What Is a Blended Learning Approach?

The COVID-19 pandemic touched several areas of work. Perhaps one notable area that has been profoundly affected is education. Many schools closed, shifted to an all-online format, and required students to complete schoolwork from home. Other schools reopened but instituted strict social distancing and drastically limited class sizes and activities. Still, others adopted a combination of remote online learning and limited on-campus learning.

As a result, two trends have emerged that may reshape education in the years to come:

The good news is that this technology already exists. New advances in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), a technology that allows users to access virtual desktop environments from any device, enable schools to fully take advantage of blended learning. This learning combines the effectiveness of face-to-face instruction with the versatility of online learning platforms.

This capability will be crucial to the next phase of education. While schools and universities scrambled to piece together a solution when the pandemic hit, strategies like blended learning will help ensure educational continuity amid other potentially disruptive events.

If used correctly, VDI and blended learning can significantly improve the equality and reach of educational instruction because all students gain all the benefits of in-person interaction and online content.

What Is Blended Learning?

Simply put, blended learning is the practice of using both online and in-person learning experiences. In a traditional teaching environment, all instruction is delivered in a face-to-face format, such as lectures, discussions, labs, and other learning activities. Online learning courses deliver at least 80% of course content online, with little to no face-to-face interaction.

Putting these two formats together, blended learning combines in-person and online experiences. There are numerous ways to customize a blended learning environment. The ratio of classroom activities to digital media can vary, giving instructors the ability to customize their teaching processes.

Blended learning is more than just mixing instruction with technology or swapping classroom tools for digital ones. The online and in-person elements work together to create an integrated learning environment in a true blended-learning course. This multimodal learning strategy uses digital content to replace a portion of class time.

For example, students can spend a portion of their time in a traditional classroom setting and also complete online components of the course outside the classroom independently. Supplementing in-person learning sessions with digital material helps students reinforce concepts and practice what they learn. When students can customize their learning experience, they can learn at their own pace, using the best modalities for their learning styles.

What Are the Benefits of Blended Learning?

Blended learning recognizes that while digital technology offers new benefits of accessibility and efficiency, it cannot replace in-person learning. However, recent data suggests that online content will increasingly play a central role in education.

A blended learning approach mixes the best elements of in-person and online instruction. This benefits both teachers and students in numerous ways:

What Technologies Support Blended Learning?

Technology has always been a valuable learning tool, and its use has evolved. For example, computers replaced typewriters, and smartboards replaced overhead projectors. Instead of printing paper handouts that must be collected, assessed, and returned to the students, instructors can post a discussion topic online. This saves time and facilitates a collaborative atmosphere in which students can respond to one another, even after class is over, enhancing the learning process.

A successful blended-learning environment depends on a sustainable IT framework. With virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), students and teachers can access resources remotely using their preferred devices. For example, a student could use an iPad to access a virtual Windows desktop that would provide the same look and functionality as a school desktop computer.

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) offers a complete VDI solution to meet these blended-learning needs. It enables virtual learning and remote access to desktops and applications from any location. It also allows work or study from students’ devices of choice, including tablets and smartphones. And critically, it helps ensure security by monitoring and restricting access to data on- and off-campus.

Parallels RAS empowers educational institutions to implement blended learning programs through benefits such as:

Although an online environment will probably never replace the traditional classroom fully, blended learning can strengthen our knowledge in ways we’re just beginning to realize.

Interested in learning more about employing a blended learning approach with Parallels RAS?

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