Hybrid Education Technology in the New Normal

Most schools at all levels have found it necessary to transform their traditional educational model by combining it with online learning and new learning techniques for the remainder of the academic year. However, as students, parents, and educators have begun to plan for and incorporate technologies to distance school interaction, they have adapted to new tools. It is rapidly converting the traditional model into a mixed model, known as hybrid education. The paper writers researched educational change and concluded that hybrid education is the future model for the education system as a whole.

What is the Hybrid Model of Education?

The hybrid model of education also called blended learning, is a form of teaching that combines didactic tools and resources of the face-to-face and distance modality to improve the student’s experience and the learning process.

It is defined as a student-centered, competency-based pedagogical approach that includes face-to-face instruction and interaction with computer-mediated education, incorporating face-to-face and remote students.

Interaction is a fundamental process, and since it cannot be done in the classroom, it is substituted using technological tools. In these technological spaces, everyone at some point will be connected with two-way audio and video. Online learners will watch the teacher and their peers, using the combination of the classroom with virtual components to create a learning experience superior to traditional training.

In this model, classes can be taken synchronously, meaning learners interact in real-time and asynchronously, where learners interact online at different times.

Implications of a hybrid model in education

In the next cycle of 2022, the school dynamics will be transformed, the daily life in schools will be monitored by the educational actors and conditioned by health standards. The way of assuming the responsibility of those who attend school will be shared, and the schooled academic life will be influenced by a hybrid model, different from the one we are traditionally used to.

Advantages

1. Enhances knowledge and digital skills, and autonomy in students.
2. Maximizes learning spaces, which can change measuring acceptance in institutions with scarce resources.
3. Results-based learning. The student is at the center of efforts, privileging the experience of problem-solving in the real world.

Main Technological Tools of a Hybrid Education Model

A wide range of platforms, software, and content is necessary and fulfills different roles within a hybrid education model with varying levels of effectiveness. The supply of content must integrate different strategies and adapt to the conditions of access to connectivity and devices, particularly for more vulnerable students. Here are some of the most used.

1. Remote Collaboration Platforms

Zoom has a group chat, meeting recording, screen sharing function, virtual whiteboard (a blank slate for writing or drawing), the virtual background that allows you to place images without using a chroma key, integration with Google calendar, and live streaming mode via Facebook Live and YouTube. It is a complete tool. One of the most significant advantages and part of its success is that you do not have to install anything on your computer or be registered to attend a meeting. With Zoom, you have multiple options: chat, share screen, the video quality is HD even with low bandwidth.

Microsoft Teams is an application to organize remote work teams and has all the necessary elements to give online classes. It offers chat rooms divided by subject, news feeds, work areas, and a system for managing and executing documents remotely from the application, which can be very useful for correcting work.

Hangouts Recently, Google offered Hangouts premium features to all G Suite and G Suite users for education because the isolation by the coronavirus increased the use of the app. The tool provides the ability to make calls and meetings with 250 participants and live streaming for rooms of up to 100,000 viewers.

Slack is an application for managing teleworking teams. It has chats that are organized by subject, has groups, rooms, and private messaging. Its main advantage is its integration with a multitude of third-party tools (Gmail, Drive, Asana, Twitter, Giphy) and that it is multiplatform, even having an application for Apple Watch.

2. Audio and video technology devices.

Class participation and student engagement are by no means new challenges, but social distancing is. Even if your educational institution is preparing to return to the classroom, the need to support online learning will still be present, and challenges such as collaborating remotely, staying focused, or mastering technology to provide a consistent learning experience across environments will remain.

Different types of technology devices suit the blended environment of physical and distance learning in a hybrid classroom. Here are a couple of examples and the technology devices that converge:

At home or office: remote teacher.

Poly’s content, video, and voice sharing solutions enable educators to deliver exceptional, high-impact learning experiences, helping make administrative collaboration more accessible, faster, and more productive and incorporating Artificial Intelligence to have an experience that promotes focus for all stakeholders.

In this scenario, we see the teacher teaching remotely. The experience will be satisfactory to the extent that technological devices appropriate to the needs of all participants are included.

In the local classroom: hybrid classroom

In this scenario, we see the teacher teaching in the classroom, with students both in the classroom and remotely from anywhere. We include a series of technologies that could be implemented to provide the optimal experience.

Cybersecurity

Educational innovation requires governance that leads the change in the regulatory framework, which structures the digital transformation of education and guarantees ethical and data privacy considerations. For in the case of an educational center, a simple breach in digital security leaves the way open for cyberspace criminals to gain access to sensitive data, much of it relating to minors.

Conclusion

Teachers and students who are still in a digital divide will not only face work or academic problems. Still, they will also face challenges in their daily lives, to the point of being isolated in certain circumstances or environments. Those who are not digitally competent to get information, communicate or carry out procedures will face severe problems in a context where digital transformation has accelerated.

Government, supplier companies, and institutions must work together to achieve the growth of our country through education, generating better opportunities for all so that we evolve at the pace of the digital transformation that prevails today.

Bio:

Jeanna Bray is a person who finds the right words and forms of presentation to convey the benefits students get when addressing PaperHelp experts for research and writing assistance. You can hardly name a top-ranked copywriting course – free or paid – that she hasn’t attended while pursuing a BA in Digital Communication.