Get ready for blended learning for the 2020/21 academic year
How universities will operate from for the 2020/21 academic year, is still an issue thanks to COVID-19. With Cambridge University announcing lectures will stay online for the whole year, and King's College, Edinburgh, Imperial and Manchester now saying lectures will be online for at least the first term, blended learning looks to become the norm.
what is blended learning
Blended learning is a hybrid of online learning, and face-to-face tutorials, mixed with some small group sessions that conform to the social distancing requirement. Limited numbers and social distancing will also apply to lab work.
A meta-analysis of more than 1,000 online learning studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Education that looked at blended learning environments found them to have notable benefits, including:
• Students have access to the best of both worlds to support individual learning styles.
• The combination of live, interactive, face-to-face instruction along with digital content and personalised learning strategies helps increase student learning and achievement.
• Digital content can be more flexible and dynamic than traditional textbooks.
• The ability to watch instruction multiple times, stop, pause and rewind is beneficial for many students.
how to make blended learning work for you
What's important to remember is that blended learning is very different from other online courses. In an online course, students work at their own pace, and to their timings. In a blended course, students are assessed by tutors and work to a timetable. Here's how to make it work for you.
1. Become familiar with online tools. Whether it's Google classrooms, Moodle, Learn or something else, you need to become familiar with your virtual learning environment. There's likely to be elements that you haven't come across yet, so explore features and tools before your lectures start.
2. Make sure you have a peer-to-peer support study group. Set up a tutoring group with other students and meet regularly. If you're a first-year student, you're likely to be put in tutorial groups but stay active and see what other opportunities there are to meet and collaborate with students on your course.
3. Keep in touch with your course tutors - they are there to help and advise even at a distance. Find out the best way to get in touch with them, the best method for asking questions and requesting extra support.
4. Consider a tutor for other face-to-face and online support for areas you are struggling with or want to improve on. Or generally for motivation as you get used to this new way of learning.
5. Adapt to online learning and embrace independent learning. This won't be entirely new for you; however, learning in a different environment will be. Ask for support around expectations and assessment if you feel out of your depth.
6. Managing your time is critical from your very first lecture and tutorial, through to your final-year dissertations. So take the initiative in your learning and stick to what you need to do from the start.
7. Staying engaged can be hard if you're at home doing your lectures alone. What will help is to make your learning more challenging by asking questions and going beyond source material to ask questions you may have asked in lecture halls.
8. Don't be a passive viewer. It's easy to watch lectures online and let them wash over you. Try making notes as you go. Look for the areas you can expand on and consider what you agree and disagree with and what you need to know more on. Post lecture summarise your notes and read them back to ensure you have fully understood everything.