Impact of Blended Learning during Covid-19 in Sultanate of Oman
Smiju Sudevan1*, BushraAl Barwani2, Esraa Al Maani3, Sita Rani4, Arun Kumar Sivaraman5
1,2,3Department of Computer Science, Modern College of Business and Science, Muscat, Oman.
4Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gulzar Group of Institutes, Khanna, Punjab, India.
5School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Blended Learning is currently a part of learning in Higher Education not just for in campus learning but also for students who are studying from distance. Furthermore, it became easy for tutors, students, and all individuals to access information and data available on the internet. Nowadays, it is difficult to give up on technology in general, due to the benefits it brings to people by using the Internet and with the development of different methods of storing and retrieving information at any time. Many institutions are competing for the use of information and communication technology and keeping up with the development. This research will be discussing blended learning in several aspects and components. It will further explain the impact of blended learning during Covide-19 in Sultanate of Oman and the insight of current and future tendencies regarding how campus learning is influenced by computer-based learning.
Keywords: Blended Learning, e-Learning, Flipped Classroom, Interactive Learning
Introduction
Blended learning is considered as a type of teaching that combines traditional education in schools and e-learning from home, through following all study rules, classifying the types of teachers into two groups; first group, teachers who have skills in teaching face to face in an organized environment, The second group is, teachers who have the skills in using technology for e-learning better, the use of electronic learning tools such as; electronic devices(Computers, Laptops, mobile phones, iPad, etc.), and a good internet connection, while in the traditional learning students receives education by face to face in the classroom or computer labs. Both traditional learning and blended learning require the students and teacher to attend the teaching.
(Lawless, 2019).
Blended Learning vs Traditional Learning
To understand the differences between blended learning and traditional education, there are various methods of receiving education and many specialized institutions to manage e-learning and traditional education. Through that, you must know the most important differences between them. There are many aspects of comparison and difference between blended learning and traditional learning, which differ in time, place, learning resources and other differences. In blended learning, education happens sometimes in the classroom or online at any time and place by using electronic devices and internet connection. Moreover, students control over time and can access information anywhere. As for traditional learning, where the study happens in the classroom and the time is controlled and specified by the teacher. The table below shows the other differences between both learnings.
Table 1.Difference between Blended Learning and Traditional Learning
Blended Learning Traditional Learning
Flexibility
Provides the student with personal and commercial responsibilities with versatility, as it encourages them to start the training course at the right time, rather than just attend the lecture on time.
While conventional students have a lot of flexibility in their time and program, their
schedule is flexible,
particularly when schooling depends on night-schools or where there is a certain meeting schedule one week.
Discipline and self- motivation
E-learning is the product of a decrease in the discipline of students, and therefore the student needs self-motivation because all courses need to be revised and to meet the tasks needed, and so some students try to get inspired to study during their home learning.
The key explanation for the structured timetable of study attendance and the regular, face-to-face contact between teachers and students are the conventional instructional benefits of full self-motivation and discipline.
Social interaction
Social contact with instructors and students is up to date periodically, although it is not popular in online classes and relies on the context of the education system, including video-chatting and forum posts online and some courses have videos pre-recognized.
Traditional education is the perfect alternative for those who enjoy personal contact and meeting and
communicating often with a professor will inspire students, and traditional experiences in the classroom provide more possibilities for sudden questions. Therefore, the student is motivated to consider.
Types of Blended Learning
In the definition of blended learning, we have mentioned that blended learning is one of the types of education that combined e-learning and face to face education or traditional education.
Moreover, many diverse types of blended learning differ according to methods, educational Content, learning presentation, technology, and study environment, etc.(12 Different Types of Blended Learning, n.d.).
In this paper, we will focus on and explain the most seven important types of blended learning.
Face to face:
Face to face teaching is the closer to the learning structure of a school. Face to face blended learning is a traditional learning where a group of specific students who take part and study with their own learning pace in the sessions complemented with technology.
Rotation:
This type of blended learning is more common in elementary schools, where students alternate between studying face to face with the teacher or studying online according to a specific schedule.
Flex:
Flex blended learning gives students the freedom and possession of options in choosing their methods of education online or faces to face with the teacher during the semester period. The teacher will be present in the class only for instructions and answers to questions and not teach.
Through this method of learning the teacher reassures that the students will be studying the right information in the correct expected in the educational curriculum.
Gamification:
Gamification blended learning is an effective way to motivate students online to learn and understand the lesson subject through play. Gamification is a technique of converting the academic curriculum into games is by creating a game aimed at education. The idea of this education is to stimulate and enhance education through the participation of students and the use of methods and elements of play such as points or levels where students feel competitive and more stimulating to know the subject.
Online lab:
The idea of the online lab is same as the idea of traditional face-to-face education, but through the Internet, where students meet in their homes using electronic devices and do not have to face the teacher face to face. This type of teaching is useful in rural areas when schools have specific resources. Online education is a way to teach different things at various levels. The course options are not limited to available faculty members, so students have access to almost unlimited options in education, and the work team is limited to those who need the supervision of the facility. Self-blend. (Dance-Schissel, n.d.).
Self-Blend:
In self-blend, students take online courses outside of their time at school. It is not necessary to have an electronic device to teach in self-blend, as students who do not have computers at home can use the computer lab or laboratories in the school to complete the courses. The Courses can be in the form of seminars, white papers, a blog, or watching an educational video. Through self- education, students learn to develop skills in using technology. (“Spotlight on: Self-blend model of learning - DreamBox Learning", 2013).
Online driver:
This type of education is considered remote and directed in a digital environment, where the student deals with the teacher through chatting or sending an e-mail.
Teachers provide guidance and support to students in times of need, and it is not necessary to communicate face to face. For example: When a student meets a problem on the school’s site, the student contacts the teacher or sends an e-mail about the problem, and then the teacher responds to solve the problem.
Blended learning requirements Table 2.Blended learning requirements
Blended Learning
Technical Requirements
• Availability of infrastructure
• Availability of virtual classes
• Availability of software
• Availability of tools
Teacher Requirements
• Face-to-face communication
• Information technology
• Interaction with learners
• Shifting from traditional education to e-learning
Student Requirements
• Actively participating
• Electronic communication
• Dealing with information technology
• Cooperation and interaction
To make blended learning successful and to achieve the goals of blended learning, there are many requirements that the institution, teachers, and students must have it and follow them. In table 2, it shows the requirements that the institution must implement it from the technical point of view, including providing the equipment and programs needed for this type of education, providing traditional classes, and using them according to the proposed instructions, and having planning for student's schedule sine blended learning is a mix between traditional learning and online learning.
As for the human requirements, it is divided into two parts: first parts the student's requirements section, where the student must have skills in using technology and the Internet with all services, and how to use programs such as e-mail and know how to communicate online with teachers, also students must take part in classroom or online classes for the success of education.
The second part is the requirements related to the teacher: the teacher plays a key role in this type of education; a teacher must have the skills to communicate with students through the Internet
and face to face and must have the ability to use the computer and communication programs and Use multimedia to get students' attention.
Blended Learning Components
One of the blended learning examples is, student search for a specific topic before going to the classroom using different methods of study, for example, the student watches an educational video at home and takes notes, then the next day he goes to the class to discuss the topic of the content in the video with the teacher and students. Through that helps, the teacher discusses and develops students in sharing skills and developing their ideas differences as part of the lesson.From this, we can deduce the components of blended learning as good as the programs, instructions, and materials used for teaching. There are three important components of blended learning:
Direct Connection
Since blended learning integrates traditional learning with face-to-face learning, direct instruction and components of online and classroom learning must be linked to create different paths of understanding and teaching. For example, if the subject of the lesson is about e-learning, students who study online can read an article book about e-learning via the Internet. As for the other group who study in the school face to face with the teacher, they can read a book on e-learning and discuss the topic with the teacher and share their thought about the subject. From that, both two groups are following the same path but using a different type of learning resource. (Tate, 2018).
Materials and protocols
As part of the teaching, the teacher should discuss issues or subject with the students through setting up and teaching students' specific protocols, for example putting marks next to phrases that they agree with or linking the phrases with their personal life related to a phrase, these protocols help students think, read carefully and discuss their stance on the issue. Using materials for more understanding in class can be applied for face-to-face teaching by using writing graphic schemes, using pen, paper, and sticky note. For students via computers, this protocol can be applied by taking notes, ideas, impressions, or points of view while teaching by using note on the computer. (Tate, 2018).
Strategic follow-up
Following up is an integral aspect of every lesson. Teachers must ensure that the whole class has time to combine and analyse the learning during the class and the whole unit. The goal of regular monitoring is to explain misunderstandings and understandings and to compare this experience to earlier learning. Supply details to the professor about the gaps in understanding and help in the preparation of further classes. The unit would aim to focus on learning, develop essential ties, analyse general understanding and conclude, which enable the teacher to examine and encourage related skills. (Tate, 2018).
Impact of Blended learning
Blended learning has a big impact on three main things: learners, facilitators/organizations and technology. These factors affect the way learning happens. For the learners, it allows them to ease and flexibility as they have the option to monitor their learning speed and learn remotely from anywhere, they want. Also, since blended learning encourages interaction with the facilitators and the other students; social learning is encouraged (Lawless, 2019). Moreover, the facilitators/organizations, the facilitators will have tools and new methods to deliver the knowledge rather than traditional teaching with those tools it would also be easy for them to monitor and track the work and progress of the learners. The last factor is technology, having the technologies will make a significant impact on the way knowledge is delivered; if the connection infrastructure is not well it could cause issues for both the learner and the facilitator even the hardware plays a big part in the technology aspect then moving on to the software which bridges the users together along with the other teaching tools used during the classes.
Blended Learning Expands Reach
since blended learning combines the best of both classroom learning and eLearning to reach a wider scope of learning methods. With online methods, the learner can go through the materials at Hence making it possible to access the material from any device anytime and anywhere their own speed, anytime, anywhere and revisit the material for further understanding. Moreover, by digitalizing organisations may offer training to large numbers of people around the globe at a low cost. (Newey, 2018).
Blended Learning Increases Engagement
learners typically practice in face-to-face sessions, but often it can be difficult to align multiple schedules at a time, but with blended learning by utilizing the training eLearning aspect, learners become more flexible by accessing and entering sections of their own timetable where they can actively interact and engage in learning material. (Newey, 2018).
Blended Learning Provides Useful References
through blended learning learners, will have a platform where they will have access to content that they would need to refer to plan for in-class tasks. In this platform, they can also have easy accessibility to review and revise training materials upon then training, they can replay eLearning modules to re-learn the elements that they may have forgotten.(Newey, 2018).
Blended Learning Facilitates Collaboration
Blended learning improves chances for learners to work together, resulting in enhanced learning experience and improved business efficiency and profitability. Using online tools to perform tasks, more face-to-face teaching time will be available for collaborative learning, problem- solving and supervised instruction. Moreover, chatting channels learners can interact and share information and ideas even though face-to-face training is finished.(Newey, 2018).
Blended Learning Simplifies Assessment
Through using online resources, trainers can efficiently and effectively handle quizzes or assessments to determine how learners are doing. Moreover, some platforms have monitoring features that automatically produce statistics and analytics that give trainers the advantage to get certain information that could not be made accessible in a face-to-face environment. This monitoring features not only make it simpler for the trainer, but they also make the investment in training worth it.(Newey, 2018).
Challenges
Integrating to blended learning users could face a few challenges considering it being something new here are three challenges that have been discussed by Manjot Kaur:
Technical Challenges:
The technical challenges are not to get the technology to operate on the networks. It's just about ensuring the effective use and help of the right technology of the initiative. Technical challenges include ensuring that individuals can effectively use the technology and not feel the temptation to use the technology merely because it is available.(Kaur, 2013).
Organizational Challenges:
Management acknowledges that the best way for training programs is blended learning.
However, they cannot understand that there is a complex process outside the individual program to be considered. Organizational challenges include combating the myth that blended learning is not as efficient as classroom teaching, redefining the role of facilitator and overseeing and tracking the progress of learners. (Kaur, 2013).
Instructional Design Challenges:
As educational technologies are implemented, full focus is given to technological deployment, while the construction of the appropriate content is neglected and left to create a decent programmed content without enough time and budget. Instructional design issues include looking at instructional strategies, matching the right distribution tool to success goals, making online offerings engaging, maintaining user engagement and follow-up with 'non-live' components, and ensuring that all elements of the mix are organized.(Kaur, 2013).
Advantages and Disadvantages
Without a doubt, it has advantages and disadvantages. Blended learning has many benefits; some of them, Flexibility, Blended Learning, offer learners the ability to learn from diverse media, which allows them to participate in various ways to validate concepts that make them understand easily and deeper than when content is presented in a single style. Social atmosphere, Online learning components give all learners the ability to speak in an easy and sensitive learning atmosphere, in particular those that enjoy being silent in face-to-face classrooms.
Teamwork is also greatly enhanced where leaners can exchange files, create conversations and have virtual chats with each other. Reusable learning objects, learning resources may be reused in other learning environments to save time on design and development. As the products have taken time and effort to create them, they will be revised and modified if required.("Blended and Distance Learning - NIU - Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning", n.d.) It also increases individualization, personalization and significance. It helps the teacher to customize learning material to the specific needs of various audience segments, and immersive content encourages the instructor to establish a high degree of engagement, transparency and true evaluation.(Kaur, 2013).
With all the benefits, blended learning has some drawbacks. The technology infrastructure challenge, this has two aspects, on the one hand, constructing the necessary infrastructure within an educational system or a special class within the company does not have the IT force needed and may not have the budget to do so. Second, purchasing software technologies and hardware for your blended learning platform can be expensive. While investing in the right tech set now, you are certain to save a lot of cash that will otherwise be wasted on funding it later. the technological resources used must be reliable, easy to use and agreed upon universally by all shareholders in the learning process. Otherwise, the project would most likely rust away before a distant target has been met. IT literacy may also be a threat to teachers rather than students.
Innovators should really go a long way towards informing and exposing the positive rather than the pitfalls of blended learning. Pace of advancement, this can sound beneficial, but it turns into a drawback when you come to review actual learning circumstances, such as students who will attend the class live, and those who will rather replay the lesson at their own time, it may contribute to students slowing down in the course flow. Although the facilitator would try to synchronize both streams with existing offline operations, he would face a significant challenge.
Negative impact on teachers (Overwork), A blended learning instructor must pick the right syllabus, the right combination between face-to-face and online learning, and there is no uniform model for this. Technical training is also key. Negative impact on students (Cognitive load), Being new to a blended model, some teachers will start loading curriculum and instructional activities. The new program will become a buddy if it's personalized to individual student needs, and an opponent if it's introduced in bulk. Finally, the plagiarism and credibility problem, Effortlessly, until the class is completely internet-friendly, it's difficult to resist the temptation to viewing stuff on the internet or get instant tips from classmates. This can influence the degree of assessment and the quality of work done. In addition, the instructor must make learners understand the risks of uncited online resources, such as bias, manipulation and misappropriation
of evidence.(Winstead, n.d.).
Methodology
Here is a study we made by sharing a questionnaire via google forms to 117 students who are studying in different Omani colleges or university and holding different degrees. And are now studying online currently due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have been experiencing blended learning shown in Table 3.
Table 3.Opinions of 117 students studying online in Oman
Strongly
Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Learning remotely is stressful 28 47 26 7 9
Blended learning opened new
doors for teaching methods 16 67 24 5 5
Blended learning helps to
learn on your own pace 21 61 22 13 0
With this technic, there are
lots of technical problems 46 39 28 4 0
Lack of interactions with
class 48 47 16 6 0
E-learning system/platform is
easy to handle 7 41 40 25 4
I believe teachers should put efforts to create contents for E-learning student
30 58 25 2 2
Use of Blended learning during Covid-19
From the result in Table 3, we can conclude that the highest numbers of answers were agreed about learning remotely is stressful, lots of technical problems, lack of interaction with class and teachers should put efforts to create contents for e-learning student.
Therefore, based on the results in Table3 majority of the students agree that they are facing difficulties with the new transition and would rather go back to traditional learning. In another hand, some students are enjoying the change and agree that that blended learning opened new doors for teaching methods, helps them learn at their own pace and the platforms are easy to use.
Figure 1. Percentage of people who prefer blended learning or traditional learning
[CATEGORY NAME]
[PERCENTAGE]
[CATEGORY NAME]
[PERCENTAGE]
What do you prefer blended learning or traditional teaching?
The pie chart above (Figure 1) shows the results of the students’ opinion if they prefer blended learning or traditional learning. The majority preferred (61%) traditional learning and 39%
preferred blended learning. Based on the results shown on Table 3 and Figure 1, it shows that there are still some challenges in the use of blended learning in Oman considering it is still new.
However, with some improvements and training the learning experience would improve to the better.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this research focused on the impact of blended learning and then narrowed it to the time of Covid-19 in Oman based on the survey segment. Our findings showed that Oman is still facing some challenges in integrating to blended learning which is expected since we are still new, and these challenges are normal as stated in the challenges section. Nevertheless, with some improvements and training the learning experience would improve to the better. Blended learning is a revolutionary form of learning that can help to spread knowledge in new and creative ways.
Any learning approach has its benefits and drawbacks, but even then, the benefits stand out and over and with time blended learning can become the norm and anticipated form of instruction delivery.
References
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[3] Kaur, M.: Blended Learning - Its Challenges and Future. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.248, 45, 6, 612-617, 2013.
[4] Lawless, C.: Blended Learning - What is it and how is it used? | LearnUpon. 12, 7, 843- 859, 2019.
[5] Newey, M.: The Impact of a Blended Learning Approach - eLearning Industry, https://elearningindustry.com/blended-learning-approach-impact, 23, 12, 2074-2085, 2018.
[6] Tate, A.: Three Critical Components for A Successful Blended Learning Classroom, https://thriveglobal.com/stories/three-critical-components-for-a-successful-blended-
learning-classroom/, 31, 3, 1023-1035, 2018.
[7] Winstead, S.: 6 Disadvantages of Blended Learning You Have to Cope With.
https://myelearningworld.com/6-disadvantages-of-blended-learning/, 2021.
