Blended Learning

Blended learning is an instructional model that combines teaching methods from online and face-to-face instruction.  Both students and teachers of this 21^st Century world find it highly effective in helping them to manage the challenges of coping with the limited resources some schools have. 

This model can be implemented in a variety of ways depending on the type of curriculum each institution follows. A curriculum could be fully online with options for face-to-face instruction, and other, and this is the model that Argentinian schools are likely to adapt, may integrate face-to-face classroom instruction with online components in order to extend instruction beyond the school day.

The main advantages of implementing blended learning in the EFL classroom include:

1-      Teachers’ roles as facilitators and instructional guides. This allows teachers to differentiate instruction for individual learners. Therefore, both the teaching and learning process become more flexible. What’s more, a wide variety of tools and resources gives teachers the possibility of addressing different students’ needs.

2-      Learners’ roles as active participants in their process of acquiring the target language. This model gives room for students’ autonomy since little by little they get to know how they learn as well as what they’d like to learn. Students may be able to control their own learning experience since online learning allows them to review materials whenever they want. As a consequence, students are no longer restricted to wait for the teacher explaining again (and in the same way) a topic.

3-      Personalization of students’ learning. Students are provided with the opportunity of keep on learning after the lesson is over. In this way, not only does the learning experience become richer, but also different learning styles and intelligences are taken into account. Moreover, a combination of flexibility, independence, and experience with online tools is said to foster students’ critical thinking, research, and computer skills. 

    These are ten more advantages of implementing blended learning in the EFL classroom:

For blended learning to be fully exploited, teachers should take into account the following things:

-          Internet connection. The problem of applying blended learning will arise if schools have unstable or inadequate internet connection.

-          Keeping a balance of computer learning, small group, teacher instructions, collaboration, independence practice, and personalized online instruction since each of these components plays an important role in helping students apply and contextualize what they learn.

-          Spending time navigating through online programs may help the teacher to anticipate issues that may come up for students during their independent work time.

 During my expereince using blended learning at the English Teaching Programme I learnt that Edmodo, which is a free social collaboration application for teachers, is not only easy to use, but also realiable and appealing. My teacher of ECO II uses this tool to for giving assignments as well as feedback. She is also used to upload videos or images for her students to comment upon them. 

Other teachers use moodle, which allows people from the same institution to share the same online space. One of its main advantages is that teachers can upload the material they use during the lessons for students to access the virtual platform and find it there.