e-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates

Blended learning

Blended learning is a combination of traditional educational methods and online digital media, meaning that in the educational environment the students use computers as means for learning, for adequate time, and at the same time, the educational environment preserves some of the traditional methods, like teacher-led instruction. There are different models of blended learning: 1. the Rotational Model, where there is a rotation between teacher instruction, peer to peer interaction through collaborative activities, and individual activities on the computers, 2. the Laboratory Model, where the students learn from a computer in a lab setting, 3. the Open Classroom Model, where a large number of students work and interact in a flexible space, and 4. the Flipped Classroom Model, which means what the name of the model indicates, that the instruction can be received by the students at a different place than the school while the assimilation of knowledge can be done in the classroom through peer to peer interaction and teacher-students interactions.

Because of the presence of electronic devices and programs in the teaching-learning process, the confinements of space and time collapse. Such a program, for instance, is the Accelerated Reader,  http://www.renaissance.com/products/practice/accelerated-reader-360/  which enables the students to practice on their reading skills either at the school environment or out of that, on their own pace, and level. Simultaneously, the teachers' work is more effective, addressing different challenges regarding students' different reading levels and difficulties, at the same time. Yet the most important aspect is the transcending of the space and time limit, meaning that the student has the opportunity to complete or repeat his work in a different space than that of the school classroom, and out of the timetable. 

In a relevant model of blended learning, the Flipped Classroom Model, the spatial and temporal boundaries collapse as well. In such structured learning environments the students can interact with their teacher out of the walls of a traditional classroom by watching their instructor's short lectures via videos and then work interactively with other students to assimilate this knowledge in the classroom, or by evaluating the work of their peers, a process navigated and supervised by the instructor. But the most important affordance in such a learning environment, is that of ubiquitous learning, that the students can go beyond the teacher-led instruction and search for their answers up to the limits set by their inquisitive nature, which results in their independence.

Related videos:

[1] Blended learning
[2] Flipped Classroom Model

  • Jeanet Oosterhuis
  • Roman Meier