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Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(1): 129-136, 2017DOI: ed Learning: An Innovative ApproachLalima1,*, Kiran Lata Dangwal21Department of M.Ed, Rama Degree College, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaDepartment of Education, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India2Copyright 2017 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under theterms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International LicenseAbstract Blended learning is an innovative conceptthat embraces the advantages of both traditional teaching inthe classroom and ICT supported learning including bothoffline learning and online learning. It has scope forcollaborative learning; constructive learning and computerassisted learning (CAI). Blended learning needs rigorousefforts, right attitude, handsome budget and highlymotivated teachers and students for its successfulimplementation. As it incorporates diverse modes so it iscomplex and organizing it is a difficult task. The presentpaper discusses the concept of blended learning, its mainfeatures and prerequisite of its implementation. Scope ofblended learning in Indian educational system is alsodiscussed .The present paper also tries to explain that howblended learning is an approach that needs to be adopted.Keywords Blended Learning, ICT Supported TeachingLearning Process, Traditional Teaching Learning Process,and Computer Assisted Learning, Online Learning1. IntroductionThe educational system at present is in a transition stage.To meet the challenges of expansion and for cateringindividuals need it is trying to adopt new technologies andexploring new paths to reach the goal of quality educationalopportunities for all, at the same time due to various factorslike deficient budgets, lack of facilities, advantages of face toface interaction, it is not completely ready to leave thetraditional modes of knowledge transfer. Even the studentsare in a state of dual mind. When a group of teacher traineeswere inquired about the mode of teaching they will preferfrom tradition classroom teaching and ICT supportedteaching the students were nearly evenly divided betweenboth the choices.The traditional mode of teaching in spite of its fewshortcomings provides a much needed human touch to theteaching learning process. Personality and behaviour of theteachers directly influences the blooming personality of thestudents. Only face to face interaction meets the affectiveobjectives along with cognitive and psychomotor. Face toface traditional approach helps in developing a strong valuesystem. Social skills like cooperation, sharing, expressionand respecting other‘s views are more easily developed intraditional mode of teaching. Students learn not only frombooks, or from teachers teaching inside classroom but alsofrom the co-students, through their peer group interaction,they learn many skills in playground and their small socialinteractions in canteens, lounge etc. All this is necessary fora proper personality developmentAs discussed above that traditional approach has its ownbenefits but it is not free from deficiencies. It has followingshortcomings: It is failing to meet the individual needs of all thestudents in the class basically due to improper pupilteacher ratio It is not adapting itself to meet the challenge of teachingphysically challenges students Teachers are not trained for integrated classroom. It is not fit to meet the challenges put forward by theirregular students as attendance is must and evaluationsystem depends on the annual examination. If studentsfail to take the examination his whole year is a waste,due to rigidity the irregular students are in a wayexcluded from the main stream of school system. Similarly absence of professional counsellors andabsence of right attitude of the teachers and dearth offollow up activities in the schools the children whodiscontinue the school for any reason do not get thechance for entering in the formal educational systemagain. School is not able to reach every child and so educationfor all is still a far sighted goal Children from deprived groups, from the areas that aregeographically isolated and medically unfit students arenot able to gain benefit from this formal traditionalmode of teaching. At the same time students have to suffer due to dearth ofteachers, their learning has many ambiguities due toinefficient teachers. Course are not regularly revised, books are not updatedand teachers are not interested in upgrading their
130Blended Learning: An Innovative Approachknowledge and professional skills, the result is that ourstudents are not well prepared to meet the demands ofthe modern market and professions.To make their knowledge correlate with the presenttechnological advancement and globalization, to minimizethe teaching errors, to improve the quality, to increasestudents exposure ICT supported teaching learning processis a good option. ICT supported teaching provides newdimension to teaching learning process, introduces studentsto the wide pool of knowledge and opens before theminnumerable opportunities to learn , unlearn and relearn ,Alltypes of learners whether in- service, physically challengedall can be benefitted by this mode of teaching . It helpsreaching to all students. In the words of Swami Vivekanand“if people cannot reach school schools should reach them”,ICT supported learning is exactly doing the same.Analysis of both the traditional mode of teaching learningprocess and ICT supported teaching learning process showthat both have few merits and demerits, both are cateringdifferent needs, demands and expectations from theeducational system, so the solution is to provide and designsuch a system that is based on an integrated approach, asystem that incorporates the main features of both traditionalapproach of teaching and ICT supported teaching. Thedemand of today is an approach that blends the advantages ofboth the modes for the student’s learning i.e. blendedlearning.2. Blended LearningBlended learning can be explained by following figure:
Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(1): 129-136, 2017Blended learning is the concept that includes framingteaching learning process that incorporates both face to faceteaching and teaching supported by ICT. Blended learningincorporates direct instruction, indirect instruction,collaborative teaching, individualized computer assistedlearning. As the figure shows it includes:a) Face to face teaching- blended learning provides fullscope for traditional classroom teaching where studentsget ample of time to interact with their teachers and thusget influenced by their personality, behaviour and valuesystem. Face to face interaction helps in synchronouscommunication. Teachers and students both are able toget immediate feedback that in turns is favourable forteaching learning process. Face to face interaction ishighly motivating for both the teachers and students andit gives a human touch to the processb) Student interaction with course content- traditionalmode of teaching and the school campus providesstudent time to interact directly with their coursecontent through printing material and ICT mediatedlearning provides them indirect interaction with theircourse content in a versatile and diverse interesting way.The videos provide required realism to the content andsharing on blogs and visiting e-books provide new andupdated perspectives to the content.c) Peer group interaction- inside the school campusstudents learns by formal means and they also learninformally when they interact with their peer groups.Many needed life skills and social values are practisedin non-formal interaction with their peer groups. Schoolcampus provides many opportunities for this duringplayground activities, social exchange during free timed) Group discussion and exchange of ideas- classroomteaching not only provides students interaction withteachers but well-designed strategies give students toundergo discussions with their class mates on differentaspects of the course and exchange ideas. This helps todevelop confidence in students, remove their hesitationand develop the skill of communicating effectively andalso develop good listening skill.e) Accessing e-library- this is a part of ICT supportedteaching learning in blended learning. In traditionalmode students get access to school library that is limitedbut digital library gives them access to different booksrelated to their topic and on diversified areas. Thiswidens their outlook and enriches their knowledge, thishelps in meeting the cognitive objectives.f) Virtual classroom- this provides student an option tolearn anywhere, anytime and from anyone. Students canbe a part of a virtual classroom meeting with hisco-students and teacher in cyber space irrespective ofthe geographical boundaries. School can also provideprovision for it so that the system gains flexibility andstudents who cannot attend school regularly can gainadvantage from this mode. As well as student can getattach to other experts and enhance his knowledge.With world today turning into a global village, students131through this mode will be at par with his counterpart atany other part of the world and will get multiculturalexperience also.g) Online assessment- immediate feedback is a key factorin learning as it motivates the learner and is based onprinciples of readiness. Online assessment helps tomake evaluation system more formative, transparentand more fast. It becomes more reliable and objective.h) e-tuitions- students have different needs. Few of thestudents don’t get benefits from classroom teaching asthey continuously require personal guidance andcomplete attention. Such students may choose theoption of e-tuition that is meeting a private tutor andgetting personal guidance in cyber space via videoconferencing.i) Accessing and maintaining educational blogsstudents get less opportunity for nurturing theircreativity in traditional classrooms because of rigid timetable and lot of pressure of class work, assignments andcoping with examination stress but educational blogsprovide students a platform to show their creativity andcan get feedback also. In addition to it, educationalblogs are a good platform to discuss topics ofimportance that are not the part of syllabus like thoserelated to social problems, political issues, and otherissues relevant to youths like drugs addiction,delinquency, population education etc.j) Webinars- webinar is an also a feature of blendedlearning that is ICT supported format. It means thatstudents participate in seminars in different topicsrelevant to them via internet connection. All theparticipants are connected through different software’savailable like Skype, Google talk etc. and then presenttheir paper and participate in discussions through videoconferencing.k) Viewing expert lectures in YouTube- the blendedearning provides student to gain advantage of theexperts of the course content they are studying as theycan easily watch the different lectures by renownedexperts from different fields available on you tubes. Inaddition to it college can also upload video of lectureby its own teachers so that if student is not able to attendthe college he can avail this facility and can gain benefitof the teachers teachingl) Online learning through videos and audios- variousrecordings, animated videos are available that explainvarious concepts very easily and in interesting way.They are based on the principle of realism andconnecting with life. So students can get feel of real lifewhile studying and it makes the difficult concepts andphenomenon concrete for the students.m) Virtual laboratories-it can be used in professionalcourses where the laboratory work is very crucial andsometimes the cost of establishing a well-furnishedlaboratories is not feasible and in few cases theexperiments are dangerous and it is not safe for studentsto handle those equipments then in such cases students
132Blended Learning: An Innovative Approachcan access virtual laboratories and can learn need skillsby working in this virtual laboratory. All these features when blended in one frame it is calledblended learning.3. Main Characteristics of BlendedLearningThe main features of blended learning areStudents have the option of the two modes- studentsin blended learning can select either the traditionalmode of classroom teaching where they can getpersonal interaction with teacher and their classmates orthey can choose ICT supported teaching learning. Thislargely depends on the nature of content and objectivesbeing targeted. Sometime course designer or teachersthemselves decide on the mode appropriate for topicbeing dealt with. Teachers are well versed with both the modes – it isan important feature of the blended learning thatteachers are very dynamic, techno savvy and fullytrained to work efficiently in both the formatstraditional classroom format and ICT supported format.They will be well equipped in using traditional methodsand other modern technologies Students get face to face interaction as well theyinteract in virtual space- students get ample of time tointeract with other students pursuing same course. Theycan interact with them inside college campus and also invirtual space. Thus their group become very large andhas much diversity so the student’s knowledge becomeswide and they also develop a feeling of understanding,love and harmony with students of other cultures andcountries. Students get full experience in using newtechnology- the present century is the century of ICT.Today the illiterate is not only the one who cannot readand write but a person who is not well versed withmodern technologies is also illiterate. Today allprofessions demand expertise in ICT so blendedlearning help to make student’s ICT experience rich.Students involved in blended learning gain capability toexploit available technologies to the fullest of theirbenefit Students get training in different life skills- life skillsare those skills that are needed to lead a happy peacefuland successful life. The major life skills are munication, self-management, critical thinking.The blended learning helps the students to practice theseskills. Students get acquainted with few skills like love,empathy, patience in classroom through his teachers,classmates, and few like self-management, decisionmaking, critical thinking, communication through theonline experiences. All round development of personality is targeted. Inblended learning the students get full opportunity for allround development of the personality. All the aspects ofpersonality namely- cognitive, physical and emotionalare developed through blended learning which isdifficult to achieve in traditional mode or ICT approachif followed in isolation. Tradition classroom teaching ishelpful in memory level and understanding level ofteaching and so help in cognitive domain developmentand at same time teacher’s behaviour, playgroundexperience and social group with classmates developaffective and physical domain at same time onlineexperiences help in reflective level of learning sodevelop higher faculties of min and social networkingsites and other social interactions though internet help inright type of value development.Physical development is possible with in schoolcampus- the online learning and ICT supports teachinglearning process is often targeted with the blame that itignores physical development of the students. Theblended learning overcomes this limitation. As itincluded school experience also so student get time forplaying, physical work, yoga inside the college campus.Students get wide exposure and new perspectives ofthe course content-due to variety of experiencestudents get wide exposure and their content knowledgeis enriched , they get to see various new dimensions ofthe content gain practical useful knowledge.It has a human touch- due to physical prescience ofteacher via traditional approach students get that humantouch which is very necessary for balanced student’semotional quotientand very necessarily up tosecondary level.It provides multicultural and multi dimensionapproach to teaching learning process-blendedlearning approach provides student opportunity tocommunicate and share their views and feeling with thestudents all over the world thus it makes teachinglearning process multicultural and variety of experiencebring with it the interdisciplinary and multidimensionalfactor also.Makes teaching learning process child centeredblended learning is designed to provide maximum gainto students and thus reach the goal of child centerededucation.Diverse role of teacher- teacher in blended learning isplaying different role, traditional role of a teacher inclassroom, she acts as motivator, as a resource person,as an organiser, as a developer, when she developscontent to be provided through ICT, as a guide on theside. Thus teacher gets freedom from the monotonoustraditional roles and she can try her hands in diverseareas that are good for her professional growth also.Student constructs knowledge rather than justconsuming it. Blended learning also includesconstructivism. Students construct their own knowledge
Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(1): 129-136, 2017rather than depending on othersteaching-learning strategies for them.todesign7.4. Prerequisite of Blended LearningImplementing blended teaching is not an easy task. Itrequires certain fundamental preparations in all the elementsof teaching learning process- teacher, student, contentdesigning, and infrastructure. The following are the basicrequirements for implementing a successful blendedlearning.1. Well trained teachers- though child centered butteachers are an important pole of blended learning.Teachers should be well acquainted with the concept ofblended learning and fully trained and skilled to blendboth types of approaches- tradition and technological.They should be trained to develop content in digitalform so that it can be available to students online. Theyshould be well versed with internet browsing andinternet terminology, should be aware of all thewebsites that can be useful for the students whilelearning online. Teacher should know how to utilizeblogs, you tube facility, software like Skype, goggletalk and others for video conferencing and socialnetworking sites for educational purposes.2. Teachers with scientific attitude- it is very importantthat teachers have scientific attitude. They should havegood observation skill, they should be optimistic shouldhave problem solving skills. Scientific attitude will helpthe teachers to deal positively with failures she will getwhile working on this innovative concept and will helpto analyse the conditions objectively. This right type ofscientific temper will automatically filter from teachersto students3. Teachers with wider outlook and positive approachtowards change – as it is must for the success of anyinnovative idea or method blended learning processalso need teachers that have a wider outlook and shouldbe flexible, they should be ready to accept the changesand very innovative and dynamic.4. Complete facilities like well-furnished computer lab,internet connection, provision for video chatting- itis the compulsory factor of blended learning. Blendedlearning largely depend on infrastructure, schoolshould not only have good classrooms but should alsohave a well-furnished compute laboratories withsufficient number of computes to cater to all thestudents of one class and the internet facility, a Wi-Ficampus if possible.5. Students have access to internet at their privatecomputers- in addition to school having fully ICTfriendly campus students should have basic hardwaresupport to learn online and offline at their residencealso. This requires a positive attitude and goodinvestments schemes from the government.6. Flexibility in the system- The system should be8.133flexible, flexible time table, examinations system allthis is very crucial for implementing blended learning.Fully aware and agreed Parents- the parents shouldbe made well aware of this innovative approach toteaching so that they are ready for it and support theirwards for the blended learning and can accept that thisdeviation from traditional teaching is beneficial fortheir childrenFormative evaluation and continuous internalassessment- the school authorities and highereducational bodies should be ready to completelyimplement continuous internal assessment(CAI) andother tools of formative evaluation as summativeevaluation is not supported in the blended learning .The provision should be made for online examinationfor making the system more flexible.These are few essentials and basic requirements withoutwhich the blended learning cannot be executed successfully.5. Advantage of Blended LearningBlended learning has following advantagesAs part of learning is done through ICT, online oroffline mode so teachers and students get more time inthe classroom for creative and cooperative exercise. Students gain advantage of online learning and CAIwithout losing social interaction element and humantouch of traditional teaching’ It provides more scope for communication.Communication cycle is completed in blended learningwhich is not possible if we follow only traditionalapproach Students become more techno savvy and they gainenhanced digital fluency Students have more strengthened professionalism ponsibility, discipline It updates course content and so gives new life toestablished courses 6. Relevancy of Adapting BlendedLearning in IndiaIndian education system is suffering from variousproblems like failing to expand the system to provideprovision of free and compulsory education to all children,abating to maintain quality along with increasing thequantity , education curriculum is not able to meet demandsof international market and not even able to conserve andpropagate Indian value system , teachers are not fullydedicated towards their profession and teacher’s inefficiencyis adversely influencing the learning of the students. There isan urgent need of some radical steps and major revolutionswithin to overcome the challenges. Blended learning to someextent will help in solving these problems of Indian
134Blended Learning: An Innovative Approacheducation system. In our country due to large population the formalschools system is not able to provide equal educationalopportunities to all, so blended learning will be a goodoption as it will make the area of educationalopportunities wider and education will be able to reachto more children. The technological and scientific developmentcontinuously demands the education system to matchtheir pace and correlate with them so that students areable to cope up with the fast changing market.Technology and scientific field are most dynamic andchanging at great pace incorporating new innovationsso the content transmitted to students have to be revisedaccordingly but in India courses are generally not sofrequently revised and updated so if blended learningwill be adapted students and teachers can easily updatetheir knowledge and skills Dearth of good teachers is also a major issue. Teachersare less in number, still many primary schools are nothaving appropriate teacher pupil ratio, this problemexist not only in government sector but privateinstitutes are in a similar state. There is another seriousissue that teacher working are also not very dedicatedtowards the profession so blended learning is a goodoption as online learning can be a substitute of teacher Generally problem of indiscipline, irregular attendanceand dropouts etc. exist because our traditional mode isnot able to cater individual demands of every studentand is not making the delivery of this contentinteresting for the students. Moreover course is notfocussed, students are not confident and secure of theirfuture so this unrest and stress leads to the problem ofindiscipline but blended learning will be a combosolution to all these problems. As discussed aboveblended learning provides variety of experiences to thestudents , make them active and they remain in focusof teaching learning process due to increasedinvolvement and bearing the responsibility of theirlearning themselves make students more disciplined.And as blended learning is giving students moreupgraded and quality education that is from dynamicresource so learning thus becomes more purposeful. Still the education for all is a major challenge.Constitution provides the provision of free andcompulsory education for all the children up to age 14but our system is not able to meet this goal also. But ifour educational institutes implement blended learningthen they can easily increase the enrolment irrespectiveof geographical boundaries. Educated students are also not efficient and skilled tomeet the demands of global market so sufferunemployment but as discussed above the blendedlearning will help students to master all moderntechniques and life skills that will help them in leadinga successful life The education of special children also poses problemsbut blended learning with its diversity can easily caterto the needs of special children like those who arebrilliant can satisfy their thrust of knowledge in blendedlearning, blind students can easily be educated inblended learning as ICT supported teaching learningprocess will provide technical support in their learning,similarly physically challenged can also become partof main stream education and get enrolled in goodinstitutes without bothering about the distance asblended learning will help them study online and fromhome.The quality of education largely higher education isalso a serious issue. None of our higher educationinstitutes are among the top institutes of the world so toexist in the completion and to enhance quality adoptingblended learning will be a good option. When studentswill get experience of both types of modes theirknowledge will enrich. Reaching the experts andcontent material available online our students will gainadvanced skills that will make them strong eligiblecandidates of good jobs. These exposures will surelyovercome the limits in the syllabus designing ormethodologies.Similarly another problem in our education system isthat it is failing to develop in students right valuesystem and love toward Indian culture and tradition asit is adopting itself in modern technologies but blendedlearning gives equal importance to traditional mode andclassroom teaching and thus can give students essenceof Indian value system.7. Implementation of Blended Learningin Indian Education SystemImplementing blended learning needs a full dedication onthe part of educational authorities and managements ofeducational institutes. It needs a well-planned design thatinclude all from individuals top to bottom of the educationalhierarchy. For preparing educational institutes for blendedlearning we will need to increase educational budgets, it canbe done by taking help of NGOs and also coordinating withthe industrial and corporate sector. These sectors can bemotivated to give their financial inputs for blended learningexecution as these sectors will be most benefited if, theoutput from these educational institutes are more efficientlygroomed for the global market. The other very importantissue that has to be considered is development of right typeof attitudes towards this ground-breaking concept in all thosewho are concerned with educational system. For changes inattitudes of parents, community, teachers and studentsawareness programmes, seminars, discussion forums shouldbe organised. These can be utilized to make people awareabout the benefits of blended learning so that a right mind setis prepared for its implementation. Mass media can well be
Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(1): 129-136, 2017utilized for this purpose. Teacher training programmes bothin-service and pre-service have to be reoriented to prepareteachers for blended learning approach. The finance andefforts that are put in for various projects to meet educationfor all should be re directed in preparing our primary schoolsfor blended learning as it will cater many problemssimultaneously and both finance and efforts are morefruitfully utilized.To conclude it can be said that blended learning is to someextent is the solution to problems prevailing in oureducational system. If implemented in a well-planned,organised way with right type of attitudes it can become thefuture of our educational system. It is in our own benefit thatsteps for adapting blended learning are soon initiated.REFERENCES135Available athttp://media.wiley.com/product data/excerpt/67/07879729/0787972967.pdf[18] ng/bradford.pdf[20] /train‐guide‐matrix.pdf[21] http://www.cellbiol.eu/docs/ICT for blended learning Collis.pdf[22] uctionalDesignTips.pdf[23] http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2003/rd14 03/[24] nd‐a‐case‐study[25] ers/wleop2.pdf[1]"Blended Learning (Staker / Horn - May 2012)" (PDF).Retrieved 2013-10-24.[2]"Blended Learning: A Disruptive Innovation". Knewton.[3]"Plato Rising". Atarimagazines.com. Retrieved 2013-10-24.[4]Alexander, S., & McKenzie, J. (1998). An Evaluation ofInformation Technology Projects for University Learning.Canberra, Australia: Committee for University Teaching andStaff Development and the Department of Employment,Education, Training and Youth Affairs.http://jite.org/documents/Vol5/v5p2
Blended Learning: An Innovative Approach . Lalima. 1,*, Kiran Lata Dangwal. 2 . 1. . individuals need it is trying to adopt new technologies and exploring new paths to reach the goal of quality educational opportunities for all, at the same time due to various factors like deficie
