CLSU DevCom students' perceived efficiency of blended learning vs traditional learning
Date
2023
Authors
Jasmine Joyce V. Ruiz
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Abstract
The students’ individual needs must be considered by the teachers in every learning activity. The effective teaching method of the teacher needs to be responsive and liberating. It is up to the instructor to use an instructional approach that results in successful, engaging, and student learning. However, it still depends on the teachers to choose a method that they are confident to utilize in consideration of its suitability to the competencies to be learned by the students, its suitability to the situation, to the individual needs of students, and to their ability. Thus, with the rise of modern tools and the continuous development of technology at the same time, many changes have occurred as well as the methods and strategies of teachers in teaching because, with the advent of technology, there have been two methods of teaching: blended learning and traditional one. What exactly is this blended learning? It is a blend of face to face and online instruction by a teacher. What is traditional schooling? It refers to a setting where teachers talk or teach the students in a classroom set-up. According to Hoffman (2019), it was found out that the different learning modes and materials are blended learning which is organized to aid students in exceeding their individual educational objectives more successfully than those who engage in traditional learning that is organized to aid students in exceeding their individual educational objectives more successfully than those who engage in traditional learning.
Therefore, the study responded to the following questions about: What is the socio-demographic profile of respondents; what are the influences of both blended and traditional learning in the Development Communication program of CLSU; and What is the effectiveness of blended and traditional learning applied on the Development Communication Program as perceived by the students? The study population consisted of 4th year DEVCOM students who experienced both blended and traditional learning and used complete enumeration. The results showed that there are differences when it comes to student learning in traditional and blended learning in terms of influences. Blended learning let students learn on their own time and improve their ICT skills more than traditional. However, the students cannot learn better and faster when the learning mode is blended. According to Malipot (2021), a Social Weather Stations released on March 13 showed that nine out of 10 Filipino families or 89 percent have enrolled members who considered that blended learning is harder than the face to face set-up. Leonor Briones, the then Education Secretary, explained that blended is difficult because it is not just about the concept of blended learning that seeks a blended approach, this is also because the environment in which the blended is implemented is very difficult and challenging even for those who are older.
In addition, it is also difficult to teachers to make a policy for this type of study and it is also not complete. Something is missing because usually, a person has some in-person time, a day or a whole week unlike blended. Therefore, students learn faster in traditional learning. In learning activities in blended modality, the students access it at their convenient time and also enjoy working their assignments by themselves. However, blended learning did not keep the student alert and focused, but made them comfortable because the online materials are available and information can be accessed easily. In traditional learning, the students learned more and their writing skills has improved. By doing their coursework, they feel challenged because the learning objectives are clearly stated and carefully planned. Students can also easily communicate and ask for help from their classmates and teachers and they can answer quickly. As an overall result of effectiveness, traditional is more effective compared to blended learning according to respondents. When it comes to managing time, blended modality is more helpful than traditional. According to a study by the Christensen Institute (2017), Blended learning is an official school system where students learn at least in part online, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or speed; at least in part in an evaluated brick-and-mortar location away from home; and the learning modalities used in each student's path within a course or subject are linked to offer an integrated learning experience. Students feel glad learning through traditional way. However, in doing assignments, it is easier for them when the mode of learning is blended. Furthermore, in traditional learning, students gain more information and improve their grades. While in the process of learning, traditional is faster and increases students’ communication skills than blended. For data structure modules, traditional is more interesting and easier to handle. Therefore, the findings of this study indicated that traditional education is more effective compared to blended learning because when it comes to learning, traditional mode is more effective type of learning method. This process is faster and their acquired knowledge increases, so their grades have improved when traditional is the way of learning. According to the study of De (2018), traditional learning facilitates the interaction between students and teachers. It also provides a way to better identify and assess students' strengths and weaknesses in order to apply them to their careers. Students can also send part of their views and clarify their own questions to the teacher so that their questions can be answered immediately. Communication with teachers is also a way to help motivate students to achieve high grades.