4 years ago I wrote an article called a Pedagogy for Blended Learning that has been downloaded over 15,000 times. It was an attempt by me at the start of the Learning Lockdowns caused by COVID to organise my thoughts on the best way to try and negotiate the switch from face-to-face learning to one where more digital resources were employed for communication and to keep the learning going through some very challenging times.
You can access the original document on Blended Learning here and there is more information on the following page
How we use ICT is still in the news. Recently, the Department of Education in England launched non-statutory guidance on how mobile phones should be managed within schools. When I heard this on the radio, I was inundated with a large feeling of déjà vu. We have already been here. We have already had these discussions and we are already going back again to the same arguments of use vs abuse in the classroom and more widely within society. These are debates we had years before COVID, and it seems that we are cycling back to this all over again.
For many people – the jump to having to use Google Classroom and MS Teams came suddenly. Teachers were unprepared, but quickly rallied and worked out the technicalities of keeping the learning going. But how strategic was this? What were the long-term impacts of this and more importantly – what aspects of this shift are we still using in our classrooms today? At the time some excited educational leaders thought this event would create a paradigm shift for learning – but was it? Or, have many of us just returned to the same old ways of teaching that were familiar to us before the COVID crisis?
I like the quote from Derek Wise, the former head teacher at Cramlington Community High Schools when he says (2005) that, “Too often, it has been assumed that ICT will transform learning. It won’t if it is being incorporated into a traditional teaching structure, but its effects are maximised if it goes hand in hand with changes in teaching and learning.”
- What happened?
In March 2020 many of us were forced to consider the idea of Blended Learning for the first time. My favourite quote for this came from the state of Victoria in Australia (2012) when they said that “blended learning refers to the planned implementation of a learning model that integrates student-centred, traditional in-class learning with other flexible learning methodologies using mobile and web-based online (especially collaborative) approaches in order to realise strategic advantages for the education system.”
So – teachers had to quickly learn how to implement this. Some schools went for a direct and institutional approach, whilst others were more ad hoc. Many of us were finding our feet and learning from our mistakes. As someone who had used Google Classroom already for a number of years – my journey was not that radical, but it meant I could support other colleagues who were coming to this mode of teaching and learning for the first time.
It is hard to emphasise just how big a change this was for most teachers. Even for someone like me who had been using Google Classroom to share resources and collect essay from my students previously – this was a massive change. Decisions had to be taken about how to manage the work – would we keep in step with timetables? Would we expect students to log on at the start of the day and ‘be in class remotely’ or synchronously? Would we stick to a set rhythm of setting work, marking it and collecting it in? Would we offer online video classes? Issues of Child Protection and Digital Divide raised their heads quickly. In my school, we realised early on that there was a sizeable percentage of homes that did not have anything more than a mobile phone – so expecting a child to complete an essay or homework on a phone was a big ask. Sometimes, families with multiple children would tell us about having to create a rota for the laptop – mum or dad might need it for work during the day and then the 3 kids would share it in the evening. So – the whole idea of continuing synchronous teaching became moot – this is only possible when all learners have their own device that can be used for learning. Richer parents with multiple devices would maybe complain that classes should continue online as usual – but they maybe did not appreciate the struggles that many other families were having with sharing devices. In many homes, learning just was not a priority.
Now add the confusion about what was happening with exam classes and things get even more complicated. When we went out of school in March 2020 – it took some time before we found out that exams were off and how the grades would be made up for those candidates. There was confusion. Once the grades were agreed and finalised – there was no point in getting students to continue learning. (Though I did for as long as possible as for some this was the only social interaction they were having in a time of great fear). Equally, when schools did not return in January 2021 and were off until Easter – again, it was difficult to know how to engage, teach and prepare students for exams that were no longer exams. It was a strange limbo-land where teachers always felt like they were behind and trying to catch up.
The impact on teachers has been massive. I still do not think we quite understand the toll this took on teachers. As I write in April 2024 I do not think there are teachers who still have to recover from these days. Many were still teaching and trying to do their best through difficult situations. Still working and marking. Still trying to communicate with pupils and stay in touch. Many of my colleagues struggled to find a decent working pattern – they were trying to mark and communicate with students all through the day and night. Some were working and responding to things for up to 16 hours a day and this started to take its toll. There was a stress and tension in trying to stay on top of things and every teacher I spoke to hated having to do teaching and learning in this way.
We maybe were able to streamline things a bit better from Jan to March 2021 – but it was still difficult to make sure that every student was at home working. I came into school as usual most days and as well as getting my school admin done – was able to set up a weekly (long) lesson with some of my classes – so that they could continue working their way through their courses. They later told me how much they looked forward to these lessons and how much it helped their mental health through this time. The reality is that I probably looked forward to the sessions as much as them! Most teachers like routine and it was the break from any form of routine that was the hardest thing to manage.
We have been back to school properly for a couple of years now. We have not had any more lockdowns though the amount of COVID amongst pupils and teachers continues – though we don’t maybe recognise it as such anymore. Attendance though is still a major issue – it is rare for a class to have 100% attendance on any given day. Students are always playing catch up. The result is that teachers have been constantly having to go over things again and again and this has an impact. Teachers are tired. We have never lurched from one holiday to the next and looked forward to short breaks as much. The reason is that we are emotionally and physically drained from the exertions over the last few years, and it will take a while for us to recover.
Many teachers have had enough. It is next to impossible to get Substitute teachers to come in and help cover. Senior teachers are doing massive amounts of cover which is having an impact on their health and wellbeing as well. Many predict that over the next few years – we will lose around 20% of our best and brightest teachers. Fatigue, stress and the general attitude of society that undervalues the work they have been doing – means we are losing people. Yes – we have recently received a pay rise and a settlement on monies owed over the last three years – but there are still major concerns for our profession. Many of our local PGCE courses are struggling to fill their places – when only a few years before there were multiple numbers of people who could not get a place.
However, it is the impact on pupils that concerns me the most. During the lockdowns some pupils did nothing. They arrived back to school expecting to do the same. Even those who had worked well through the lockdowns often felt they were returning to school for a break. It was almost as if the breaks in school had sent some sort of subliminal message to pupils that school and learning was not important anymore. They blamed technological issues on not being able to complete work. The big impact, I feel, was on the break from routine. Since being back to school – I have found that pupils are generally working less hard, spending more time gaming and on their phones, more time on Netflix and just sitting watching stuff and less time doing any form of school work. They have not had to prepare for exams for the last 2 years – so they thought of exams is placing even MORE stress on some to the point that they can’t cope. For example, my Y13 Geography class last year had never done a proper exam before – even though they have gone through 2 years of GCSE. Y14 were the same and they were expected to maybe do ONE exam that will decide their whole grade in a subject. This is the highest of all stakes in testing.
The impact on mental health has been staggering. Today, I see a massive number of students who struggle with motivation. They are not switched on to the qualifications they need for the future and as a result the number of ‘duvet days’ has increased, and the attendance percentages have taken a hit.
In many ways – it is how schools planned for Sept 2020 and Sept 2021 that is most telling. Most school leaders knew that the era of school lockdowns was not over, and that the government could call a closure very quickly at any time. Therefore, we had the backups in place before 1st September – the Google Classrooms and SeeSaw logins were ready to go and ready to be sent out to parents and pupils at a moment’s notice.
What did the parents and students think? The only real data I have for this is from two surveys that I carried out with parents and pupils following each of the two lockdowns. I am not going to go into the key points of what I found in each case, but some of the broad themes that I found are listed below.
- Most parents found using Google Classroom to be a straightforward way of getting work – but some would have preferred work coming to them instead of the pupil
- Many parents (especially for KS3 classes) would have liked more online teaching (through Google Meet or MS Teams) – they did not really understand how this might be more effective with senior students compared to juniors.
- Most parents were happy with the amount of work given. Some thought that there was too much work for students and a minority said there was too little – but the vast majority thought that the amount was just right.
- What changed?
We have been back to school ‘normally’ now for almost 3 years. Has there been a significant change in how we do things and how we no use technology? I have to say that this seems to be a resounding NO in most cases. This blip has not been the systemic change that we thought it could be. Is this just because the speed of change was so rapid as to not enable change? Or was it that the gap between the all in school model to the all at home model was so different that it was difficult to integrate features from both?
Martha Cleveland-Innes (2018) had noted that the SAMR model offered an approach for the progressive implementation of new technology as seen in the table below:
Source: Manson, T (2020) A Pedagogy for Blended Learning
Have we made any progress in this? Have we moved backwards or forwards in the SAMR model? Whilst during COVID we maybe peaked at the Redefinition of our learning for a short period of time but have we fallen back to a modification of our teaching or even where things only display a slight augmentation? Are we taking more opportunities to use ICT and to embed its use into our lessons? I don’t see any evidence for this. If anything, some teachers might be more reluctant to go back to the ‘COVID-style’ online teaching that was prevalent a few years ago. I see less use of online platforms like Google Classroom than we did before COVID. Maybe teachers (and learners) experienced IT-overload through the various COVID lockdowns. Maybe teachers have been happier enjoying the person-to-person space instead of the virtual space for their class activities. We still have the same issues that some pupils lack appropriate access to facilitate learning whilst others solely use the access (and phones) that they do have do have solely for social media purposes and do not consider or investigate the benefits that digital devices can bring for learning. The countless warnings about Child Protection put many teachers off dipping their toe further into digital teaching. Whole school mobile phone bans make it ever more difficult for the innovative teacher to try something a little bit different.
However, the reality is that teachers just do not need to access blended learning in the same way that they did during the COVID pandemic. Now – these measures are seen as a back up to how learning should happen. They are still there, in the background, ready to be implemented in the case of another crisis. But, there are few attempts to keep pushing the learning into the digital sphere.
Just over a year ago I attended a conference in England where one of the presenters put together a very logical and persuasive argument on the benefits of AI (Artificial Intelligence) within the classroom. I was blown away by the reach of the different pieces of software and in Northern Ireland we have started to see some of the implications of this shift in technology. Just as ‘Google’ became the great educator and knowledge base for all known things, AI seems to be an even more advanced way for students to access scholarly material. Yet, more teachers seem to feel threatened by the advancements in AI than previous software changes. Many forward-thinking teachers have started to work out how to best harness this technology for good, yet, we are also developing an awareness of how some students have started to use this technology in a way that makes their coursework and portfolios much better without the hard graft that is usually required.
The fact remains though – that forward-thinking, inventive, and inspirational teachers will continue to stay abreast of the developments in ICT and will try to use the best of these changes in making their lessons fun, informative and interactive.
- What’s next?
Xperencify[1] have notes in an article called ‘What is Blended Learning (and How to Leverage it in 2024’ that Blended Learning is a ‘program that combines the best of offline and online learning, balancing absorbing information and returning to the practical world to apply it.’
MBR University (in Dubai) have a nice video on YouTube that helps with the explanation of how Blended Learning should look in 2024. https://youtu.be/-bwhR1ZKGRE
Is there still a place for Blended Learning?
The key challenge, I believe, is in getting students to see all digital devices as learning devices and not just as social devices. Instead of banning phones from schools, we should be coming up with innovative ways that allow students to be creative and to use their phones to help them study, learn and make educational progress. We need to realise that the lowest common denominator in relation to digital devices is the smart phone. Many students do not have tablets, PCs or laptops – so we need to think about how we can promote the use of phones for learning. These devices are unbelievably powerful – with fantastic cameras and a propensity for apps that boggles the mind.
During one of the COVID lockdowns, my daughter decided to learn more about astronomy and took an online MOOC hosted by the Open University. This was a self-directed walk through a series of lectures, activities and readings and she ended up completing the course and received a certificate of completion at the end. Is this something that schools should be leaning into? Should we be allowing and facilitating students to have some time available where they can follow something different?
Google staffers are allowed ‘20% Project time’ where they can spend 20% of their time working on their own side project. Many of these projects have eventually ended up being folded into the main Google offer (eg Google Classroom is one such example). Is there a possibility that students can also get their own version of 10% time where they are allowed some time where they work on their own ‘side’ project maybe working at an online qualification or MOOC? In Northern Ireland the University of Ulster host a Discovery Academy and the Open University host OpenLearn which both offer free opportunities for students to go further across a range of subject areas and to advance their learning.
Could schools maybe consider putting some of their courses into an online, sequential format? Would this save teaching time and allow students to ‘collect’ other qualifications outside of the usual classroom routine? Can we encourage teachers to move from the model where they have to be in control and monitoring all progress to one where students take more responsibility and pass through a series of ‘learning gates’ to achieve success? The UK DfE have put together some proposals for an ‘Online education accreditation scheme’ which is aimed at creating set standards for online courses aimed at schools. Perhaps this will help to create a shift from synchronous, face-to-face learning in schools to a more self-paces asynchronous approach.
Do the dangers outweigh the possibilities?
For many teachers, the thing holding us back is that danger of what could happen. No-one should ever play down the real and deep issues that can be found when social media is used for online bullying and abuse. Yet – this is something that students need taught. They need to be shown how to use their phones in a safe, non-threatening and productive manner. Dealing with online issues can be difficult for schools to engage with or to be able to fix – but that does not mean that we can’t try.
The model for teaching and learning in Northern Ireland has been largely stuck in the same position for the last 20 years. In order for learning to continue to be as effective as possible in the modern society of today – we need to start thinking about taking learning into new directions. We need to be less rigid with our school structures. We need to lean into the other opportunities that can be found out there across both the online and in the real world. We need to ensure that the education that we are providing for learners is fit for purpose for people who are going to be living to the end of the 21st Century and we need to move away from our 20th Century and sometimes even, 19th Century thinking. We need to embrace learning on all its devices and find a way to marry learning in school and at home, online and offline.
[1] https://xperiencify.com/blended-learning/
Manson, T (2020) A Pedagogy for Blended Learning
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