Blended Learning — Future Right Ahead
By: Shiban Banerjee
Tags: Online Education, Modern Education, Future Of Education, Teachers, Blended Learning

Technology Complementing Classroom Education (1)

From the age of ‘gurukuls’ to modern day schools, teachers and students have always had a face to face relationship. The word ‘relationship’ here is key because that’s exactly what face to face interaction allows for. Teachers can understand their students, understand their strengths and weaknesses, pick up from non-verbal communication and modify their teaching style to suit every individual.

Almost as important, if not more, is the personal growth that students get in the process of going to the school and studying with their friends. Collaboration, critical thinking, social skills, organisational skills & personality growth are all traits that enable kids to thrive in the society they are meant to live in. It is the experience of travelling to schools & tuitions, the experience of a full day of class with their friends, the experience of exams and sports which is their guide, while being exhilarating at the same time. The classroom education experience has always been the first window to the outside world.

But when classes contain more than 20–30 students, it erodes a fundamental benefit of classroom education — the ability of the teacher to give personal attention to each student. The quality of teaching, being a matter of perception by itself, also varies. That’s why tuitions exist — a promise of quality education and personalised attention. This is especially important in India, where the scale of diversity is greater than in most places on the planet.

But even with all of this, there are fundamental gaps in face to face education. By design, the introverts start with a natural disadvantage. In this era of mass competition, the ones who are slower to grasp face a risk of lagging behind. Some might be better at studying alone while some do better while studying in groups. Our current education system treats everyone in a class with one broad brush and that creates a natural divide.

Then came the wave of online learning. A child of modern technology, online learning has risen in prominence over the last decade. The number of internet users in India and the number of smartphone users in India have both shot up by 2.5 times in the last 4 years alone. During the same time, the number of students enrolled for online learning courses in India have gone up 5 times, from 16 Lakhs to 80 Lakhs (and these are stats from Feb-2020, before the COVID lockdown). Online education platforms allow students the flexibility to complete their education at their own pace, at their own time and convenience. If you don’t understand a concept the first time around, watch the video again. Revise with videos rather than reading books alone, do online assessments in addition to problems at the back of the book — Students now have better options for self-study and the advantage of repetition. Online Education has thus bridged some of the gaps. But technology can facilitate so much more.

Education was moving along at its usual pace till ‘The Virus’ came along and paused life as we knew it. Although there has been a rush to go online, in most cases, especially in India, it was a hurried reaction to be compliant to what seemed most important — save the upcoming academic year. E-classes were launched, regular timetables were charted out and there was a semblance of a normal routine sans assembly, prayer, uniforms and the cacophony of sounds before and after classes.

Initially, most parents, teachers and students were critical of the new methodology. Some still are. But as the unfortunately named ‘new normal’ gained acceptance as the only option, the differences were ironed out and many now see the benefits of online learning. But what next? Do we just make do with online classes till the pandemic is controlled and then go back to the old ways.

It is clear that both forms on education have their own merits. Neither is a substitute of the other. But, can we combine both and get the ‘best of both worlds’? Blended Learning is exactly that concept and it has been gaining popularity in the US and Europe for some time now.

For many, especially those who relied on classroom education alone, online education is now analogous to live online classes. They have substituted classroom education with online classes. As the pandemic subsides (how many ever months away that is), students will start going back to classes. Online classes will be redundant at that time. So, if we are looking to ‘get the best of both worlds’, then what does that look like? How can technology complement classroom education?

We have already talked about the benefits of online courses. Students are benefited by their ability to follow along at their own pace and watch the videos multiple times if they need to. If a school or a tuition teacher could create videos of key concepts and solved problems, then they can share them with students. Students can view those videos outside classes while they are doing self-study. It is difficult for students to hold their attention for an entire class, leave alone the series of classes for the entire day. Having those videos in hand from the same teacher allows them to fill in the gaps in their understand, thus meaning that they have a far better chance of understanding what the teachers meant to teach.

For kids, learning is continuous. They are learning from their experience throughout the day. Therefore, learning should continue after students leave the classroom. A benefit of incorporating digital learning is that it enables learning to be a continuum. It allows students to access information, activities, and games anywhere, anytime. Digital learning provides flexibility that supports student success while amplifying their experience of education. Plus, the Gen-Z is more comfortable with technology than their predecessors.

Speaking of activities, technology can facilitate more in this space than what is immediately obvious. Imagine a biology class, where each student is given a butterfly larva in a glass greenhouse casing and explained what to feed it, how to care for it and what will it become. Students have to take that home, follow the instructions and watch it grow into a butterfly. At each stage, they take a photo and later collate it into a video which becomes their final submission. At the end, they have to narrate their experience to the class. So many things would have happened by this time. None of their students will ever forget metamorphosis post that exercise. The journey of caring for animals would have been facilitated at an early stage in their lives. The video they created will always be with them as a cherished memory, an achievement they will treasure. When they are narrating their experience to their class, in front of their teacher, they are articulating what they saw and felt, a skill which will become increasingly important as they grow. Last, but not the least, there is no way to cheat in this exercise!

Such activities can be in groups as well. Students love to chat online. They collaborate for all sorts of purposes. Collaborating with friends is exciting. Can we not have collaborative exercises in education? Divide a class into groups of 3–4 and give each group a task and an online space where they can collaborate with each other and submit their outputs. Let the teacher be in all the groups as moderator. The final submission can be a combination of documents, presentation, and videos. Working with others when the results matter teaches you to collaborate with people with different opinions. It brings out leadership qualities in those who have them. It highlights the importance of listening to others. All very vitals aspects which should be learnt sooner than later.

Leveraging technology for such things frees up the class time since the students can do these outside classes. Technology also allows such activities and more (including homework, tests and assessments) to be gamified. Complete a set of videos / topics / courses to get points. Teachers can create video sets on advanced topics which have higher points associated with them. Homework can be assigned to students on vacation to ensure continuous learning. Such optional homework earns you extra points. You can have personalised learning pathways for every student. Completing a pathway earns you additional points.

When we are reminded of our achievements, when we can see our own progress, our brain releases serotonin, a chemical which causes the feeling of safety calmness, happiness, and self-confidence. When we overcome difficult challenges and achieve new goals, our brain releases endorphins, which cause really good mood and provide energy to “go an extra mile”, decreasing the feeling of being tired.

When we collaborate successfully with others, belong to a group, our brain releases oxytocin, which helps to create social bonds and maintain them, causes the feeling of belonging and connection (also love). Nature created oxytocin because people would not survive alone, without other people. The nature created it so we gather in groups, we create communities. It was also created for our survival; it is evolutionary chemical. Then there is dopamine, which makes us want to do things. It is released before receiving a reward or achieving a goal. That is why, the closer to receiving a reward we are, the more we want it, the more we are willing to make the extra effort to get it.

All these ideas (and there can be many more), do something incredible — it makes the learning experience unique for every student, unique their specific need. It not only complements the personal attention which they get in schools and tuitions, but also amplifies it.

What we are really saying here is that ‘technology-led’ education is not and cannot be a competition to classroom education. The best use of technology is to complement classroom education in ways that makes it more effective, make the experience more engaging, fulfilling, and delightful to the students. That to me, is the next step in the evolution of education.

Teachers, institutions, and students will take time to figure out and perfect what works best for them. But, as a wise man once said, ‘If you have to prepare for the future, the only time to start is now’.