Abstract
While the benefits of Blended learning have been well documented. On the other hand, as with all modalities of learning, Blended Learning also has the potential to be stifling and inhibiting for both teachers and learners, as has been documented in many education systems during the pandemic. For example, a study by Busuttil and Farrugia (2020) on Teachers’ experiences of Online Learning during the Pandemic in Malta found that there was ‘a general impression of a shifting of goalposts for Maltese teachers, whose prior and/or recent training and professional development did not prepare them for a more sophisticated set of competences required to tackle technology-mediated learning’(p.237). This overall impression of the challenges for Blended Learning was also found in other jurisdictions such as Northern Ireland, where towards the end of the pandemic, a survey by the Education and Training Inspectorate of Northern Ireland found that almost 65% of Secondary Schools in Northern Ireland ‘expressed concerns that staff were finding online assessment and feedback neither efficient nor particularly manageable’(Education and Training Inspectorate, 2021,p.11).
To make meaning of and deconstruct the various elements of Blended Learning and how this process of learning can be applied to formal education, the paper begins with a review of the various blends, definitions, and models of Blended Learning that exist, which subsequently formed the basis for the conceptual framework that was used in the study. Following this, the next section describes the lessons learned from the mass-scale introduction of technology-mediated processes for teaching and learning prior to, during, and after the pandemic, which is followed by a description of the research design that was used in the study. Next, the penultimate section presents the research findings derived from the study that consisted of interviews with Principals, Teachers, and Students in Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, and Northern Ireland. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the research findings derived from the study and how these findings can be used to enhance Blended Learning processes, ultimately for the purpose of creating more equitable classrooms, regardless of the cultural, and socio-economic affiliation of preferred learning style of students.
To make meaning of and deconstruct the various elements of Blended Learning and how this process of learning can be applied to formal education, the paper begins with a review of the various blends, definitions, and models of Blended Learning that exist, which subsequently formed the basis for the conceptual framework that was used in the study. Following this, the next section describes the lessons learned from the mass-scale introduction of technology-mediated processes for teaching and learning prior to, during, and after the pandemic, which is followed by a description of the research design that was used in the study. Next, the penultimate section presents the research findings derived from the study that consisted of interviews with Principals, Teachers, and Students in Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, and Northern Ireland. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the research findings derived from the study and how these findings can be used to enhance Blended Learning processes, ultimately for the purpose of creating more equitable classrooms, regardless of the cultural, and socio-economic affiliation of preferred learning style of students.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Education, Change and Democratic Societies: New imperatives and creative responses |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 31 Mar 2023 |
Event | Proceedings of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) - Galway: University College Duration: 1 Jan 1976 → … |
Conference
Conference | Proceedings of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) |
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Period | 1/01/76 → … |