Embracing Blended Learning Approach for Professional Growth of in-service School Teachers Post Pandemic of COVID-19

Abstract

The impact of the pandemic has been felt through all sectors of the global society including the field of education. The pandemic is a strong indication of the fact that things will not be the same as they were before. Similarly, the educational institutes that were working regularly would also undergo a change in the methodologies that they will adopt post-pandemic. Many research scholars and educationalists believe that a blended learning approach will become a reality as a dominant pedagogy for the teaching-learning process. The current situation demands a proactive strategy where not only students but teachers are also considered as learners while talking about their professional growth through seminars, conferences and refresher courses. The present study lays emphasis on embracing the blended learning approach in professional development training courses for school teachers which will provide an opportunity to inculcate educational programs across disciplines in Indian as well as global communities. The study consists of 169 in-service school teachers from India. Simple random technique of sampling was use to collect data. The attitude of school teachers towards blended learning and its six dimensions viz. learning flexibility, online learning, study management, technology, classroom learning and online interaction was studied. Also, the effect of gender and location of educational institutes where they teach was considered. Analysis for the testing research hypothesis was done using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS-26). The results indicated that both male and female teachers have similar attitudes towards blended learning but their attitudes varied while considering the six dimensions. Also, it was found that school teachers teaching in urban areas had a more positive attitude towards blended learning and its dimensions as compared to those teaching in rural areas. Implementation of blended learning for professional growth of school teachers post pandemic will push the boundaries of learning by creating opportunities for collaboration of various educational societies throughout the globe, enhance constructivist learning and also help in following social norms set to fight against COVID-19.

Students’ Satisfaction in College: Implementation of the Blended Learning Method

“…The learning environment with the BL-M must also be considered by educators (Megahed & Hassan, 2021) for the development of satisfaction and also the quality of learning. In addition, the readiness of professional educators is also an urgent matter in the application of BL-M (Saboowala & Manghirmalani Mishra, 2021;Saboowala & Manghirmalani-Mishra, 2020).…”

Inservice School Teachers Perception of Adopting Online-Offline Mode of Learning During Current Crisis

“…Which requires the teacher and students both being physically present, with some factors of student control over time, place, path or pace and also, educational materials and technology for online communication. While students physically attending schools with a teacher present, face-to-face classroom practices are blended with computer based activities in terms of content and delivery to improve the teaching-learning experience and to motivate the students to search more to the given content (Saboowala and Manghirmalani Mishra, 2020) Over a period of time there has been a high growth in the adoption of Blended Learning (BL) in the eld of education, but just a few research emphases on adoption problems associated with learners, academic staff and management. Thus, research is required to direct and guide universities in deliberately reviewing learners, academic staff and management for adoption of BL.…”