Blended learning is a worldwide trend.  In Asia, more and more educational institutions are opting for this option and, what was once a residual and almost anecdotal choice, has become the new necessity. But what is Blended Learning and why has it been increasing in prominence?

What is Blended Learning?

Blended Learning is an educational methodology that embraces a hybrid option of traditional face-to-face teaching with different alternatives offered by online education.

What are the Benefits?

1- It allows you to make your agenda more flexible:

in an increasingly difficult working world, with impossible schedules, trips and meetings, the option to choose when and from where you study is growing in the hearts of many students and professionals.

2- We have become used to owning our decisions:

we must admit, in our day to day we choose from thousands of options of yogurts, cereals, telephone companies, taxis, insurance…. Freedom of choice and the infinite possibilities associated with consumerism and liberalism affect all fields, including education.  Our students increasingly want to have more voice and vote on how and what they study – feedback we, as teachers, love to receive!

3- It is demonstrably more effective:

Whether for the reasons stated above, or for pedagogical evidence (showing that a student learns more as he or she gets more involved in his own “meta-learning”), there are several studies that ensure greater success in learning when the course counts with the characteristics of Blended education.

4- Sometimes we forget things – and apps are the perfect assistant:

imagine that to your memory, your agenda and your teacher you can add an app or platform that reminds you at the right time what unit you should take back, what video you can visit to complement your learning or when it is the workshop or event to complement what you learned the last fortnight. It can definitely make a difference.

5- We have the world in our hand (or in the pocket):

You get bored in the subway: you study Spanish. Your friends don’t stop talking about politics at dinner: you study Spanish. Your bus does not arrive: you study Spanish. The school is in your pocket at your fingertips at any time. And the sum of those little moments is sometimes the key to learning!

6- Technology does not get tired (nor can it fall ill, nor have feelings):

How many times has it happened to us to start a course and see that we don’t like the teacher? Or feel that there is no chemistry with the facilities, or that our classmates squeak us … The possibility that part of the learning is digital minimizes the impact of all these issues, which in a 100% traditional education have no escape or alternative.

7- Not everyone learns at the first time:

Just as the classes cannot be rewound, nor does the teacher usually repeat his explanations, the digital options usually allow us the possibility to return again and again to what we are learning and it costs us so much … Remember: practice makes perfect!

8- And not everyone learns at the same pace:

Similarly, a classroom usually has diverse students who learn at very different rates. The combination with online methods and data analysis allows each student to receive what they need just when they need it, something impossible to offer for a traditional teacher in a normal classroom.

9- But nothing equals (yet) the direct interaction with a teacher

Yes, we all know, online education has infinite advantages. But let’s recognize that nothing is comparable nowadays to a good native teacher or Spanish tutor, no machine has the ability to impact, intuit and touch us as a great teacher can. Maybe in the distant future, or in some chapter of Black Mirror, but not in this century.

10- Group interaction is an irreplaceable value (and sometimes a pleasure):

The vast majority of our students in Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur see in Spanish classes not only an opportunity to learn the language, but also a perfect excuse to meet new people with the same interests, get out of the routine, laugh , socialize, find new hobbies … And that is not offered by apps.

In short, for these ten compelling reasons, dear Spanish students:

Welcome to the era of Blended education!