No doubt, traditional learning offers tons of learning to both students and instructors, the fact remains that it’s not without its issues. For instance, the learning approach doesn’t work for every student. Hybrid learning and blended learning are the two other learning approaches that address this issue.
Blended learning is an approach of learning that incorporates two main learning dimensions into its style; face-to-face classroom learning and online (self-paced) learning. As for hybrid learning, it’s a learning style that allows students to opt for the training model that suits their needs. It’s pretty simple; a hybrid style of learning allows some learners to attend class in-person, while others can join the class online, from anywhere.
What exactly is hybrid learning and what does it include? What is blended learning and how important is it? What are the differences that exist between hybrid learning and blended learning? You’ll find everything you need to know regarding these burning questions as you read through the rest of this article.
What is hybrid learning and how important is it?
As earlier mentioned, hybrid learning is a learning style that allows learners to attend class in person or join the class online, from anywhere. Of course, this depends on the specific learning needs of the learners. Furthermore, the hybrid learning approach combines three different things; “traditional classroom experiences,” “eLearning course delivery,” and “experiential learning objectives.” Hybrid learning offers several amazing benefits to both learners and the instructor. Here are some of them below:
1. Flexibility
One of the benefits of hybrid learning is that it is effective in terms of term management. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that time is an important factor in everybody’s life. As a student or instructor, without proper time management skills, you’re most likely to fall behind on your work. This is where the need to use hybrid learning comes into the scene.
As you already know, hybrid learning offers three main experiences for its learners. First, students can always learn in a classroom. Apart from that, it offers experiential learning objectives and allows instructors to deliver eLearning courses at the right time. That said, hybrid learning is more of a tool that can help learners and instructors control lectures. With the learning approach, students tend to become flexible with their time. And that enables learners to learn more efficiently.
2. Affordability
One of the drawbacks of traditional learning is that it requires learners to move from their respective destinations to the classroom. Since that’s the case, most learners will have to pay for transport to receive lectures. This is another thing that the learning style addresses.
Learners can always stay in their respective homes and receive lectures online. With that, it’s safe to say that hybrid learning makes learning more affordable than the traditional learning approach.
What is blended learning and how important is it?
As earlier mentioned, blended learning is a type of learning that uses a mix of traditional learning and e-learning styles. For the online class, learners will be the ones to guide themselves on “what” and “how” to learn. As for traditional learning, learners are expected to be present in person in a classroom, where they will be taught directly by the instructor.
Furthermore, many principles are associated with blended learning. One of them is that there’s always an improvement in the collaboration between students. This is especially true when the group activities are based on what the learners learned online. Like other learning approaches, blended learning also offers several benefits to its learners. One of its benefits is that it’s cost-effective. For several organizations, blended learning helps to reduce training costs.
This is possible because the company will only get to pay less for facilitators. That’s not all; there’ll be a reduction in the payment for accommodation and transportation for the facilitator. Apart from reduced costs, another benefit of blended learning is that it allows learners to learn at their own pace. It also helps to boost learners’ retention ability.
How is hybrid learning different from blended learning?
Many people often use the terms hybrid learning and blended learning interchangeably. In case you also do that, you need to understand that both learning styles are different.
The key difference between the two learning styles is that blended learning only works by combining two things; eLearning and traditional learning. As for hybrid learning; it works by allowing students to choose whether to learn in person or to participate online. It’s simple; instead of going to the classroom, some students, especially those living very far from the place of lecture, may decide to stay at home and participate via the internet.
