Online Learning, Blended Learning, And Flipped Classroom: What are these?

Why read this article?

I think the answer is that parents need to know how this pandemic is changing the ways students will learn in school. Knowing about the various learning delivery modalities is important when you decide to enroll your children in schools during this worldwide pandemic.

There is a need for you to know that just like in the “traditional face-to-face” classroom, these remote (distance) learning delivery modes have demands of various degrees in terms of parental support.

At the same time, educators and those who are in the field of education should not be clueless about the changing panorama of education during this time.

I was grateful to one of the readers of this blog for her comments that she is reading my writings about this topic because she is involved in helping a school. It was heart-warming.

At the same time, I was frustrated by some who are involved in the schools but are not education graduates themselves, who just delegate this concern to the principals even though they are in the administrative positions.

And then, they would just intervene during meetings without knowing what they are talking about because they refused to study the matter.

Well, as they say, “everybody is an expert overnight.”

Different Collars but the Same Dogs

Before I continue, I would like to make it clear that the terms used by various schools and organizations vary from each other.

I intended in this series that stakeholders like the parents and teachers recognized the content even if they are called by various names.

You know a table to be a table, even if it is called by many names. Or, as it is poetically expressed, “call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

When I was writing this article, I have in mind those schools that are not capable of going completely online due to a lack of resources and technology infrastructure.

I was trying to benchmark with other schools regarding their learning delivery modes. I was surprised by the varieties of terms used by different schools.

Respecting the “innovations” and “creativity” of the schools in naming their learning delivery modes according to their creative sense, I think this affirms two points that I am trying to articulate in this series.

First, education is not an exact science where there are uniformed and accepted terms among practitioners.

Second, despite all the varieties of terms, what is important is that stakeholders understand what it is for them and their children.

After all, despite all the different terms, if you understand the dynamics, you can always see that it is only the collars that are changed, but the dogs are still the same.

Learning Delivery Modes

Depending on the Extent of the Face-to-Face Components vs. Online Components

Now let us get to the bottom of these learning delivery modes.

I would like to simplify these various learning delivery modes so that parents and guardians can ask pertinent questions from the schools where their children attend.

Let us clarify some terms.

I would propose a classification based on the percentage between face-to-face components versus online components.

Allen and Seaman (2007) classified four categories of learning delivery modes according to these criteria, namely:

Traditional – 0% content delivered online

Web-facilitated – 1% to 29% content delivered online

Blended – 30% to 79% content delivered online

Online – 80% or more content delivered online

The usual classroom learning that we are familiar with is called “traditional” since the sources of information are the teachers and other learning materials without the use of online sources.

“Web-facilitated” learning is still mainly classroom-based or traditional, but it involves a minimal amount of online resources in the learning process. For example, the teacher conducts classes in the “classroom,” but the teachers and students access the internet for their research works, assignments, and presentations to enrich the learning process.

What is Blended Learning?

So, what is being blended in blended learning?

It is the source of information and its delivery, namely: face-to-face instruction (where the teacher is the primary source of information) and the materials accessed remotely through online or offline delivery.

In other words, there are still face-to-face interactions between the teachers and learners, but it is optimized because the students have already learned the materials ahead of time.

When they meet in the classroom, the students and the learners can focus on clarifying what they have studied before-hand.

Most of the time, the term “flipped” is used for this learning approach because if before the bulk of the students’ learning time is in the school setting, now it would be in the home. Students will only spend minimal time in schools while working on their classes at home.

What is Online Learning?

In “Online” learning, almost all the entire course-works, including lectures, assignments, examinations, are done through online platforms. There are very minimal face-to-face interactions or none at all.

The Role of the Teacher in the Learning Process

Given our situation due to COVID-19, face-to-face instruction seems to be a health concern. Why do we have face-to-face interactions in schools?

It is because the teacher plays an important role both as a facilitator of learning and a traditional source of information.

Since the teacher still plays an important role in the learning process, this is the reason why we are having problems on how to make possible learning given that the COVID-19 pandemic poses a health risk.

Students need access to the teacher, but access to the teacher poses a risk.

How do we solve this dilemma?

The solution is by limiting the time that students will have to gather to learn from their teachers.

Thus, there is a need to provide for alternative means that will take care of the functions of the teacher as a facilitator of learning and as a source of information.

Due to the danger of COVID-19, the role of the teacher as a facilitator of learning is a bit difficult to address.

It seems that the teacher, as a facilitator of the learning process, is indispensable in our education system. Since we cannot do away with the teacher, some are suggesting that students will still go to school but reduced in frequency and time.

However, face-to-face instructions pose a health risk at present, given the COVID-19 situation.

Thus, schools are still looking for ways on how to make the facilitating role of the teacher possible without having physical interaction.

The solution at the moment is to eliminate physical contact but make the teacher present through the mediation of technology like using FB Live, Zoom meetings, or through chats and text messages. In this way, the teacher still helps facilitate learning without physical proximity.

The function of the teacher as a source of information is done by providing in advance learning materials in the form of modules, recorded audio or video lessons, PowerPoint presentations, and the likes.

Low-Tech Remote (Distance) Learning

There are suggestions that there would still be a certain time in the week that students will have to attend school. But, it might be risky for both students and teachers.

Online learning seems to be the safest choice.

In our situation, however, completely online learning is not feasible, especially in the poorer areas where there are no reliable internet connections and a lack of devices.

Yet, we should be clear that remote learning is still possible without going completely online. I have already explained in the previous post that online learning is just of the many modes for remote (distance) learning.

There are other modes of remote learning where there is no need for face-to-face interactions. For example, there is the use of modules in the “correspondence” style, and there is the “modular” or “packet” learning.

There are many ways of delivering learning to learners without having the students and teachers engaged in a face-to-face classroom.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The Participation of Parents and Guardians in Education during this Trying Times

Share this:

1. Facebook

2. More

3. 
   

4. Twitter

5. Email

6. 
   
7.