Blended learning is the short-term fix that turned into a long-term stay

Blended learning has increased accessibility to learning for K-12 and college students alike – notably with the sharp transition to remote learning in 2020. But what are the trade-offs? 

First, online learning competes with a multitude of distractions. While a computer and the internet allow students to access course material from anywhere, the environment around the screen can be way more tempting than an asynchronous lesson. An in-person setting makes group discussions and observation of others easier and more natural, while creating the pressure to always appear fully attentive. 

Second, moving between online and in-person learning is demanding. The expectation of constant attendance with a fully online option and adjusting behaviour between online and in-person classes as well as increased time online and task switching can lead to burnout. 

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This method of course delivery is here to stay, so educators need ways to address engagement and stress to sustain student learning within a blended learning environment. They can use its modalities to increase content engagement, and use open communication to help their students manage the stress of moving between online and in-person learning.

Using the advantage of each delivery method and open communication to reduce stress allows students to be more human. These solutions bring back socialising, collaboration and transparency to blended learning, which can feel isolating if not done correctly.

Using technology to increase belonging and engagement

Structuring activities in blended learning based on human nature’s urge to socialise and sustain interest creates more student engagement. Online tools such as real-time surveys (Slido, for example), group messaging and screen sharing can significantly increase participation. For instance, an interactive workshop with remote attendees can be a powerful tool. Screen-sharing makes the results visible to everyone, survey check-ins within lectures provide students with topics to focus on, and group messaging or in-person discussion supports their learning and social engagement with one another. With personal computers in the classroom and online, it’s much easier to have students directly share their work because the compatibility of technology in the classroom is already built in. 

On the instructor side, available technology on learning platforms (such as Canvas) also provides ease of information sharing. Educators can share assignment rubrics with the whole class with one upload, and group feedback can be shared with all the members (instead of providing one set to be split among the team or printing out multiple copies with backups in case the papers are lost). This technology puts all students and instructor(s) in the class on the same page, fostering a sense of unity and collaboration.

How open communication helps students self-regulate and reduce stress

Self-regulation is the ability to pace oneself to complete tasks without external motivators, and it improves content understanding and assignments delivered. For a sophomore-level engineering studio, there is a noticeable correlation between a group’s ability to self-regulate – I observed how open their communication style was for the semester – and their satisfaction of team deliverables (seen through their peer evaluations). The teams that were more cohesive were also less stressed.

Teaching students to thrive in a blended-learning environment

So, how can students learn to pace themselves when phones, the environment and responsibilities are vying for their attention? Students may struggle to prioritise new tasks, and they will zone out if things are overwhelming. This is why they need the ability to prioritise tasks and assess their feasibility, and to factor in time to decompress.

Educators can help build these skills. Split learning into shorter segments by adding activities to support new content or allow breaks to give students time to think. This makes content that has been recently discussed more approachable. It also allows students to draw their own conclusions about how relevant it is to other course topics without having to break down a new topic a few times themselves to help them get there.

An example of a structured activity is to set time limits and decide a minimum quantitative goal. For students in a design engineering course, the task to “generate and sketch three to five ideas about the presented problem for the next 10 minutes” is achievable compared with “solve this problem with your teammates”. The framing provides a sense of urgency, relevance and importance for the class’ tasks compared with other possible tasks in their environment, like scrolling on their phones. 

Mixing up the intensity of activities also gives students the chance to practise prioritisation and avoid overwhelm. High-stress activities such as a performance score for testing prototypes in front of your classmates can be offset by a completion grade for individual reflections after the testing is over. The variety sets up students to autonomously apply learning because they are curious, without making them feel that every assignment is raising their heart rate. Ideally, this will offer brief guidance on balancing their workload through taking pressure off the returned grades and focusing on what they can learn within the given time. 

What’s next? The end?

The increased sharing of information and avenues accommodates students’ schedules, letting them learn more individually. In addition, self-regulation based on a student’s learning style increases accountability and balance and is a useful professional and life skill. While blended learning appeared as a fast response to the pandemic, its technology has increased accessibility and brought essential learning and teaching skills to the fore. 

Nisha Detchprohm is a research engineer in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech. 

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