While I like blended learning because the learning environment and tools can be expanded to accommodate different types of learners with different schedules, paces of learning and communication preferences, I personally do not enjoy hybrid classes.
Having students simultaneously in the classroom and online in my experience is a sub-optimal situation, as the teacher is torn between two worlds, face-to-face and online, and it would take a great deal of self-awareness, technical expertise and observational skills to not neglect one set of students over the other. Technical problems may also proliferate – for instance, in Zoom sessions, sound feedback issues are a constant problem if students in the classroom forget to mute themselves, but then if they wish to say something, the teacher has to find a way to let the students be heard online without their own microphones. I have seen some professors repeat whatever the student has said, and in one classroom, the professor jury-rigged a network of microphones into the ceiling to capture voices.
My grouses about hybrid learning aside, though, I think blended learning is the way of the future; COVID-19 has drastically accelerated the acceptance and adoption of online learning, and this will not be our last pandemic. Hence, educational institutions must prepare to establish different levels of blended learning to accommodate different levels of lockdown due to pandemics or other mass disasters.
I am very privileged in live in a country where high-speed internet access is quite easy to obtain, and the government has even established free Wi-Fi in many public areas such as bus terminals, malls and community centres. This allows learners more flexibility as they can find spots where the free Wi-Fi is available to go online to download their class materials or attend online sessions. There is also the option of highly subsidised home internet subscriptions for low-income families. I believe that for blended learning to be widely successful, such government initiatives are necessary to ensure that learners of all demographics, classes and income levels are able to afford education even when it is online.
Another direction I hope that blended learning would go is into mobile learning. Mobile phones are much cheaper than laptops, and computing speeds for even budget smartphones are quite advances, certainly more than capable of handling word processing and presentation software, as well as online browsing. Mobile learning will allow learners to have more flexibility on where and when they wish to learn, for instance, while waiting for a bus or train, or having a cup of coffee in the café. Laptops are also quite flexible but have much larger footprints (ie., take up more table space) and weight may be an issue as well.
The future of blended learning is rife with possibilities. Perhaps one day we will simply put on VR goggles and gloves and attend class in a totally virtual space that mimics the real face-to-face experience, allowing us to have the best of both worlds. With affordable VR equipment like the Google Cardboard, I don’t think this possibility will be very far off.
