The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 left institutions of higher learning grappling with interrupted academic calendars, which resulted in blended learning.
When normal learning resumed after COVID-19 pandemic, the use of technology to teach had already gained roots, and most institutions are adopting it fully. Zetech University has adopted online learning to enable its students to study without worry.
The institution’s deputy vice-chancellor, academics, research, and student affairs, Alice Njuguna, said that they migrated to online learning in March 2020 by transferring learners to MOODLE and providing students’ with data bundles. “Both staff and students were also trained on videoconferencing tools such as Zoom, BigBlueButton and WEBEX for blended learning,” she said.
She also noted that after the resumption of face-to-face learning, lecturers were still allowing learners to do prior research and communicate with their peers through online forums and chats. READ ALSO Top 15 accelerated teacher certification programs in 2021 This means blended learning is taking place across many other universities in a concept known as flipped classrooms.
Flipped classrooms is a concept that was discovered in 2007 by a teacher from Park high school in Colorado who realised that a lot of class time would be spent guiding knowledge and providing feedback rather than delivering direct instruction. She reasoned that direct instruction could be delivered through recorded video clips to engage students before the class, freeing up class time for activities that allow deeper content exploration.
The flipped classroom has grown in popularity in higher education as a potential mode to increase student engagement, leverage technology and provide greater opportunities for active learning in class.
Flipped learning allows the teacher to provide more personalised attention and learners to work at their pace, which accommodates slow, average and gifted learners in the same class. READ ALSO PP2 syllabus Kenya, learning materials, schemes of work. It also helps the teacher focus on higher-level cognitive activities while carefully assessing students’ understanding. Different from traditional teaching offers learners exposure via a lecture as learners gain knowledge and comprehension inside the classroom. Flipped classrooms mean that students gain first exposure to new materials outside of the class (usually via reading or lecture videos), then use class time in-depth knowledge assimilation.
It also helps teachers cope with growing class sizes and practical or engaging subjects. What can educators do to flip their classrooms? Train both lecturers and faculty. Provide high-speed internet and bundles for remote access to the digital library content. Subscribe to Eduroam; provided through KENET (the education and research network of Kenya to provide internet connectivity). Subscribe to the Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium (KLISC) to allow the academic community access to a host of online journals and e-books. Benchmark with local and international experts on flipped pedagogy. Adopt a user champion approach to deal with resistance. Flip your classrooms and see the learning outcomes improve. After all, the Competence-Based Curriculum does just that. Flipping the classroom. READ ALSO Intakes in Riara University The role of technology in supporting flipped classrooms Moodle, YouTube, Google Drive and Edmodo are some of the technologies that allow sharing of videos, URL links, eBooks and platforms for collaboration and file sharing. Technology can support flipped classrooms through the following affordances: Better capture of content for learners to access at their convenience. Presenting learning materials in formats that allow multimodal learning (audio, graphics, text, video, etc.) Providing learners with opportunities for discourse, interaction and collaboration. Provision of timely content. Provision of anonymous and immediate feedback. Capturing data on progress. Allowing for synchronous and asynchronous engagements.