What is the New Normal for Schools and Colleges – Online Learning, Blended Learning and FLIP Classrooms

Overview

The pandemic situation is worsening by the day, locking us inside our homes, and disallowing us from doing anything outdoors. In regards to education, in particular, given the situation, people are gradually adapting to virtual classroom setups, and online learning, aligning themselves with the current needs and adjusting themselves with the ongoing situation. Every school, college, and educational institution is trying to combat the situation while trying to continue with the learning process.

Except for regular classroom sessions, everything else happening through the virtual medium or a blend of virtual and regular learning systems has become the new normal.

Again, regular classrooms haven’t completely disappeared. They may make a comeback after the dust settles, and things get back to normal. But, till then, at least until the next few months, or perhaps, a year or so, the only education format, we may see, is the online one.

While schools have compulsorily gone online, in some places, especially, colleges and professional courses that require practice sessions, etc. they are following a blended learning format.

Another modern education format includes the FLIP classroom. These concepts sound new, isn’t it? So, here’s a blog that discusses all the three forms – online learning, blended learning, and FLIP.

What is Online Learning?

Online learning, also termed virtual learning, also popularly known as eLearning, is among the most common forms of education, apart from the regular classroom sessions. India, in particular, has been one of the largest supporters and users of online learning.

According to eduvoice, India is only second to the United States when it comes to the eLearning market size. As per one of its articles, India had around 1.6 million learners in 2016. However, by 2021, the recent user base will increase at 44% CAGR, and the number of online learners will grow to a staggering 9.6 million learners by 2021.

(Reference Link - https://eduvoice.in/how-big-the-online-learning-industry-india/#:~:text=Online%20learning%20is%20Big%20in%20India&text=96%20billion%20and%20the%20recent,increased%20%2448%20billion%20by%202020.)

Online learning involves learning with the help of a laptop, desktop, smartphone, or tablet, wherein learners connect with the classroom through a range of online learning software or platforms.

Initially, precisely around a decade ago, when online learning technology wasn’t as prominently known, online learning was restricted to conducting pre-recorded online sessions and facilitating a unidirectional flow of communication.

However, with time, and mainly, with the various technological advancements that have happened in recent times, a range of online learning companies have emerged.

They’ve introduced a broad array of AI-powered and AR/ VR-based virtual learning platforms, with an extensive set of facilities, including online assessments, instant feedback mechanisms, personalized and enhanced learning, and many others.

These developments and regular upgrades have helped grow the online learning space and the effectiveness of online education, thereby making it a trustworthy, safe, and personalized learning medium, especially during these adverse times. So, how does online learning benefit users, and what are the shortcomings of the virtual learning medium? Come, let us take a look.

Advantages of Online Learning

Some of the most common benefits of online learning include the following.

Convenient Learning: Online learning is a convenient form of education. You can learn through your smartphone or laptop from anywhere and anytime. Besides, you can also view the recorded online sessions as often as you want, for a better understanding.

Learn in your Language: Some eLearning service providers localize their study content, depending on the region they serve. For instance, if your medium of learning is Hindi, you can learn in Hindi, provided the service provider facilitates learning content in Hindi.

Personalized Learning: A lot of paid online software platforms facilitated personalized learning. These learning sessions are exclusive, and they encourage you to ask questions, answer your questions in the most comprehensive and in a way you understand.

Learn it from the Convenience of your Home: Of course, you cannot forget this, especially when the situation out there doesn’t favor classroom-based learning. Online learning, in such a situation, is advantageous, as you can attend live and recorded sessions from the convenience and comfort of your home.

Online Assessment and Real-Time Feedback: The most competent online learning software platforms transcend online lectures and offer comprehensive online assessments, coupled with in-depth real-time feedback to help you understand your challenges, and probable solutions to help you overcome them.

Disadvantages of Online Learning

Of course, no learning system is perfect. You will always have some pros and cons associated with each one of them. So, some of the disadvantages of online learning include the following.

Requires Personal Discipline: Of course, this one is on the learner. Unlike classroom sessions where students cannot daydream, or cannot turn up late to the class, during virtual sessions, often, students may turn up late, and get distracted very easily. Besides, the already low attention span (30-45 minutes in classroom sessions), turns even shorter during online learning.

Restricts Social Interaction: Regardless of how much the online learning medium progresses, it will never be able to match the satisfaction of meeting people in-person, and letting children develop social relationships. In the online learning medium, children can, at the most, interact virtually, which isn’t useful enough in regards to the social development process.

Online Learning Needs a Device and Internet Connection: Urban users, and children from well-to-do families can afford to learn through an exclusive laptop, and mobile phone. However, on the other hand, the ones belonging to the rural sprawls of the country stay deprived of such facilities, as they do not have the financial resources to use them.

Confines Teacher-Student Relationships: Again, this one is similar to social interactions. Although convenient, online learning sessions do not prove as useful when it comes to developing long-running teacher-student relationships.

Larger Groups can create Confusions while Learning: Short attention spans, coupled with several distractions, can prove an obstacle to the learning process. But what proves even more annoying for the students and the teachers is the presence of large unmanaged students, wherein several students ask questions at a time, some cannot hear the teacher, some suddenly disappear, and some disconnect due to network issues, etc.

What is Blended Learning?

Now, what is blended learning? Online learning purely happens through the virtual medium, either with laptops, smartphones, laptops, or tablets. But, blended learning, as most of the institutions do, follows a 60-40 learning format. In this form of education, 60% constitutes online learning, and 40% comprises classroom sessions, most of which are conducted on weekends to maintain social distancing.

Blended learning has become a regular education format with educational institutions offering courses that comprise practical knowledge, and wherein the use of home-based use and access to licensed software isn’t possible. Besides, education institutions and colleges offering professional courses also leverage the blended learning format to ensure optimal learning.

Pros of Blended Learning

Blended learning shares some advantages with online learning. Some of the benefits of blended learning include the following.

Access to Learning: As a part of blended learning comprises virtual education, students can access learning courses from anywhere, and at any time.

Collaborative Learning: Another benefit of blended learning includes improved collaboration between students and teachers. The learning form comprises some collaborative tools, including blogs, virtual discussions, instant messages, articles, etc. These tools help students establish mutual connections in as well as outside the classroom.

Quick and Useful Evaluations: Blended learning presents the opportunity to use online testing and assessment features, offering immediate reporting features. Real-time and instant feedback mechanisms help students to vet their progress better.

Partial Classroom Sessions: Students and teachers meet each other once in a week, or a fortnight, or a month during the course. It improves teacher-student interactions, allows students to clarify their doubts, which, at times, is not possible during the online session.

Cons of Blended Learning

Let us now proceed to take a look at some of the disadvantages or shortcomings of blended learning.

Some Students Lag: Sometimes, the 24/7 availability of online recorded sessions prove a disadvantage. It is because some students then avoid, or don’t feel then need to attend classes regularly. They listen to all the recorded sessions at once, and which may affect the comprehension part to a considerable extent, as then, they won’t have anyone to clarify their doubts.

Poor Internet Connectivity may ruin the Learning Experience: For students, who otherwise study from their homes in the interiors of the particular region, internet connectivity may prove a significant impediment to learning. These students cannot leverage the learning medium to the fullest.

Lack of Access to Resources: Some students cannot access online learning facilities owing to financial constraints. Such students miss a lot of vital knowledge sharing during the online sessions and depend considerably on in-person classroom sessions that happen once in a while.

What is FLIP Classroom?

FLIP is one of the forms of blended learning. It involves students learning through videos at home, and practicing all that they’ve learnt in an interactive environment of the classroom.

It comprises three steps, including concept exploration, meaning making, and application, or demonstration of the learning. Concept exploration involves the use of websites, video/ audio recordings, readings, simulations, etc. Meaning making, on the other hand, consists of blogging, reflective podcasts, quizzes, and online discussions. Lastly, demonstration/ application includes working on personalized projects, experimenting, role plays, presentations, etc.

Advantages of the FLIP Classroom

Let us enlist some of the most apparent benefits of the FLIP classrooms.

Access to a wide range of lessons and educational content

Parents stay informed about their child’s education, and progress.

Improved learning through video-based learning, and practical application in multiple ways.

Disadvantages of the FLIP Classroom

Some of the perceived and practical disadvantages of the FLIP classroom include the following ones.

Not every student has access to technology.

Students spend a lot of time in front of the computer screens

Disruption to the tested and proven classroom learning method.

Conclusion

While there’s no perfect education system existent, a lot of schools, educational institutions, and colleges continue to blend all of the above learning methods to ensure enhanced learning, better student-teacher interactions, and optimized results.

We aren’t sure when will we return to normalcy. But, until then, the above discussed techniques will prove useful in some or the other way, and continue to be the routine of schools, and colleges across the world, enabling teachers to teach, and helping students to learn, amidst the existing adversities.