Blended learning in higher education

Аннотация

Blended Learning is a strategy that creates a more integrated approach to teaching learning process where different learning environments like Face-to-Face, online, social networking etc. are mixed with a goal to provide the most efficient and effective instruction experience. This paper will provide directions for blended learning environment which can be used by institutions of higher learning to make decisions about the learning and teaching initiatives. It also discusses about how blended learning can improves working conditions, improves teaching and benefit student learning process. Key words: blended learning, e-learning, online learning, higher education The teachers at all levels of education had shown a great interest in the technology and computers for teaching and learning. In higher education also, many teachers are making effective use of technology and transforming some or all of their existing course material. There are a growing number of online courses (or e-learning) around the world offered by various institutions of higher learning and universities. Most universities and corporate trainings facilities now offer some or all of their courses online. Across the world, universities offer all sorts of courses in E-Learning these days from IT, Management, Engineering, Medicine and Sports. The World Wide Web has fascinated the academic institutions around the world and provided a potential for a new medium to deliver courses to people, who live faraway from the institution, in the form of the text, audio and video without the need of adding new buildings or hiring new instructors. The majority of the academic institutions accepted e-Learning as an alternative to the traditional classroom teaching without any stiff resistance. The acceptance rate was very fast, rapid and widespread.Today there are many universities and institutions in Uzbekistan also that offer some kind of online learning and teaching in the form of e-Learning. But, the author believes that e-learning when integrated with traditional learning can provide an environment that can lead to more effective and efficient learning. E-Learning to Blended Learning: A review Earlier computers were used for storing and manipulating data to assess the student’s performance. Later the same software and hardware was used as a means for teaching most of the computer-aided based courses. The term blended learning has been in use for more than 20 years but that its meaning has been constantly changing during this period. In the late 1980s, in UK, the Workers Education Association (WEA), Ruskin College and the Open University collaborated on what was called a blended learning programme for adults, without qualifications, returning to education [3, 4]. The programme blended evening/weekend or off- campus courses with residential learning sessions and distance learning support. It was a beginning where the general discussion around course development at the Open University at the time used the term ‘blended learning’ to signify a mix of distance and face-to-face learning. Through the 1990s the corporate training world started using of blended learning as enhancements to the typical corporate training intervention. Corporate short training courses were blended with pre-course readings and post course activities such as action-learning sets and project-based learning teams to embed the learning in the workplace. Participants also received electronic materials (e.g. spreadsheet-based project 237 finance models, trading simulations, technical process modeling etc.), on portable media, initially floppy disk and later CD and eventually through web services. By 2000, web-based distance learning and training was being blended back with supplementary printed manuals and optional face to face interactions at a study center or any location near the student. This was actually a real beginning of e-learning. Jay Cross, founder of Internet Time Group and global consultant, introduced the term e-learning in 1998 suggesting a comprehensive training method via any technology- based medium. Several terms are used to refer to e-learning such as computer-based-training (CBT), online learning (OL), virtual learning (VL), internet-based training (IBT) among several others. Blended learning combines online with face-to-face learning. The goal of blended learning is to provide the most efficient and effective instruction experience by combining delivery modalities. It may involve usage of computer, cellular or Smart phones, Satellite television channels, videoconferencing and other emerging electronic media. ,,Learners and teachers work together to improve the quality of learning and teaching, the ultimate aim of blended learning being to provide realistic practical opportunities for learners and teachers to make learning independent, useful, sustainable and ever growing.”40 Three main technological components required for a blended learning course include: Technology in