Education at Fingertips
Learning becomes easier and more enjoyable when it is dynamic. Remember the good old days when the teachers used to use three different instruments to tell stories; a globe, a map, and a colorful chart. They referred to these additional tools to make it diverse, interactive, and engaging.
Interesting, wasn’t it?
As the world is opening to globalization, the education sector and many industries have transformed as well. Technological developments and the widespread migration of international students have steadily changed the education systems everywhere. Different ways and means are now being adopted to bring improved quality to the existing education system. Educational researchers from various universities and institutions are developing other teaching techniques and enhancing student performance. In this context, one of the recent means being adopted is Hybrid Education.
Traditional education is based on a direct teaching process where the students attend classes or labs. At the same time, the new online trend works on remote communication platforms of mobile applications, interactive video calls, and online classrooms. However, the recent unprecedented pandemic times disrupted traditional education routines, paving the way for online education.
Online education provided an alternative to continuing the education process. However, there are additional issues to it as well. A sizeable portion of students did not have access to essential gadgets like computers, laptops, tabs, the internet, or smartphones. These students were miserably left out.
Moreover, there was limited control over the teachers teaching through online classes. Teachers could not get the actual status of whether the student is attentive, has understood, or is blankly attending the online classes. Network issues too added to the misunderstanding or misappropriation in the process to a certain extent.
Many students from rural areas and in certain cities were unable to attend the online classes. The gap of more than one year saw many schools facing dropouts due to inaccessibility to the online modes. Because of these drawbacks, there was a need to identify the increasing need for developing a hybrid system in education.
Identifying The Need
Educational researchers and some teachers experimented with a new way of mixed modes of education in the Hybrid system. It combined the traditional and online techniques together. In either case, there is a considerable number of students who might be left out of the circle of education.
It was done with two main purposes. One was to allow the students located at remote locations to attend the classes virtually. The other purpose is to teach the underprivileged or slow learning students in a better direct interactive model.
This new mixed type of education catered to all the students offering a unique combination of convenience and need.
Advantages Galore
The new-age hybrid education system offers several advantages to students, teachers, and the education system as well.
- Caters to all types of students who can attend and those on online modes.
- Higher accountability.
- Better control over the teaching process.
- Correct evaluation.
- Excellent clarity.
- Wider reach.
- Greater Flexibility.
- Seamless adaptability to modern technologies.
- Promotes better understanding.
- Encourages higher student involvement.
- Overcomes most of the limitations.
- Recording and data preservation for future references.
The Golden Mean
Hybrid education is an excellent form of logical amalgamation of both the teaching patterns and the technology’s good application. It gives the student a choice to opt for any mode or both the modes. This method uses both modes to enhance the efficacy of the teaching process and make the learning more interesting and enjoyable. Hybrid education helps in better preparation and boosts the confidence of the students. The mode utilizes the technological platforms effectively, giving the students an essential backup of the periods for better practice. Online platforms like YouTube, where the classroom education is telecasted live and date wise and subject wise recording is archived in the system. The teachers of the institution can develop their own YouTube page for the benefit of the students.
Hope for a Brighter Future
Hybrid education has offered a ray of hope for numerous students through its mixed method. This is steadily gaining popularity worldwide. The best part is that it will encourage students to learn newer technologies, develop better communication, and ensure greater clarity. Many students will be encouraged to upgrade and adapt to modern means and technologies. Still, there is a long way to go to reach the students in deeper pockets of the country. However, we can be assured that this is indeed an effective step in the right direction.
- Kedar Borgaonkar
