Blended learning is a term used to describe educational structuring whereby students have an online component AND a face to face component to their learning.
The goal is that the positive's for online learning and face to face learning are realized and enhanced within a blended course. For instance, some of the benefits to online learning is that it is flexible, easily accessible, and uses technology. The benefits of gathering face to face is that it creates group cohesion and chemistry, a team atmosphere, and it helps with student engagement. For a list of many other benefits check out this blog.
Blended learning is gaining popularity and the rise of blended learning seems to suggest that it will continue to grow in it's popularity and usage.
Personally, I have been blessed throughout my PhD journey with the individuals in my cohort as I have been strengthened and sharpened. The experience and knowledge pool is deep when you gather together as a cohort. Our semester was structured in that we had six weeks of online collaboration and forum posting, followed by one week together in class, followed by six weeks of online dialogue. I was blessed by learning from everyone within my cohort.
While the benefits are many to blended learning this method of education still has a number of detractors. Do you think it is because people are afraid of new developments within education? Do you think that it is because the educational system is flawed in that it emphasizes old fashioned learning styles and modes? Curious as to your thoughts.
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