Blended Learning Paves the Way for Future of Skill Development
E-Learning has had a massive surge in popularity in recent years, with institutions and organizations gradually grasping its transformative power. Today, a number of schools are offering online programs – and individual students greatly benefit from the opportunity to actively search until they find one that meets their needs.
Unlike traditional classroom learning opportunities, online learning environments foster additional learning experiences where learners can interact, collaborate, and take ownership of their own learning process.
In present times, e-learning also aids in social distancing, which requirement has irreversibly changed the nature of learning. Traditional classrooms-teacher settings appear to be indefinitely on hold, with no clear indications on when one can expect the restrictions to be eased.
Say Hello to a New Model of Learning
Before we get into specifics, it is imperative that we define Blended Learning clearly. What does the term mean, really? Quite simply, it is an approach to education that is a skilful blend of online and traditional, classroom-based models. The presence of both teacher and student, is central to the approach, but at the same time, the student has a great deal of control over the place, path, pace, and duration of the courses.
E-Learning, as a system, lends itself quite naturally to the ‘blended learning’ methodology. It allows students to learn the basics thoroughly with the aim of increasing their productivity. How is this made possible? Through continual engagement and interactive learning – with both professors and students leveraging the advanced technical infrastructure available at their institute. The process allows students to increase the practical exposure to these technologies, optimizing their time spent at the laboratory or classroom.
These tools integrate with your LMS to synchronize setup, registration, and attendance reporting. Make sure you record each session so that you can use these recordings at a later date. This is a superb way to generate reusable training content. These videos can then be added to eLearning courses and delivered to your learners.
Collaborative Online Program Development
Blended learning also allows collaborative online program development. To ensure an effective learning experience is made available to learners, faculty members from various fields of expertise come together and frame a complete course design. The results of adopting such a system are significant:
- Consistency and quality of the course topics
- High quality and expertise knowledge imparted to the students
- Making better use of an institution’s human, intellectual & financial resources
- Feedback from the students with regard to course modification
Developing such collaborative online activities begins with understanding research methodologies and how learners process information when engaged with online. Educators in online learning environments must focus on improved instructional and pedagogical practices in order to deliver effective instructions.Quality content, a structured course design, and expertise knowledge, and interactive learning, form the pillars of successful online collaborative programs.
Why Blended Learning is the Need of the Hour
The Blended Learning model is learner-centric, giving students a high degree of control to manage their education – to get into a comfortable rhythm and make the best of their own learning abilities. They are provided access to a wealth of resources that they can refer to even after the completion of their program. Furthermore, research indicates that students cultivate higher levels of retention as a result of blended learning, than in the case of solely classroom-based programs.
While it takes practical experience to fully understand the true scope of blended learning; we’ve highlighted its key advantages:
- Convenience and flexibility in terms of learning style and pace, and facilitating a system of connecting with the learning community remotely.
- Enhanced learning and a holistic understanding of the subject matter.
- Improved learner engagement
- Cost-effective
- Easier tracking of progress and course completion for the learner as well as instructor.
As the pandemic continues to alter the realities and possibilities of learning, blended learning has taken on a new significance. While a few hours of face-to-face instructor interaction would be possible, this system allows both the learner and instructor to restrict it to when it is absolutely necessary.
Online engagement is optimized; the learner is given the opportunity to develop critical skills at a pace and style that suits him, while continually remaining connected with the instructor as well as the learner community. This helps them have active discussions, exchanging thoughts and feedback with each other towards improved learning and engagement.
MTC is your reliable e-learning partner – we are committed to facilitating a comprehensive platform for blended learning. As thought-leaders in modern factory technologies and advanced technological concepts, we bring you a range of essential course material that will help learners equip themselves to handle today’s dynamic technological environments.
Get in touch with us at MTC, and gain access to our extensive digital library of E-Learning content!
