Why Blended Learning Works

By: Justin Ferriman • January 22, 2015
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Nearly every classroom today has some form of blended learning opportunity.

Universities have learning management systems in place so that students can access course content, participate in discussions, and perform various class activities outside of the classroom.

Blended learning is even taking place in schools for adolescents with online segments and assignments.

On the surface, blended learning seems pretty straightforward, but there are actually slightly different strategies depending on your desired end-result.

For more details on your blended learning options, see this infographic.

The right mix of the strategies depends on your course content, size, and culture.

comp-deskWhile blended learning is very much the norm for today, why exactly does it work?

At the risk of oversimplifying the answer, blended learning works because it interjects learning initiatives into our digital lives.

If you think about it, this is a concept that is still relatively new. People didn’t have digital lives prior to the internet – or at least not to the degree that we have today.

With smartphones, tablets, apps, and laptops we have effectively created a digital world where we also live.

This is not a negative (although negative things do happen in this digital world, but that’s an entirely different discussion).

Today, children are born and grow in their digital life in parallel with the real world around them. This entire concept is foreign to the billions of people on the planet who were already adults by the time the internet came about.

Which is in many ways why blended learning has become popular and is proving effective. Students today are used to learning in their digital lives as well as in the real-world. Schools that don’t have blended learning programs are missing out on a significant teaching opportunity.

Coming generations expect blended learning because it is all they have ever known. As such, expect the use of blended learning strategies to increase over time. At some point, it may not even be called “blended learning” anymore!

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter