{"id":17495,"date":"2022-01-25T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.xello.world\/?p=14705"},"modified":"2025-05-15T01:44:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:44:30","slug":"blended-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.xello.world\/en\/resources\/blog-posts\/blended-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Blended Learning and Why Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Find out how blended learning can enhance the education experience for students and educators.<\/h2>\n

It was cold and dark when I stepped into the bedroom of my 15-year-old son to rouse him for school on a recent morning. He\u2019d been sniffling and sneezing before he went to bed and I wondered how he was feeling. One look at this bleary-eyed face and it was clear: he was sick with the same bad cold his dad had recently gotten over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll call the school and tell them you\u2019ll be absent,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll message my teacher and Zoom into my first class later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that even possible?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, there\u2019s always a Zoom link now.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess I hadn\u2019t been paying attention to the way technology had evolved in my son\u2019s school. Sure, most of his 9th grade the year before had been conducted through online learning due to the pandemic, but I thought we\u2019d put that behind us when we chose in-person learning this year.
\nA closer look at his profile on Edsby, the technology platform his school uses, confirmed that students could indeed ask for a Zoom link to attend class virtually if they were sick or couldn\u2019t attend class for another reason.
\nLater that morning, I stopped by his bedroom to see how he was doing and found him propped up in bed with a tissue box beside him and his computer on his lap. When I peeked at his screen, I could see math equations being solved in real time.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t reach my teacher in time for him to set up the Zoom link, but I can see everything he\u2019s doing in OneNote,\u201d he told me.
\nMy confused look prompted him to continue.
\n\u201cMy math teacher puts our worksheets on a program called OneNote and projects it from his tablet in the classroom as he\u2019s teaching the lesson. He also posts a link in Edsby for us to review later if we want. But I\u2019m watching him do it live.\u201d
\nI knew the pandemic lockdowns had pushed our education system\u2014and our educators\u2014to technologically evolve further than ever before. What I didn\u2019t know was that a system that combines online educational materials with regular classroom strategies remains a vital tool as most students have returned to school.
\nIt\u2019s all part of an innovative blended learning model. And we may only be getting started.<\/p>\n

What is Blended Learning?<\/h3>\n

Blended learning programs can be defined as the integration of online learning and in-person components in education for a more personalized learning experience for students. Like in my son\u2019s 10th grade math classroom, online and in-person activities and materials are used to complement each other. In his case, technology was used as a back-up system and a supplement to in-class student learning. But blended learning can also be built into a course.
\nAccording to the University of Waterloo\u2019s Centre for Teaching Excellence<\/a>, blended learning can include a wide variety of models, including discussions, laboratory work, field trips, group work, online activities, and lectures.
\n\u201cBlended courses do not follow a single formula. Some use the online environment for content or lecture delivery and the classroom for active learning opportunities (sometimes known as the flipped classroom<\/a>), whereas others use the face-to-face time for lectures and the online environment for discussions, assessments, or other learning activities. Some use a combination of these two approaches,\u201d they write.
\n\u201cEvidence suggests that students learn more effectively and have a higher satisfaction when courses are blended, as compared to online or traditional, face-to-face courses.\u201d
\nAlthough blended learning has been in use for years in some schools, the pandemic dramatically accelerated online learning and made blended learning models considerably more widespread. In a March 2021 EdWeek Research Center survey<\/a>, 88 per cent of educators said their ability to use tech improved during the 2020-2021 school year. And a July 2021 survey<\/a> found that 30 per cent of educators were betting that the use of technology would \u201cincrease a lot\u201d in the 2021-22 school year.<\/p>\n

The Benefits of a Blended Learning Model<\/h3>\n

Advocates of blended learning say there are multiple benefits for employing it as part of overall instructional strategy. Students can:<\/p>\n