation but also on teachers’ willingness to adopt truly student-centered practices and embrace the use of various educational technology tools.
There are many challenges along the way. As Singh learned, for example, popular tools are not always compatible with non-alphabet based writing systems: The biggest challenge for me is to find applications that support the language that I teach [Hindi], said Singh. But as she puts it, it forces her to find creative workarounds.
It does not mean that the blended teacher needs to become a technology expert. As Rosen pointed out, the teachers’ job in a blended or online model is “to know the language and culture they are teaching. It’s ok to not know all the technology. It’s ok to give the students the freedom to choose the technology they want to use. You’re going to get the best product.” The blended teacher needs to be flexible and adaptable: “If you look at the 21st skills map, a lot of the skills we expect to see in our students are also skills we need to see in our teachers.”
CONCLUSION
While not a perfect model, the blended classroom is a strong instructional approach, as long as the course is well-designed, the teachers well-supported and the students well-prepared to take charge of their own learning. We would love to hear your perspectives on and personal experiences with blended language learning in the comments!
Thank you to the following language educators who kindly agreed to share their experience with blended language learning with the FLTMAG:
Nicole Bruland, French teacher at Barron Collier High School in Naples (FL)(nicoleflesvigbruland at gmail.com)
Barb Clouser, Spanish teacher and World Language Department Coordinator at Hershey High School (PA). (BClouser at hershey.k12.pa.us)
Rebecca Cottrell, Spanish lecturer at Metro State University in Denver (CO).
Gisele El Khoury, Arabic instructor and Director of the Language Center at Saint Lawrence University (NY) (gelkhoury@stlawu.edu)
Alandra Giron, Assistant Professor of Spanish and department Chair Thomas Nelson Community College (VA). (Alandra.Giron@colorado.edu)
Lauren Rosen, Director of the University of Wisconsin System Collaborative Language Program (lrosen at wisc.edu)
Bhavya Singh, Hindi teacher in the Sunnyvale school district and technology specialist (CA) Bhavya Singh (bhavya.singh80@gmail.com)
Technology has always played a key role in teaching a second language and we must be aware of it. This article is a great read.
The article is an easy read, comprehensive for readers new to the topic. It addresses concerns and covers important concept and facts that a practitioner should learn about. I thought this sentence, to quote from the para on “Role of Teacher”-“The success of the blended classroom is heavily dependent on adequate student and teacher preparation but also on teachers’ willingness to adopt truly student-centered practices and embrace the use of various educational technology tools.” is very important. It expressed the core conditions of Blended Learning (BL) which determines the effectiveness of BL.
I find the structure of a blended language course fascinating. Although I understands it is not suitable for everyone (teachers and students), I truly believe students benefit a lot from this kind of course and are able to learn even more than if they were taking only f2f classes.
Blended Learning cab be quite effective when using stand-alone tools as it gives younger generation an experience similar to what they do virtually on a daily basis.
After this reading I am more aware of the aspects that need to be considered to design and teach a blended course. Thanks.
Here are a pair of words as comments I would write about blended learning:
1. Flexibility: Blended learning offers the flexibility for students to engage in both online and in-person learning, allowing them to adapt their schedule and pace of learning to their individual needs.
2. Integration: Blended learning seamlessly integrates technology and traditional classroom instruction, creating a dynamic learning environment that combines the best of both worlds.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
Blended learning combines online and in-person instruction, providing scheduling benefits and opportunities for differentiation. It offers advantages in terms of motivation and technology integration. However, it requires students to develop time management skills. The workload for teachers is different, not necessarily more, and the success of blended learning depends on preparation and teacher flexibility. The need for well-designed courses and adequate student support are of much need to achieve success in this mode.
Thank you for sharing the information. Students learn differently and blended learning has proven to beneficial form of learning.
Thank you for writing such an informative post and interesting article. Oracle Fusion Financials Online Training
blended learning is highly advantageous for inexperienced individuals. Its flexibility, personalized approach, interactive tools, access to resources, real-world application, and continuous support contribute to a supportive and effective learning environment. By embracing blended learning, inexperienced learners can gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary for their educational and professional development.
This article provides useful insights and recommendations on implementing blended in learning language courses, based on the experience of several language instructors.
Thank you very much for such great ideas. I have used Flipgrid and VoiceThread to raise my students’ engagement. It is nice to know more from this useful article.
This was an interesting read. It is important to note that blended learning classes must be planned appropriately in order to be a successful course, just like an inperson course.
This article was really helpful in solidifying what I already know about blended learning. Now, I am even more interested to see what the rest of this course has to offer.
This article was very insightful.
The information here has been quite insightful.
It is great to hear from so many teachers practicing blended learning at their settings. I think it is an emancipatory practice in my setting because we have several in-service students or students from remote areas who cannot travel frequently. Our post graduate program was already a weekend program and we planned it one week F2F and one week online whereas in between student-student and student teacher correspondence continue online. The major organization of the course is conducted by an LMS which helps in regularizing students’ work, grades and collaboration. My students like this modality because they have greater flexibility for adjusting their responsibilities. As an educator, I pre-plan my course activities which carry on during the course letting me some free time for individual communications.
That’s quite an awesome article, so informative and practical. I myself as an English teacher absorbed with this method and I’m sure it would be a completely useful method now and in future. However, as mentioned in the article it might not be just suitable for almost all language learners and students.
Although blended learning is a great choice nowadays, I totally agree with you that it does not suit all students and teachers. For example, I have met so many students who don’t know how to use technology or even don’t take online assignments seriously. In addition, some teachers don’t know how to handle things online as they used to do inside the F2F classroom.
I really like the idea of low-enrolling courses being more attractive when offered as a blended option. It is a good business idea as well, it makes more sense financially.
This article makes me even more interested in blended learning and what I will learn through this course.
Useful information for me as a language teacher.
Blended learning will definitely bring positive responses from students & teachers. They have to first learn how to use technological devices then adapt blended learning.
Blended learning will definitely bring pros for both students and teachers, but at the same time, it should have some challenges that all parties have to deal with, especially when students they are not familiar with blended learning and technology. They have to first learn how to use technological devices then adapt blended learning.
I find the differentiation section the most reliable information. I think because of our teacher assessments, it makes this section all the more important. Discussion boards are a great source of differentiation by design.
Useful information and all these apps that according to the text we don’t need to be expert using the computer and internet but it makes a great difference when you know a little bit more than the basics. I think that F2F works better in elementary school than in advanced levels.
Blended teaching is a becoming a must after COVID and going back to F2F classes theses days is still risky. I would say the biggest challenge to prepare and train students how to manage their time bedsides being able to keep them involved and motivated in both F2F and online activities.
You’re right, my mom’s an elementary teacher and they agree with blended learning. Now that we have COVID that’s going on, some parents of the students does not want to take the risk and send their child to school, other parents agree because they also have to work some days where they would not be able to teach their child the given modules.
Thanks for your sharing in the reading. You make me think of using it in my own lessons.
While blended learning might not be a good fit for all students at first, it does present an opportunity to help them develop self-regulation and time management skills, which has benefits beyond being successful in blended or online courses.
I think that kind of autonomy in practice can make students more comfortable.
Thank you very much for sharing us the experience. I have learned a lot from the reading.
Thanks,
As a teacher interested in designing ESP courses for high schoolers, I think blended learning is a good model for supplementary courses, especially given the scheduling challenges in high school. The article was very informative in that it answered many basic questions I had in mind, but there are still a lot of practical issues that I hope will be covered throughout this course.
Thank you very much for this interesting article… I really enjoyed it, and it has made me get more interested in learning more about Blended Learning. I feel that your article and the concepts it introduces about such learning model work as a genuine incentive to proceed learning more and more about this learning-teaching approach.
Very useful article.
Great material! I agree with all these subjects.
I’m sure me and all the others language teachers will be able to get better outcomes from our students. Step by step we’ll get there 🙂
Students get bored quickly, and a combination ofF2F and online learning is likely to keep them excited and interested. It is up to a teacher to design the course in a way that draws from the benefits of each type of learning. I do think it would take time to familiarize oneself with the different learning modules to choose the best option, considering that most of these modules charge.
If there is one thing that the pandemic taught us, it is opening the gateway for blended learning and making stakeholders embrace the wonders of technology as it usher us to a more interactive learning.
I agree with you, the pandemic taught us that there are many activities in language teaching that the students can do in a blended class using the advantages of technology
This course must be taken by all teachers. Blenden learning is a great tool specially to those of us who are not very good with technology. The combination of F2F classes and blenden learning is awsome.
I whish I had taken it before the pandemia began.
thank you!
I don’t really quite get the explanation in the article that you don’t have to listen to all student recordings, how is that? If it is so difficult to motivate students to complete the assignements and participate, as well as manage their time, then when you don’t give them feedback on their tasks, they would be demotivated and stop doing them, wouldn’t they?
Hi Polina,
This was in the context of live chats. If you assign students to break out rooms, you can move from room to room to provide immediate feedback and make sure students stay on task but you don’t need to listen to them all if they happen to be recorded. It would be incredibly time consuming. I hope it makes sense!
The texts makes it explicit the fact that the blended learning model- when applied by teachers and students appropriately; that is to say, based on student-centered strategies in a balanced way, fosters an intensive learning process in the sense that it promotes the development of a freat variety of skills. The examples of technological toools to support the blended learning process are clear evidence of how comprehensive, effective and stimulating this model can be both for students and teachers.
My students like blended learning-they really enjoy face-to-face lecture and online assignments and activities. It is good for us.
This article is really clear and complete. I just want to say that blended learning is a really effective method for our students because combains the two different learning enviroments in order to make our students succed in knowlegde.
The blended learning approach is a new approach where teachers use different ways of teaching whether online teaching or face to face traditional way of teaching. it is a great opportunity for students to have both methods and that is why blended learning in on the rise nowadays.
the article is very interesting and useful as it has many information for both students and teachers.
Blended learning is a great way of integrating different resources for any material using the technology.
Informative article! For me, blended learning will save time too ! It is like a flexible way of teaching and learning.
This article give me such a new knowledge about Blended Learning. Yes, technology are the most important while we use blended learning as one of the teaching and learning method and this will affect the student that live in a rural area. Hopping that, there will be a tools that can be easily use for student even they live in a rural area with lack of technology.
I really enjoyed reading this article which made me reflect on my own work and the way it has changed through time (especially this pandemic time), many o the aspects to take into account regarding my role and my students work.
This reading also motivated me to research more technological apps that I can incorporate into my blended courses to make them more complete such as Edpuzzle, Canvas for discussion, Boomalang and Talkabroad for instance. Besides being motivated now, I fell a little overwhelmed because there’s still a lot to do to improve and basically to update the technological tools I can use. I definitely agree with the idea that technology is a motivator for students, but also for teachers which may help this part of the class the most exciting of the course and gives more opportunities for shy or introverted students to shine.
The article is extremely friendly, I mean, it gives detail information about what to expect and about the characteristics a blended course has.. From my experience, blended courses have a little complexity because most of us even teachers are not used to working with LMS.
Wow, this is a really great way to learn foreign languages. I am sure that this will help me learn foreign languages much more effectively. I hope that you will continue to share your experience in learning foreign languages.
Interesting information. Blended courses can be really advantageous for students and even teachers. It’s an opportunity to tackle education in a different way a use tools that will allow students have meaningful experiences
Given the current context and digital era where remote & online learning is catching up very quickly globally, Blended learning is going to be the norm for learning in coming times. E Learning platforms such as Coursera, EdX etc will play a vital role in researching and development of an optimum blended learning e learning product which can be user friendly as well as customised as per university standards across the globe. Also, Blended learning provides a global connect. Any student can register for the university of his/her choice across the world and experience a world class learning experience.
I think that the article covered pretty much about the blended learning. We have to get used to online teaching.
This article is very informative, now I clearly can see three tendencies: online learning, hybrid learning, F2F learning and the differences between them. I am an adherent of hybrid learning: it is important to have time for yourself while learning and at the same time it is crucial to practice in class with the teacher.
I would love to have this experience as a teacher but also as an student.
Blended learning is a way of learning that is suitable in this generation. It is very flexible in both the learner and the teacher since they can have their own schedule thus enabling them to do more task than the traditional face-to-face learning
I totally agree with your opinion. It is a way to make students responsable of their own learning.
As a highschool teacher I came across this course looking for some tools to think and plan for our next school year while we are still living a pandemic. It feels a little bit overwhealming since it is true that highschoolers have less time-management skills than young adults. All that said, COVID-19 has taught them and us a lot and I am looking forward to learn more about this method.
Hello everyone!
I think it takes a lot of effort an energy to put together a blended course. Teachers and schools need to invest time and money in order to get education on this matter and learn how to transition to the model. It requires a new mind-set and discipline, but I think all the effort pays off. I believe in the model and I’m enthusiastic about the future of education.
I send my warmest regards to all.
Now that I´ve read the article, I have a sort of a more clear view of what blended learning is about. Nevertheless, I still have my concerns because I know that this method requires a certain level of technology which I don´t have. I am not very good at technology even though the article says you don’t have to be. On the other hand, I am willing to accept the challenge and see how it goes.
The article was so instructive, I really enjoyed it. It provides accurate examples about the pros and cons of this learning model. We all – teachers, students and all people involved- need to be well prepared to face the challenges that this model has at the begining of its implementation but I’m sure it will be a valuable experience.
I agree with you, Paolo! I was so happy to read things that I have been saying all along! This article confirmed my assumptions…from the basic ones, such as blended learning might not be the best for students who are in their first year of learning a language.
Hi. Wonderful article. Simple and full of ideas and suggestions from experts that have been trying this new format of teaching and learning. For sure, many things I can apply to my new experience. Thanks,
It will be a challenge in populations that are used to having classes that are very teacher-centered, especially among younger students. The trick is to try to see how they use technology these days and how language learning can be incorporated into online activities with which they are already familiar.
I really enjoyed this article and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of what makes a blended course successful. I agree with the conclusions and am curious to learn more about student training and development.
An interesting article. Blended learning can be applied depending on the needs of the students and it contributes good opportunities for teachers to have new resources and students to acquire knowledge, it is also a useful system because of its positive features as the use of technology to increase the student’s learning, learners can also express themselves much more confidently.
In my humble opinion, blended language learning is a great opportunity for those who have problems with time management and the prolonged f2f sections is not for them, it’s required self-regulation but if students are committed to it, it can be a great tool to study.
I think this is a great model to teach online, I have particularly got familiar with anxious problems in students when they want to try a new language, or when they want to speak. New ways to teach and models are necessities that our new digital world is requiring.
I am a student at the University of La Salle. This is an article that I really liked, I learned several things that I did not know, it helped me understand what blended learning is about. Now I have a clear idea about what blended learning means and how I can apply it to my pedagogical practice. Ultimately, blended learning can be a success as long as both teachers and students are highly motivated to adopt student-centered practices and apply educational technology tools.
I consider that taking this form of teaching in what we are living now with a virus is very important to be able to acquire new knowledge and perhaps improve our skills, work more on skills that are difficult for us. It is a great teaching modality, it is very important that they include methodologies of traditional teaching with new methodologies such as virtual teaching. I believe that everything with digital resources is much easier, because we learn to use all the resources that technology offers and at the same time we learn a language.
It should also be seen that this modality was created long ago and the contribution it currently offers is very good due to the pandemic, so it is a greater use.
It is interesting the fact that the use of blended learning encourage the student’s autonomy, as students sometimes in F2F classes we just wait to our teachers do the teaching process, and we accommodate ourselves to the time of this F2F space, leaving aside this autonomous learning process that is so important to enhace our own knowldege.
Blended learning can be very challenging at first, especially for high schoolers since most of them struggle when it comes to time management and not all can do self-paced activities. Young learners tend to get overwhelmed with online tasks especially if they are not used to the set-up. Problems related to focus and attention during online conferences are also very common. Some students may appear to be present physically but not mentally.
One of the biggest advantages of the blended model is that you can customize teaching so that it meets your students’ needs and interests. This is essential when it comes to language learning.
I think it is crucial to educate parents on how blended courses can be as effective as in person. Students are technology experts, and they already bought it, but parents have not.
Great info here. I have had some of the same successes and challenges while teaching blended courses.
Techonolgy tools is an major compnents. Through blended learning, we can teach students interactively and make them self dependent in learning. Specially, I am fascinated with blended learning and its utility. Mentioned article helped me a lot , i clearly understand now how should i organize my lessons for students. also its a little challenging foe teachers to take extra load and choose suitable application for students.
Many good ideas to think about and apply to my teaching practice.
This definitely puts a few things in place for me when thinking about how to best design my course for hybrid learning. I’ve been struggling with how to balance what activities to put where. It also validates my thoughts on how this won’t be too bad. I need to put things together thoughtfully and start by helping the students fully understand the technology and the expectations for class.
Thank you very much for this useful and easy-to-follow reading text, which has provided me with some ideas of what a blended course is, what to consider when designing a blended course.
The piece around expectations and workload really resonated with me. When I first began teaching blended courses, I would over-assign readings and tasks because I felt like I needed to compensate for the two days my students were online. Over time, I realized that it’s truly quality over quantity. Like this article suggests, there has to be a connection between the activities done in class and those completed online. Excellent read!
I definetely agree with the fact that at the beginning of teaching blended courses, we tend to work overtime, but after some time, we also learn to organize our time.
This is a wonderful article. It is very informative and clear.
Such salient points here! This would definitely not be possible minus all of the advances in ed tech. It was very refreshing to see that this is in fact possible at the high school level…if very strategically planned. Thank you for assuring me that I can really reassess and improve my curriculum – blended learning and otherwise.
Very good information to apply in blended classes. This blog remind me os some thing I have forgotten and taught me new ones.
This article really helped me solidify my thoughts on how I might design a hybrid model this coming school year. I am still unsure of what my schedule will look like, but I know that I have better focus as to how I will set it up. I really like the important tips about which activities to do face to face, and which ones to do online. I really like the importance of making sure they are connected to be relevant. It is also important to take away not repeating online activities in class. This makes sense, but I can see how I might be guilty of doing this.
Blended learning is great thing to teach students combine and make them self dependent in learning, specially i am fascinated with blended learning . this article helped me a lot , i clearly understand now how should i organize my lessons for students. also its a little challenging foe teachers to take extra load and choose suitable application for students.
I am fascinated with blended learning, this article helped me a lot that how should i organize my lessons .Also i need to be very careful and efficient for using it . Its quite challenging for the teachers to choose the best material or application for students and for the students who are not familiar with the technology. In sum blended learning is great indeed.
I’ve been working since 2018 at a language institute that encourages the use of technology in and out of classroom. However, it is no really a blended learning approach. Having read about blended learning before, and now taking this amazing course, I can see all the possibilities it offers. I believe the school I work would benefit a lot if they implemented this approach for its classes.
The article states, “It’s OK to give Ss freedom to choose technology they want to use. You’re going to get the best product.” and…”teacher does not need to know ALL the tech tools.”
What does one (teacher) do when Ss use a tool that the teacher has NO CLUE about and does not have it downloaded to their already vast array of programs/apps? (Not trying to sound negative, but where does it stop so teacher is not overwhelmed by all the various tech apps?)
I teach MS. I would suggest giving students a choice among the tech tools allowed by your school district. For different assignments, you can offer them a limited different amount of choices. For example, for a speaking assignment you could say choose: vocaroo; audacity; flipgrid or padlet. That is just an example.
It’s a good question. In my experience, what I receive as a teacher is the exported product, which is usually a link or a file that I can open without having to download anything: a video file, an image or an audio file, for example. Most times I don’t even know what app the students used. But you could include as your course policy that opening a student’s assignment should not requiring installing anything new on the part of the teacher.
I especially liked the mention of focusing the first week on training learners on how to be good “blended students”. Due to the abrupt nature of transferring our previously F2F classes to remote learning, my colleagues and I had little time to neither address this notion, nor simply discuss it. It behoves us, as we approach a new school year which will likely involve reduced F2F time, to collaborate on how to support students on living and feeling successful in this modality.
One of my personal takeaways from the covid-19 quarantine and new normal is the need to make more clearly relevant to the students the correlation between the tasks done independently with those done during class time; these correlations were certainly clear to me, but not always well communicated to my students.
I currently teach at a college level, & although I had applied BLL in a sense, without knowing it, now I understand my mistakes!!!
For instance, the example about “having presentations” in F2F without any interaction of sts but listening to them, it really struck me as a mistake I made in the past!
Thank you a lot for all of the interesting information.
Whenever I had students present in class, I had the rest of class take notes, and I did as well. I then gave an open-note test on the presentations — but that was presentations on Famous Hispanics, Hispanic countries – things I wanted them ALL to know about, but not everybody could research ALL things.
I really enjoyed this overview that seemed to answer several questions being posed by my colleagues. I was already implementing some tools such as EdPuzzle for my students prior to the pandemic so it was a painless transition, in that sense. I did find that my younger students (Freshmen and sophomores) had more difficulty with the independent workload. (We kept up our F2F via two zoom meetings a week)
Although I had already been doing a mild version of blended learning with my level 4 course I am both encouraged that I was on the right track and wishful That I had had this guidance previously. I am trying to embrace change and be a better educator for my students.
I had a similar experience as you did. I also teach middle school. Students who had trouble with time management and self regulation before pandemic became either worse or with their parents’ support, they improved.
Blended learning is something I learned about when I was in college but now as a teacher I feel that there is a lot of components I need to understand in order to feel comfortable when implementing it with my high school students. I am excited to learn about it!
I am also excited to learn about this. I am a little bit of an old school teacher having taught almost 25 years, and technology is a challenge for me. When the article mentioned I would need to embrace the use of educational technology tools, I become nervous. So I hope this course will help me especially because instead of going blended the school district is forced to go complete online, the governor of CA having mandated it.
I really like the fact that blended learning offers the best of both worlds. This past semester, when we had to convert quickly to fully on-line learning, I found myself wishing for FTF instruction, but we were not yet encouraged to do that via Zoom. I also found myself wishing I could talk with students face-to-face about the specifics of their written work, rather than marking, writing, scanning, attaching and mailing back. On the other hand, I am glad for the chance to have students complete assignments in oral presentation without being intimidated. We all know the role of the afective filter in L2 acquisition, and for some students, being forced to “perform” openly in frontg of their hypercritical peers is neither a n accurate measure of their oral proficiency nor conducive to their further development of that proficiency. I have always felt that one of our problems in the classroom is that timid students often fell through the cracks and were unable to show their true gifts, mostly because the less timid demanded immediate attention, along with the troublemakers. (I have never been at my best with students who did not wish to cooperate, biut I have always had a great strength in dealing with students who felt intimidated. It’s high time that people quit griping about our inability to “control” unruly students, who, by virtue of their detrimental effect of to their peers, should have alternative instruction until they can learn to behave. And it would be nice if deemed as at least as important our ability to bring out timid students.
As with most everything in life, preparations is key. Right now a lot of us teachers are here preparing to migrate from F2F classes to blended learning and I think it’s great that the reading acknowledges the importance of training our students to prepare for blended learning. I really hope this topic is covered mote in depth in the chapters ahead.
This article was eye opening for me, because of the pandemic we are facing in our country as many other parts of the world, we have been asked to start planning our courses for September on this model (blended-learning) and to commit that they are going to work. Now, I can tell them we cannot say they are going to be 100% effective, there are all these factors to take into account: the preparation of students and teachers, their time management skills, the quality of the course design, among others.
Blended learning is just new in our country, there maybe some glitch along the way as a beginner but surely we will overcome this kind of teaching tool.
Since i was just a new teacher here in our country, and blended learning is just so fresh to us, this class is a great contribution to my teaching career. I know this will be quite difficult for us a beginner, but with proper preparation and willingness to adapt the new curriculum this will flow smoothly. I guess being prepared also place a great role in everything.
I think the first step is to train students on how to use the blended format. We need to help them develop self-regulation and time management skills, because so far I have seen that my students do not complete the assignments until the last day.
It is true that the blended format might help students who are shy and who never participated in F2F class, now they might feel more confident to participate during board discussions or even in live classes through ZOOM when they do not have to turn on their camera.
This was a good introduction and I appreciated hearing from teachers who are successfully teaching this way. I’m hoping that later units in this course will address: “It must be well built for it to be successful”. How do we do this?
In Canadian schools, it’s not permitted to store student work on a server outside of Canada so I hope as I explore some of the educational apps recommended that this won’t be an issue.
It’s great to see that many of the methods and tools mentioned in this article, I’ve been implementing in my classroom for years. It is good to confirm that I am on the right oath now, that our school will be adapting, fully, the hybrid learning method. It is also good to know that while I don’t have to become a tech expert, being tech savvy helps a lot. Also, this explains why I’ve been feeling like I was working on the computer non stop. I had to more frequently proof applications of tech-tools before exposing my students to it we went online due to the pandemic. Excited to learn more!
The article answers some issues I feel may present themselves during a blended course. But I agree with some of the comments given that the main issue is having to get to know the apps and when and where you should use them.
I agree with you. I thinkI should use them more also.
It might be hard in the beginning, but if teachers and students are really prepared and focused on the course, they will probably succeed.
I am concerned about my students time management skills, they are university students and they don’t organize at all.
It was very helpful to learn what activities these teachers choose to do F2F verses online. As a middle school teachers I am very interested to learn more about what the teachers did to train the students and help them adapt to this new model as so many of us will be facing this type of teaching in the future, weather it is the best fit for what we are teaching or not. How can we better prepare our students to help them all be successful in this model.
I found this article fascinating (as well as simultaneously exciting and terrifying!). The potential benefits to the student outweigh my anxiety, however. My remaining concern is equity for disadvantaged students. My district has a number of children who struggled during the last 3 months of remote teaching. Many didn’t have reliable, regular access to internet or a device. Others did work exclusively on their phones. Okay for some tasks like presentational (such as what we saw for the AP WL exam). Not so much for the writing intensive courses the article states are a great match for blended learning.
I can see this is going to be a pretty steep learning curve for me on the technology front as I want to use some of the tools mentioned in the article for a blended module i’m helping to design. My first impressions are that this course is going to be really helpful and has already shown me how chats and embedded questions in video can be used effectively.
I found that this article mentioned some aspects of teaching in class that I had thought of changing, for instance the presentations in class, I have always thought of as a lot of wasted time for the other students and have attempted multiple activities to improve on presentations but this article makes a lot more sense to have them pre record and then share.
This Spring my classes used Padlet to do presentations online. They recorded them on Screencastify, Loom or any similar site. Then, we posted them on Padlet, where other students could watch and leave comments or questions. Lastly, in Google Meet, students discussed the presentations in small groups for interpersonal activities. It worked pretty well, and I decided to continue doing it next year, even if we are back in the classroom!
great information. My biggest concern is the conversation aspect.
This article really helped me understand what Blended Learning is about. I appreciated the list of the best activities that can be completed outside of class. I would like to hear more about the “mostly interpretive and presentational activities online using tools such as Edpuzzle, Adobe spark, and the Canvas discussion board”
I teach middle school. We did remote learning this spring due to the pandemic. I am wondering how the blended model will work next year. Many kids do struggle with executive function, time management, and organization.
Very interesting article – so glad it mentioned specific tech tools that we can investigate, learn to use and put to use. I worry that we will only have a very small amount of F2F time this fall.
Yes, yes, yes to this. It is obvious that beginning level langauge courses are not the best candidate for blended learning, but since we don’t know what this school year will look like, I imagine we are all trying to plan for multiple scenarios. I worry about being able to cultivate enthusiam in my my brand-new students, while still helping them to develop essential skills.
It’s an excellent chalenge for both sides, students and teachers.
I like the idea of making exams a small percentage compared to the in-class mini assessments. I’ve been struggling with how to avoid cheating and not take up class time with exams but still give students a place to synthesize their knowledge and see how they do.
I doubt I will have the ability to say that my beginning class needs to be f2f all the time, so it will be challenging to create a design that works for them in the fall if that is the path my district decides to go. Trying to plan ahead so that I will be ready for anything!
I like the idea of having the students sign a contract at the beginning, as it makes them aware of their own responsibility to be successful. I teach level 1, but I think the blended course can still be successful if the activities are laid out right. I enjoyed reading about the online vs F2F activities.
I always love input and concrete examples from professionals in the industry. Blended learning will present challenges, and it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. Learning to grow and change and re-evaluate will be key! Also, I think that I don’t have to try “all the things” at once. Pace yourself!
The breakdown of what activities should be F2F, (Interpersonal) vs online (interpretive, presentational) was very helpful. Also it was emphasized that self-regulation and time-management skills were key to success. As a middle school teacher, I forsee much scaffolding in these areas.
Interesting. Most helpful to me was the section on What Goes Online and What stays F2F.
Having advanced students record their presentations and asking other students to listen, critique and discuss is a great time-saver and more interesting to the non-presenters. Follow-up discussion in class would be much richer as a result.
Very interesting article, with a lot of information that allows me to open up my eyes and start getting ready for what my workplace will be facing soon.
It useful article for us as a students and teachers as well. We can pre-see both cons and pros of blended language learning on this article
I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this article, now I have a clear idea about what means blended learning and hw it can be applied with my students. the article allowed me to start thinking about the division of learning, what can be taught in class and what can be done at home/remotely. It also leads me to think about the grading and how assessments/tests may be a smaller part of a blended learning class.
I agree that blended learning will bring pros and cons for the students and teachers. It is essential that both the instructor and the students first learn how to use the technology.
I agree, If you do not have a good design, It could be horrible. I have been pivoting my Syllabus 4 years, but now I am happy with the design and I think I am ready to do a hybrid class.
Nowadays the implementation of new technologies in education like blended learning is very welcoming since it gives more opportunities to both teachers and learners. It can be more challenging for teachers and more interesting and convenient for learners. I see more pros than cons here. Blended learning is an area that needs to be developed and worth paying attention to. Therefore, it is very important for us, teachers, to increase our competence in this direction.
I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from this article, now I have a clear idea about what means blended learning and hw I cn apply this with my students.
Thank you for this article. I feel the most anxious about teacher French I online. It will likely not be blended in August-September 2020. The reminder of the importance of backward design is good and what is essential.
Appreciate the point that interpretive and presentational practice is a good fit for online practice, while interpersonal practice is key for F2F time. That will be a helpful guiding point when developing curriculum.
Unfortunately, with the current world-wide situation, many of us are not allowed to decide IF blended learning will be the best for us, our course level, and our students. It seems that we may HAVE to be blended teachers. If that IS the case… then I choose to be the best I can be!
Good stuff. My hesitations lie in trusting my high schoolers (from a high achieving district, who always want the grade) to not use a translator, a friend, read from a script, etc. when giving certain assessments at home.
I was particularly interested in the portion of the article that referred to the value of interpersonal communication and formative assessment. It reinforced some personal beliefs that I have established through personal experience. This is a great article to give an overview of blended language learning.
This article helps me (a true novice) begin to sketch a clear image of the blended language learning context. It’s also engaging and raises a few questions. 1) How might the blended language learning context impact the way we perceive student-centered learning ? 2) In concrete terms, what is meant by ‘letting students choose the technology they want to use’ (Clouser), and how would this play out in a course ? 3) How can we use blended learning intentionally to help students overcome their shyness when speaking in F2F situations ? This is perhaps as important as using the learning experience to help students improve time-management and self-motivation skills.
Excellent article. I feel much better when designing a blended course for my students next Fall.
This article has new information for me and my teaching. Blended learning is important because it breaks down the traditional walls of teaching, ones that don’t work for all students and now with access to present day technologies and resources we can tailor the learning experience for each student.
Thanks for this article, it is informative to fully understand what is blended learning and how it can be apply depending on the needs of the needs of the students. It is clearly said in the testimony of the teachers that blended learning is beneficial if it well implemented and well planned, and students are well motivated to do their task. By the help of technology, blended learning can be more productive and will lead to a meaningful teaching and learning process.
As a University student, I have experience with blended learning. I must admit that, at times, it was difficult to go online and spend those 90 minutes in front of the screen than F2F. But, I guess, that has to do with self-discipline as well. In my personal experience, I remembered more of the material when we had a F2F class than an online one. Maybe, because when I had to accomplsih a task online, I was less stressed and I could take longer period of time to do the task, which also could turn into a lengthy 2 days task.
I strongly believe and agree that for a blending course to be successful, teachers need to well plan out their lessons and activities. It is easier for college level students to take a blended course and manage the class workload since they choose to take the class knowing what are expected of them. However, How can we, high school teachers, use this course to our students who may not have a choice but to take this class (online blended course)? Of course I am thinking this coming fall if we are not to go back to school F2F. As this article suggests that blended learning is for more suitable for advance leveled foreign language learners, what can we do differently for the first year students? I apologize for only thinking this for my situation….. I teach 1st, 2nd and 3rd/4th year combine Japanese class at a public high school in Bothell, Wa.
I would like to thank you all for the time and effort put into this valuable article. I really enjoyed reading it. As a language teacher there is a lot that I have learned. I hope and plan to put into practice the strategies learned. I would like, first, to teach and train my students, develop their self-regulation and find strategies so they can develop those time management skills needed in order to succeed.
It’s a good, well-structured, informative article that might help some teachers to overcome technophobia and make progress on the way towards 21st century learning and teaching. Thank you!
Indeed, a very instructive article. Thanks for sharing. To me, blended learning is a more rewarding take on teaching/learning than the face-to-face (F2F) and online modes of teaching/learning. Though requiring the teacher to play more roles than in the conventional F2F classroom, and asking for further teacher self-commitment and preparedness, blended learning seems to offer a perfect mix of both F2F and the fully online models of teaching/learning. The challenges it presents are thought-provoking, but not insurmountable. The article has already presented a number of practical tips and solutions. Thank you!
I read the article and I love it as it gives a paradigm shift in teaching learning process.Blended learning makes teaching very effective to today’s generation.
Considering that equipment in the same quailty is provided, blended learning can take most of the burden off the teacher and will lead to a more effective learning environment.
The blended learning makes student do much more tasks than in fase to fase studying.
But it shouldn’t. The article says you shouldn’t be doing more, you should just be doing differently – if something feels like busy work, then it probably is. Make sure your activities are useful for the bigger picture of language comprehension – and tailor the grading to that, too. Something like practice activities may have had a certain percentage of the overall course grade in a traditional F2F course, but that can be reduced for a blended course.
I really liked the idea of teaching with blended course because I strongly believe that there may exist some shy students and they may not want to talk in front of the whole class. It also save time for the students and teacher as well, and enables students and teachers to communicate outside of the classroom.
I really liked the idea of teaching with blended course because I strongly believe that there may exist some shy students and they may not want to talk in front of the whole class. It also save time for the students and teacher as well, and enables students and teachers to communicate outside of the classroom.
Blended learning (hybrid courses) is very effective in terms of saving time and being economic. It has a lot of benefits as far as I am concerned from the essay. I helps shy students like me. For example; I do not want to talk in front of the class and be in the classroom for 3 hours. So, I strongly agree with the idea of teaching by blended courses. This enables students to express themselves much more confidently and they will not be afraid of making mistakes. I really like this system and it does not require much knowledge of using technology.
This article provides teachers who are thinking about changing our teaching style with food for thought.
I think this article is very helpful and informative about blending learning. I learnt many information that I didn’t know. Thanks to blended learning many students who are shy and can not talk in the classroom can talk and attend the lesson.
I think blended learning works better if teachers are trained on how to do it effectively. In countries with problems of internet connectivity persist, blended learning may become a hindrance and a source of frustration.
I think it varies from context to context. It’s alright to say ‘record a presentation outside of class,’ but this may not always be culturally appropriate/acceptable. It does seem as though blended learning can offer a range of educational experiences the likes of which would’ve been inconceivable 20-30 years ago.
Very good information about f2f and lower level learners
Very comprehensive and lots of great insight. I am interested to know if online lessons (zoom calls, etc. ) would still be considered blended… from what I know and have read I think so but it would be nice to hear what the experts say.
Very interesting and meaty article, indeed. Tons of food for thought there. In my case, the way I see B-learning, when the course is well-thought-out and balanced, the teacher has got all the resources s/he needs and the experience and expertise to run it and, finally, the course-takers are committed, motivated and engaged, is a very successful way for teaching and learning languages. When all those factors are efficiently orchestrated the results tend to be incredible. Of course F2F instruction provides the human aspect, so let’s save those lessons for spoken interactions where they can gain fluency, confidence, work on their pronunciation and, of course, exchange ideas and viewpoints with their peers. In addition to that let’s keep the online part, understood as flexible and suitable for our students’ own learning rhythms, paces, interests and, unfortunately, every now and then, resources. By carrying out the online share, we can foster our alumni’s autonomy, awake their interests and make turn the course into a much more inclusive one. Every single learner is different and as such they deserve to be catered for. If you happen to have 25-30 students in class, that particular atmosphere can be somehow intimidating, above all for shy students. As far as my experience goes, the online instruction goes together with the F2F lessons, and they can work collaboratively, namely in pairs, small groups, etc by using apps that facilitate this type of linguistic transactions such as Zoom, as you quoted, Jitsy, Webex, 8×8 and many others. By working together, the idea of group bonging grows stronger, they feel more committed and typically they achieve the goals set. They can also collaborate by creating wikis, a data base, glossaries and so on and so forth.
The pleasure of learning a new education system at the end of the text I read made me very happy. This popular education system,blended learning, is a very effective way for students to use technology in the most effective way, to improve themselves and to feel comfortable and motivated during the learning process. It is a useful system because of its positive features as using of technology well, opportunities for differentiation etc.
I really started to learn much about ‘Blended(hybrid) learning. Thanks to this article, I learned benefits and challanges of Hybrid learning, about which I think that the benefits of it overweigh. Moreover, as a pre-service english teacher, I completely agree the fact that Teachers do not need to be a technology expert. It is really enough to use some tools like Flipgrid, Voicethread, Talkabroad, Boomalang, Edpuzzle, Adobe Spark and Canvas. Beneficial article. Thanks.
I’ve read the article ,it’s full of many valuable information that would help me as a teacher from Tunisia .I Think because of the current situation of our country The covid-19 pandemic so blended learning learning will dramatically increase .
Blended learning enables learners to access the materials from anywhere at any time ,while enjoying the the benefits of face to face support and instruction .
This article provided me a new perspective in terms of technology usage. Blending Learning sounds nice. It can be beneficial for the students really. They can easily motivated thanks to the Blending Course. Flexibility of the course is a big advantage! I want to use it my business life.
the advantages of the blended learning are very obvious for both teachers and students but they should first carry out an orientation program. This orientation program provide a foresight if there are unsuited students or what could be possible problems. In this way, problems are prevented before they occur during learning process.
I think this article is very useful and it has valuable information for me. I learnt a lot things about blending language learning. I have learnt what is blending learning.
I think this article is very useful and it has valuable information for me. I learnt a lot things about blending language learning. Although I don’t know any thing about this term before this course, I have learnt what is blending learning.
This article is interesting and help teacher or not teacher to be more
recursive, saving time and money for both. The success of blended courses will depend on the interest that we manage to arouse in the students and in the correct use of each technological tool by the teacher.
I’m new to this whole blended learning thing, the article was quite enlightening to say the least. Blended learning is not very popular where I am from and many students including myself are trying to adapt to it.
I personally think any type of education should lead to success if the whole class (students & teacher) have the same equipment and standarts. It can not be expected from a student that comes from an area without interent or a student without a computer to show success, this alsa has a lot to do with motivation. Motivation is a key for not just blended but all types of education and a big role should be played by teachers in this situation.
I really love the idea of blended learning. Especially in these times it is good to use it. Technology is developing and new generation is much more interested and engaged with it. Even I am much more interested to participate online lessons or assignments.
This is a quite useful article for us students, and teachers, as well. We could pre-see both cons and pros of blended language learning on this article. So it’s good way to get prepared for courses.
This article is very informative in terms of blending learning , I agree with Mrs. El Khoury. I think the most important point in implemention of blending learning is to train learners.
This article is about the benefits of Blended Language learning . It helps the students online education and it gives the students responsibilities related to lesson (for instance homeworks, online tasks and so on). It provides to prepare the students for the lesson. Also, it makes English learning easy by using online platform. There are some responsibilities on the students. Firstly, they have to their tasks regularly. It will be benefit for them because it prepares them for the lesson. Also they have to continue the lesson regularly, so they can be successful in their lesson. By the way, there are some important roles of teachers. For example, the blended-language learning should be well-prepared. Also, they should prepare the materials effectively.
I was thrilled to read this article and learned a lot. I’m Planning to start a blended course sometime this semester with Arab students in their first year of a college level. I’m currently spending more time on course designing. sounds more work in the front end. I do believe that blended learning is one of the most important pedagogical method that can improve student learning outcomes if the lecturer uses a well-designed blended course.
This article has new information for me and my teaching. Blended learning is a good way to get knowledge for some students, but all depends on a teacher’s training. In my opinion, the level of student’s knowledge is not the main point for the blended learning.
Very good overview about blended learning. I have been experimenting with blended learning. Teachers need more training and support in designing and implementing a blended course. Mine so far has been more of a trial and error practice.
I agree with you, I think each teacher should learn how to implement blending learning. Is there any program or foundation about carrying out blending learning?
This article had a lot a valuable information for people who are new to blended learning, like me.
This was a very interesting article that gives some great information to educators who are new to blended learning, like me,
The problem that may exist with blended education in general is the lack of motivation. Being F2F in classes allows the educator to measure the response of his students, and sometimes their needs. The human instincts and abilities are very crucial in the educational process as a whole. This is why blended education shall be focused on specific tasks that the teacher is sure that the student would want to learn, and will do his best to achieve. And it shall be taught as a skill for students since very young age through a gradual approach.
I liked the article. It made me think how should I integrate it in my courses. My students are adult learner with different language competence, age,tech skills, etc.
I have read the article and found a lot of new information for me and my teaching. I agree with the author that all depends on a teacher and student’s motivation. The level of student’s knowledge also is the main point for the blended learning is successful
I think that blended learning introduction may succeed provided that both teachers and learners are highly motivated to adopt student-centered practicies as well as apply educational technology tools. What is more important – it enables to form and develop students’ autonomy in the course of blended learning implementation.
Blended language learning is a good option for students especially when they don’t have much time for F2F meetings. But at the same time there some issues to be solved when implementing such courses and they all are discussed in the article.
Blended learning is important because it breaks down the traditional walls of teaching, ones that don’t work for all students and now with access to present day technologies and resources we can tailor the learning experience for each student.
I would love to experiaence what blended learning is
both – as a student and a teacher
I liked the article in general but one thing I found a bit odd was the claim: “A first-year course, for example, is not the best candidate.” (for a blended course).
In my school we are doing A1 and A2 courses in a blended format which work great (we’re doing online course as well). The benefits of transforming beginner and basic courses into a blended format is that you can spend the class time much better and do more conversation tasks than normally.
I’m quite sure you arrange a speaking course in a well-function blended form as well. In the end it’s about mixing the right activities together.
Hi, I am sure it can be done, many institutions offer first-year blended courses. However, in my experience, first-year students (usually freshmen) don’t always have the self-motivation and organization skills to succeed in a blended format, especially at the high school level. Hence this recommendation.
Great article, information is useful and I also try to engage my students in online learning, but from the very begining
I totally agree that the success of the blended classroom is heavily dependent on adequate student and teacher preparation but also on teachers’ willingness to adopt truly student-centered practices and embrace the use of various educational technology tools. And fortunately we can use great amount of tools for adapting blended learning.
I agree, there are many technological tools that could be used. The problem is there are SO MANY it’s overwhelming to weed through all the fantastic websites and activities. These past three months, I felt more like tech support than anything. Using and adopting true student-centered practices could potentially be problematic, with students’ maturity levels and self-regulation. No matter how often I reminded my students not to wait until the last minute before something is due, there were always some that did. It depends on how old your students are (and the teachers if I’m being honest). I know some of my colleagues were VERY hesitant to move to distance learning due to their ineptitude or unwillingness to learn and use the available tools.
Blended learning will definitely bring pros for both students and teachers, but at the same time, it should have some challenges that all parties have to deal with, especially when students they are not familiar with blended learning and technology. They have to first learn how to use technological devices then adapt blended learning.
And the scene gets worse because teachers can not help students if we do not change our attitude towards technology and online learning, before thinking about curriculum design. At this moment we have no choice this pandemic unfortunately is what the goverment and education representatives need to outline the future of education in developing countries.
Unless schools move to implement blended learning as a strategy they will be falling behind and keep pushing the same way of teaching with the similar outcome I blieve.