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Blended Learning in the New Normal. The Case of Kondo Cluster Mudzi District

2024; Volume: 11; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.20431/2349-0381.1102004

2349-0373

Ndongwe Evershine, Mukucha Mugove, Simpu Stanely,

Mobile Learning in Education

Blended learning has developed into a widespread teaching and learning methodology in today"s didactic world.Resultantly, various institutions have begun using blended learning in their regular academic programs.Nonetheless, some schools in remote and rural areas tussle to find an appropriate teaching approach in their regular schedules and have faced teacher retention issues in those communities.That is the reason why many schools have been forced to permanently close, while others have chosen to adopt a hybrid instructional approach called blended learning, which is a complete mix of traditional and contemporary methods that have abetted significantly solve the problem in remote and rural communities.While various institutions explain blended learning differently, the most common definition is "a combination of traditional face-to-face and online instruction" (Graham, 2012, p. 334).Likewise, Neumeier (2005, p. 164) defines blended learning as "a combination of face-to-face and computer-assisted learning in a single teaching and learning environment".Thus, pupils learn from home by using technology in their flexible time and the classroom.In the same milieu, Hockly (2018, p. 97) argues that "the use of computer technology as part of blended learning is usually understood to take place in another location to the face-to-face teaching, and most likely in the pupils" own time".In modern world, numerous pupils are learning from home.Consequently, they meditate that home-schooling is the best preference for them which runs exclusively online.However, those pupils and parents who have experienced blended learning prefer blended learning to online education.Based on a survey conducted by Tayebinik, et al. (2012, p. 1), it is concluded that blended learning is "an efficient approach ...in terms of pupils learning experience, pupil-pupil interaction as well as pupil-instructor interaction and is likely to emerge as the Abstract: In the wake of COVID 19, teaching and learning flopped and proved to be an unsurmountable task with the old and most common face to face teaching methodology.Pupils lost their learning time with almost every school facing closure.Needed was the most relevant and fruitful strategies to gain back education.Nonetheless, with the development of technology in education, various methods of teaching have been adopted across the world.Many countries have made technology a fundamental part of their classroom, and some nations have toiled hard to integrate it in innumerable ways.Through a literature review, this paper explores the fears, challenges and opportunities in blended learning in rural and remote schools.This study finds how blended learning helps schools balance teacher demand and supply issues in rural and remote areas of Mudzi District.The present study revealed that blended learning is considerably more favourable as opposed to face-to-face only, home-schooling, and pure online education and offers several benefits for pupils such as use of ICT gadgets, accessing internet, teacher retention and improvements on schools available in their community.This research concludes that blended learning is an excellent approach to teaching and learning in rural areas regarding teachers' availability, pupils' time to travel to the city, and pupils' interaction with their teachers and colleagues.Conversely, challenges including unavailability of internet connection in schools, unavailability of or intermittent electricity supply, unavailability of ICT gadgets in schools and home, poor radio and television signals, and poor uptake of radio and television lessons by pupils in remote rural schools among other things have been the causes for concern in fostering blended learning in Kondo Cluster in Mudzi District.