Blended learning: Future now?

Future is a word that some people may find frightening, to some others it may imply challenges, or to others may be a beacon of hope. For learning, it might as well be all of the above. But why talking about the future? Shouldn’t we talk about the present situation of learning? Most definitely. However, we think that there is a need to debate about a blending of the two.

Nowadays we are experiencing a situation unthinkable 50 years ago, where technology is a central part of the learning process.  To integrate technology into the physical classroom seems a regular thing in the present, whereas in the past it was unconceivable. The teaching environment evolved naturally, allowing this transformation to become a common aspect within the teaching institutions.

In the article “Why we still need face-to-face teaching in the digital age”, Sophie Partarrieu (2015) talks about the concept of “blended learning”. Do students need to go to schools instead of learning online? If we think the process of learning as acquiring basics concepts, information, etc., we can say that nowadays all this can be done without the physical help of the teacher since these facts can be found in the world wide web. There are even special platforms where a teacher can post the contents of a subject so students have a more controlled access of what kind of information they need. However truthful this is, we cannot leave aside the endless factors that are at interplay in the educational process. In the words of the author: “(…) teachers are concerned with more than just the knowledge their students acquire – they’re often called on to act as guidance counsellors or provide emotional support.” (Partarrieu - 2015)

The reality is that a factor that has to be taken into consideration is the context of teaching. In Argentina we can try our best to implement online teaching, but there are certain regions where internet connection or hardware accessibility at home are non-existent. The truth is that other more important priorities are on stake, such as food, clothing or housing.

Technology is becoming a priority in many fields, and teaching is not the exception and blended learning is  one of the options we need to start taking into consideration to expand the borders of the classroom. 

Source:

Sophie Partarrieu (2015) "Why we still need face-to-face teaching in the digital age"