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Blended Learning vs. Flipped Classroom: Strengths and Weaknesses

Conference Paper · April 2017

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Blended Learning vs. Flipped Classroom: Strengths and Challenges

DR J. JOHN SEKAR, MA, MPhil, PGDTE (CIEFL), PGDHE (IGNOU), PGDCE (UH), PhD
Head & Associate Professor
Research Department of English
Dean, Academic Policies & Administration
The American College
MADURAI – 625 002
INDIA
jjohnsekar@gmail.com
Abstract
Blended learning and flipped classroom are two alternative learning pedagogies that satisfy
the twenty first century tech-savvy learners who would prefer active participation to passive
listening while learning. Traditional classroom does not suit the present day generation of
students who are no longer interested in print textbooks as the sole medium of learning.
Western universities offer a number of online courses that individual students across the
world can complete according to their own pace. On the other hand, it has not become a
reality in the Indian context. Though students are technology-friendly, they do not have
assurance for accessibility to ICT-based self-learning due to socio-economic and techno-
cultural reasons. Though both blended learning and flipped classroom have certain distinct
advantages, they also have certain limitations. This article explores the strengths and
limitations of these approaches to teaching and learning of English as a second language in
the multilingual Indian context.
Keywords: blended language learning, flipped classroom, hybrid learning, online learning,
flexible learning
Background of the Study
The twenty first century poses many challenges to language and literature teaching around
the world as far as reading and modes of knowledge acquisition is concerned. The challenges
characterize a significant change in the learning styles and strategies of tech-savvy, visual
learners. Their attention span to listening to one hour teacher monologues has dwindled
inexorably. The traditional teaching methods do not cater to the needs of the present day
learners who would like to have space for articulation of different perspectives, collaboration,
group work, and manual work like project-based learning. They prefer enquiry-based
learning and practice-based acquisition of skills. Traditional teaching and learning modes do
not help them discharge professional duties that lie ahead. They are born and grow up with
communication and interactive technologies and they should be harvested and harnessed with
teaching-learning processes. Moreover, many students tend to engage in part-time work.
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Some of them represent the institutions in college culturals and sports. Many universities
permit students to sit for examinations if they have attended 75% of classes and with penalty
fees those with below certain percentage can sit for examinations. A sizeable student body
prefer distance mode as well. In this context, blended learning and flipped classroom come as
a boon to the present student community.
Literature Review
Brian Tomilson and Claire Whittaker (2013) have edited twenty real case studies from
around the world on blended language learning under five themes, such as English for
academic purposes, teacher development, English for specific purposes, and English as a
foreign language/General English. Shank (2007) has explored 95 ways to enhance blended
learning under ten themes: 1. ideas for supporting learners and learning; 2. ideas for making
collaboration; 3.ideas for making discussions work; 4. ideas for self-directed and
asynchronous activities; 5. ideas for synchronous activities; 6. ideas for self-check activities
and assessments; 7. ideas for the design and development process; 8. ideas for navigation and
usability; 9. ideas for creative design; and 10. ideas for creative media. Diann Wilson and
Ellen Smilanich (2005) deal with seventeen aspects of blended learning as a classroom-
centred approach and argue that blended learning is extending its contribution to additional
training delivery systems. John Bersin (2004) focuses on blended learning as a means of
corporate training as a business investment. He defines the application of technology to
training as e-learning. Khe Foon Hew and Wing Sum Cheung (2014) links blended learning
with evidence-best practices. Kaye Thorne (2003) provides practical examples of how to
integrate online learning with traditional learning. He stresses the need for keeping an open
mind as the key requirement in the implementation of blended learning.
Research Questions
The following questions have been addressed during the course of investigation:
1. What do blended learning and Flipped classroom mean?
2. What reservations do Indian teachers have and how could they overcome?
3. How could it be introduced into the curriculum in terms of help and support?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of flipped classroom and blended learning as
approaches?
Research Objective & Research Experiment
This paper intends to be reflective and therefore qualitative research in design since it
documents personal, academic experience to support the thesis that technology-enable
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teaching and learning can enhance students’ language proficiency and academic performance.
It documents two academic-research practices with a view to substantiating the claim.
One, first year postgraduate students of English have a course called Principles of
Written English. It requires students to create as much language output as possible
continuously on a daily basis. While learning the principles of written English through
interaction in regular classes, their practice of language output was not up to the expected
level. The traditional classroom also had certain disadvantages:
1. Fellow students have no opportunity to read and respond to each other’s composition
though the topic is the same.
2. Teacher has access to one writing at a time.
3. Writing becomes an individual’s accomplishment whereas language is social and
communal.
4. Peer correction is impossible and teacher correction tends to be prescriptive to
individual composition.
5. Writing is confined to time and space.
These constraints compelled the course teachers to reflect over the alternatives
harvesting the technology that almost every student is familiar with. It is Whatsapp! It
enables the course teachers and students to stay and contribute to language output and to
respond to each other’s contribution 24x7 at all places. The outcome exceeded the
expectations. Almost everyone participated and contributed though there were late-comers.
They were not used to using Whatsapp for academic purposes or had their own starting
problems in using it for such academic purposes. Of course, language output in terms of
quality and quantity, fluency and accuracy by women was far more than by men. The
inference one could make is that learning and training through technology enables students to
overcome white paper paralysis by unconsciously getting liberated from fear psychosis
toward writing and thus enhancing their writing confidence and ability.
Two, the researcher addressed an international conference audience in the form of
valedictory address on Flipped Classroom as an Approach to Teaching and Learning English
as a Second Language in a Coimbatore City College, Tamil Nadu in February 2017. One
student participant recorded it and uploaded the live video on his Facebook and it could be
accessed throughout the world. The theory was translated into the practice instantaneously by
a student who represents tech-savvy, willing-to-participate and to-do-things-differently
students of the twenty first century.
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Theoretical Reflections
The meteoric rise and expansion of technology has metamorphosed the modes of how
information is disseminated. It has not only changed the modern way of life, but also teaching
and learning cultures. Modern students are known for their proclivity toward technology and
therefore they are known as “digital natives.” Nowadays they grow up surrounded by
technology. They are all adept at using technological devices, such as smart phones, laptops,
tablets, the Internet, Wi-Fi, YouTube, Whatsapp, and the social media to the extent that they
depend on technology for almost everything. Technology has modified the way students
learn. McNeely (2005:10) says that “they learn by doing, not by reading the instruction
manual or listening to lectures.” Modern students also rely on online resources rather than
printed materials that those who have no digitalized socialization.
Technology improves learning experience. It improves flexibility. Students need not
gather together at a particular place at a particular time to receive education. Learning can
take place both in synchronic and asynchronic settings. Besides, technology has changed the
modes of delivery of education through different online tools like webcasts, video
feeds/video link, podcasts, discussion forums, dialogues/chats, blogs, wikis, and online
assignments. Software programmes (Learning Management Systems or Internet-based
Course Management Systems) enable teachers to upload digital teaching materials to the web
round the clock and thus increase flexible access to education.
Until the end of the twentieth century, learning took place through teaching and
interaction in(side) the classroom. Then online format emerged and learning moved outside
the classroom. Both blended learning and flipped classroom are two technology-enable
learning approaches with distinctive differences from not only from traditional mode but also
from each other. However, both approaches share some common features despite the fact that
the flipped classroom is superior to blended learning. They share on-and off-class
components. They also feature traditional face-to-face and internet-based elements. Blended
learning, also called hybrid learning, is different from purely online teaching models like
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which are becoming very popular across the world.
Blended learning is known so since it blends online learning with more traditional
methods of learning and development. It has evolved from traditional forms of learning to “a
personalized and focused development path.” (Thorne, 2003: 2). It is in fact the most natural
and logic evolution of learning agenda. It is a form of e-learning that has a huge impact on
learning environment. Its potential is immense in revolutionizing learning and development.
It provides solutions to the challenges of tailoring learning and development to the
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individuals’ needs. It harnesses the innovative and technological advances with the
interactive and participatory learning in traditional mode. Stein and Graham (2014: 12) define
blended learning as “a combination of onsite (i.e. face-to-face) with online experiences to
produce effective, efficient, and flexible learning.” It has been tried in both corporate and
academic sectors. Within academia, it has been tried in language teaching and therefore it is
known as blended language learning (BLL).
On the one hand blended learning is still a relatively new concept in Indian ELT and
on the other hand, language and literature education need to be reformed to customize the
individuals’ pace for learning. The social and academic classification of students into high,
moderate, and low achievers can be done away through the proper exploitation of blended
learning and flipped classroom. Language and literature education seems to be slow in
embracing technology when compared with other disciplines. Of course, there are some
attempts to use new interactive, communicative technologies by language and literature
teachers. One of the convincing explanations for a general disinterest in using technology for
teaching purposes in higher education in general and language education in particular is that
there is a genuine shortage of resources. On the other hand, there is a huge demand for higher
education in India, but there is a genuine concern about shortage of library space in any
institution and supply of recent books and journals in any discipline. In turn, lack of such
physical resources causes the delay in the introduction of new teaching technology. Above
all, many language teachers have received no training and therefore they have little
experience in the use of ICT.
ICT changes the way in which English can be taught. Many senior teachers of English
feel more comfortable with textbooks and they believe that the use of computers threatens
traditional literacy skills. They also think that the personal human touch is lost since language
learners are ultimately going to interact with humans and not machines. On the other hand,
there are several benefits and opportunities for engaging students to practice outside the
classroom. Though the importance of English language learning need not be overemphasized
at the tertiary level, it is not in priority for higher educational institutions where students
would like to major in a particular discipline. Three to six hours a week in the first four
semesters of Arts and Science Stream and less in the case of technical institutions are allotted
for English. Hence, online learning can be combined with onsite learning for the following
reasons:
i. it promotes constructive thinking
ii. it enhances creative thinking when reproductive activity decreases
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iii. it enables learners to optimize the time for language learning

iv. it imbibes in them skills of information culture and information processing
v. it increases teaching quality, and
vi. it deepens interdisciplinary connections
vii. it provides opportunities to students to reveal their potential
viii. cyberspace can be more appealing to shy students who feel more confident at
home in front of their computers than in a classroom
ix. it develops learner autonomy, and
x. it widens the scope for self-study
However, blended learning and flipped classroom are hot topics now, but e-learning is still in
its infancy in terms of institutional experiment as part of pedagogy. Teachers and
administrators are just beginning to learn how the Internet and other new technologies can be
best be used to educate, inform, train, and support learners of English.
There is no unified terminological and conceptual understanding of the term since it
overlaps and shares with other models such as blended learning, hybrid learning, online
learning, and podcasting. Though there is no single definition of flipped classroom that is
acceptable to different theorists and practitioners, they all agree on the core of theory and
practice of the learning styles of digital-savvy postmodern learners. At the same time, it
should be borne in mind that the term does not carry any technical meaning. It is sometimes
referred to as “inverted classroom” (Lemmer 2013: 463). The rationale is that flipped
classroom inverts classroom activities with activities that normally take place outside the
classroom.
Flipped classroom is similar to blended learning in the sense that both use face-to-face
and online learning. At the same time it differs from blended learning because of its inverted
activities. Online explanation through audio and video recordings complements and
supplements in-class learning in flipped classroom through interactive and participatory
activities. Hess (2013) argues that flipped classroom does not replace face-to-face teaching
with online instruction. Flipped classroom students acquire content through short video
lectures online and the subsequent class session focuses on analysis, application, and problem
solving in order to deepen their learning. It therefore frees up the in-class time for more
interactive activities while online activities in blended learning replace some of the in-class
time. Since it is blending e-learning with classroom learning, it can be classified as a branch
of blended learning. Flipped classroom is beneficial for the following reasons:
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1. It promotes active learning, increases interaction between teachers and students,

improves collaboration among students, allows flexible learning just-in time, and
fosters critical thinking.
2. Flexible learning suits learning needs of digital native students. It can access learning
resources anytime anywhere and study at their own pace leading to greater ownership
of their learning.
3. It enhances teachers’ and students’ IT literacy.
4. It improves learning outcomes by closing the gap between the strongest and weakest
students who consistently out-perform prior classes. It also causes higher success rates
than online courses.
5. Students’ feedback is encouraging:
i. Increases analytical & problem-solving skills
ii. Group work enhances understanding
iii. Professors assist learners solve problems
iv. Students want more classes to be flipped
The success of blended language learning depends on how the following concerns are
addressed. These concerns can snowball into limitations if they are not addressed. Its
successful implementation relies on several factors, such as
1. Percentage of blending the traditional classroom and the online settings.
2. Not all students have the adequate and right motivation to engage actively in learning.
3. Blended learning should be assessed through blended assessment
4. Creative curriculum should precede blended assessment like evidence-based portfolio
5. Since there is ‘in-person’ contact with teachers, learners are bound to experience
feelings of isolation.
6. Learners may face difficult in terms of how to navigate in the system, how to deal
with problems the technology, and the need for students to be actively involved in
learning
7. Developing countries like India face required funds for the purchase of new
technology, lack of e-learning strategies, training and development chances for the
faculty and students who are likely to resist e-learning.
8. Lack of a firm academic and institutional framework to encourage students to learn
9. Since it involves a high level of self-discipline and self-direction, students with low
motivation and bad self-study habit would fall behind.
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10. It lacks interpersonal and direct, immediate interaction among students and teachers.
Compared to face-to-face learning, blended language learning process is less efficient.
Flipped classroom has its own limitations as well.
1. Since it encourages a learn-at-your-own-space style of education, its success relies
heavily on the principle that students are self-motivated. If they are not, it would not
work with the less or nil-motivated students.
2. It becomes a problem for the teacher to asses where a student is in their education and
the teacher cannot make sure that every student is learning is at a steady pace. It
works on cooperation of, and trust on students.
3. Testing becomes difficult since students would take tests at different times after they
have learnt at their own pace.
4. Fluctuation in the internet accessibility outside the classroom would make a lot of
difference. It can create a digital divide.
5. A procrastination culture may develop in students when they are allowed to learn at
their own pace.
6. Teachers’ work increases: preparing and uploading condensed lectures, introducing
classroom activities, and additional time and effort.
7. It does not follow the ‘teach-to-the-test model.
8. If all teachers start flipping their classrooms, students would have to spend more time
sitting before their systems/smartphones to the extent that it would cause serious
problems to learning processes.
Conclusions
In spite of challenges posed by blended language learning and flipped classrooms, they can
still be effective, hands-on approaches to improving learners’ achievement by involving them
creatively and constructively in their learning. Both approaches combine judiciously with
traditional face-to-face learning. Technology supports and not replaces teachers. Machines
and technologies are secondary to humans and therefore they have additional roles to play in
language learning.
References
Bersin, J. 2004. The blended learning book: Best practices, proven methodologies, and
lessons learned. Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Hess, G.F. 2013. Blended courses in Law School: The best of online and face-to-face
learning? McGeorge Law Review, 45: 51-84.
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Hew, K.F. & Cheung, W.S. (2014) Using blended learning: Evidence-based practices. New
York: Springer.
Lemmer, C. 2013. A view from the flip side: Using the inverted classroom to enhance the
legal information literacy of the International LLM Students. Law Library Journal, 105: 461-
91.
McNeely, B. 2005. Using technology as a learning tool, not just the cool next thing. In Ed.
Diana G. Oblinger, Educating the net generation (pp. 4.1-4.10). Educause.
Shank, P. 2007. The online learning idea book: 95 proven ways to enhance technology-based
and blended learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. Inc
Stein, J & Graham, C.R. 2014. Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide.
New York: Routledge.
Thorne, K. 2003. Blended learning: How to integrate online and traditional learning.
London: Kogan Page.
Wilson, D. & Smilanich, E. 2005. The other blended learning: A classroom-centered
approach. NJ: Pfeiffer.

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