Jason Biundo
“Blended classrooms offer what neither traditional nor fully online classrooms can offer alone: a learning experience that caters to every individual student’s needs.”
– Jason Biundo
Everyone learns differently and requires a different amount of guidance to succeed. Whether it be someone who prefers to work independently or someone who needs more face-to-face help, a blended classroom can benefit every learning style. As someone who likes to learn the material first and then bolster my knowledge in class, a blended classroom is perfect for me.
Before my school transitioned to being blended, I either found myself way ahead or way behind: I never could find a proper equilibrium.
“With the blended classroom, though, I have been able to get the extra help I need when I need it and do extra, more challenging work when I’m ahead so that I am never bored or lost.”
Although I have been a participant in both blended and online classrooms, there are definitely defining characteristics of each. Completely online classes differ mainly in that they require the student to be completely independent in their learning and in the types of and amounts of social interaction with both teachers and other students. Since online courses usually do not have accompanying lectures, all of the learning is done through textbook reading, activities, and other videos. Additionally, the only social interaction in online classes is through typed messages. While this is usually sufficient, it’s often hard to determine the tone of other students during discussions. Similarly, explanations of concepts through text by teachers are often difficult to follow and can sometimes lead to confusion.