Research by the BBC in the UK found that nearly a third of university courses combined face to face teaching with online learning in 2022 -23. They found that 28% of courses were now hybrid compared to only 4.1% prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hybrid courses are courses that are a mixture of –
- Face to face, traditional learning
- Online learning
The pandemic obviously had a sudden and substantial effect on education globally, forcing many education providers to offer online learning for the first time, or expand their existing online provision substantially.
The fact that many UK universities, and universities worldwide, are still offering hybrid courses is an interesting one.
Universities state that they are still offering hybrid courses, because they are –
- Flexible
- Meet the needs of the student
- Inclusive (in that they are available to more students potentially)
However, Professor David Latchman of the University of London states that the move towards hybrid learning was a plan for many universities, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic courses this move towards hybrid learning to move more quickly than planned.
However, many students are criticising hybrid courses. Some of the reasons for the criticisms are –
- Hybrid courses do not offer value for money for students who have paid large amounts of money to attend a physical university.
- Not all students appreciate online learning.
- Online learning does not teach good time management skills.
- Online learning does not enable socialisation.
One of the biggest criticisms, though, was that the courses were not clearly advertised as hybrid. This, really, is the crux of the matter. Students attending UK universities during the COVID-19 pandemic were aware that their lessons would be online. Students attending in the last year may have been expecting a return to traditional, face to face learning. The fact that their learning could be partly online was not something that they expected.
Lessons to Be Learned
What lessons can education providers learn from this?
Not For Everyone
The main point is that online or hybrid learning is not for everyone. Some students want the traditional, face to face teaching. That is absolutely fine. We are all different.
Flexibility
Online and hybrid learning offers flexibility in the teaching.
- Students can watch a video “live” or watch it later.
- Students can study when and where they want to.
- They can rewatch or reread topics that they struggle with.
They also often have the advantage of tutor support alongside the online learning aspect of a course.
Clarity
The main point though to learn is to recognise that education providers need to be very clear on exactly what they are offering.
- A traditional face to face educational establishment must make it clear exactly how teaching is offered. Is it all face to face, or is there an element of hybrid or online learning?
- Hybrid educators need to make it clear that there are aspects of online and face to face teaching.
- Online educators need to make it clear that their learning is all conducted online.
This may seem obvious, but it is not always so obvious to the students. A student enrolling on a hybrid course may not realise that they need to attend a certain number of lessons per month. Or they may not realise that they will be studied online for a certain percentage of the course.
A traditional face to face educational establishment needs to make it clear whether their courses include aspects of online or hybrid provisions.
The lesson education providers need to learn is that students want to know exactly how the course is provided – face to face, hybrid or online.
Growth of Online Learning
The online learning industry has been growing for some time. The pandemic caused a massive and sudden growth, but the growth was already happening and continues to happen throughout the world. It is estimated that by 2030, the online learning industry will be worth nearly $190 billion dollars.
There are a lot of education providers out there, but not all of them are clear on exactly what the student should expect.
To be successful in the online learning industry, this clarity, therefore, is essential. Be clear on what you are offering to your students.
Online Learning with ACS
At ACS Distance Education, we only offer online and distance learning courses, and that is all we have ever offered. We are very clear to our students that our courses are –
- Self-paced
- Studied online, by correspondence, or by e-learning
- Can be started at any time. We do not operate on a termly basis, but a rolling programme, so students can study when they want to.
This clarity is important. Students need to know exactly what to expect. If a student is asking a lot of questions about a course and how it is run, it is likely that the education provider is not providing sufficient information to the student to make it clear.
Are you an education provider or would you like to be?
We can help.
- We have substantial experience in offering online and distance learning courses. We have been doing just that since 1979, so we are not new to the online education system.
- Our courses are all developed specifically for online and distance learning.
- We offer over 700 courses and are developing more all of the time. We offer new or existing education providers the option of developing or expanding their education offerings by offering ours.
We are highly experienced and knowledgeable in the field of online and distance learning.
We know the importance of offering courses that do what they say on the tin! We need to be clear to students and business associates exactly what we offer.
If you would like to learn more about –
- Our school
- Our experience
- Our courses
- Developing your own online school
- Offering online courses alongside existing face to face provision
- Expanding your existing online education provision
Then contact us to find out more. Our affiliate team are happy to answer any questions.