EPALE discussion: Blended learning in adult education
EPALE
Editor
During this year, education in all sectors has been challenged in unprecedented ways with the closure of all types of education institutions. This has resulted in much debate about the future development of a blended learning approach to the delivery of education at all levels.
Within this context, on Thursday 26 November 2020, starting from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. CET, EPALE will be hosting an online discussion on blended learning in adult education.
The discussion will have a brand new format, starting at 10 with a 30 minutes live streaming, accompanied and followed by the discussion on the platform’s comments.
The live presentation will be delivered by Lauri Tuomi, the CEO of The Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation (Kvs), and a board member of the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA). He will examine the question of a blended approach to adult education citing examples of how this worked in practice in Finland during the exceptional period of COVID-19. The perspective for the blended learning is long-term as this year is the 100th anniversary of distance learning in Finland.
The discussion will include the following topics:
- Is a blended approach to delivering adult education the best way forward in a situation of prolonged closure of adult education centres?
- What are the main challenges to implementing a blended approach to learning in adult education?
- What adult education initiatives and policies are required to implement a blended learning approach to adult education?
We invite you to share your experiences and reflections during our online discussion, facilitated by Dr. Tuomi and members of his team, and even before.
Comments are already open so participants can introduce themselves or post their comments in advance!
Watch below the live presentation on 26 November at 10 a.m. and the wrapping up session at 3:45 p.m. (CET)
Comments
Inverse Blended Learning
In the context of blended learning, also the concept of "Inverse Blended Learning" is worth mentioning, which relates to online courses enriched by on-site teaching. For example, the "EBMooc" carried out in 2017 and 2018 by CONEDU was accompanied by weekly gatherings for discussions of the course content at educational institutes near the participants' residences. In comparison to other MOOCs, the participants' engagement in discussion forums was significantly higher, as was the completion rate. It can therefore be inferred that inverse blended learning fosters interaction among learners in online learning environments and helps maintaining the participants' motivation.
For more information on the MOOC, see https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/content/ebmooc-plus-open-online-course-adult-educators
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Great initiative and really
Great initiative and really interesting topic. We're looking forward to finding more soon!
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More than how (mixed approach) , we need to decide "about what"
The mask is not placed on the eyes! We need to elect the pandemic situation as a focal point for learning in adult education. Why is it not around complex and difficult-to-manage, personal, social and professional issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic that all learning in literacy and non-formal and informal adult education materializes?
Can we imagine a more evident and more appropriate learning context for educational, training and citizenship-promoting approaches than the one that the COVID-19 pandemic provides spontaneously and naturally?
Another pedagogical approach
Of course, any and all learning contexts must result from negotiation processes and even co-construction with the adults involved, but it is clear that it is necessary to URGENTLY ADAPT THE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH to a situation so severe that it conditions and afflicts families, citizens and local territories in their daily lives.
But by simultaneously assuming that the dynamics of everyday life can constitute in themselves a potentially relevant framework for learning, we can then combine the events of the day-to-day journey with the connections and risks of COVID-19 by designing a path of pragmatic and clearly perceived learning by adults.
Key themes
CAN COVID-19'S OWN PANDEMIC BE THE BASIS OF ALL LEARNING ACTIVITIES, in actions related to adult education?
The contrary is that it is absurd, adults who are living an absolutely extraordinary, dramatic and high-risk period who are involved in learning issues forcibly imposed, as if nothing was happening in the daily lives of those who participate in literacy processes or qualification.
What themes emerge as evident? Three examples only:
The theme of “living together”
The awareness of the importance of solidary behavior in matters of health prevention is built on the understanding and appropriation of the mechanisms of contagion and the ways to counter it with full knowledge of the cause. The collective response, as is the case with confinement, must be associated with other historical realities and gregarious processes at the anthropological and sociological level. Solidarity saves lives and strengthens the capacity of collectives.
Health topics.
After all, why do we talk about risk groups? Who are? Why are they? Does the group belong to this group? What initiatives can be taken to counteract weakness in the face of critical public health situations.
The theme of food
The reformulation of the basic food supply processes and the need to rebalance the composition of meals, namely with the consumption of local and seasonal products.
Adult education and social development
These approaches are focused on everyday life and on the concrete issues that the pandemic poses.
But there may still be another approach that lies in responding to a central question of social development:
CAN ADULT EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO HELP COMBAT THE PANDEMIC AND STRENGTHEN LOCAL COMMUNITIES?
In other words, to establish the purpose of adult education activities as their contribution to the resolution of problems in society and the mobilization of local resources to strengthen communities and the meaning of collective life.
Carlos Ribeiro
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I think the mixed approach
I think the mixed approach has enormous potential. The problem / challenge, at least in Portugal, is to ensure that adults in training have equal opportunities to participate in a mixed learning system.
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complex approach
It is possible to use the complex approach especially now . When we are teaching and learning we support the learners also psychologically, they dont feel alone, they are engaged in learning.Of course we have to think also about material basis , access to Internet ,learning materials, skills Now the situation requires this complex approach, otherwise we ll have no results in learning process.
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Blended learning and low digital skills
Hi there.
Congratulations for your this initiative!
In Portugal, we have recently developed to IEFP a hybrid framework designed to support the transition of short-term training courses, which are usually carried out fate-to-face, to a format that allows them to be carried out remotely.
The option for the hybrid model proved to be adequate when applied on the ground, in a training pilot that involved more than 50 trainers and a thousand of trainees.
However, it was clear that weak qualifications in terms of digital skills would be a major obstacle to the generalization of this hybrid model.
From your experience, how can you maximize the potential of hybrid training models if the trainees still lack the essential digital skills and digital fluency?
I will appreciate your inputs.
Thanks a lot.
Fernando
The framework (in Portuguese) is available here:
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Hi Anne, the issue is not
Hi Anne, the issue is not just the lack of motivation. The question is that actually there are a big part of adults that can't attend this kind of pedagogical offer. What has been the Finnish experience for adults to achieve the minimum skills considered necessary to be able to take advantage of the hybrid model.What has been the Finnish experience for adults to achieve the minimum skills considered necessary to be able to take advantage of the hybrid model?
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NSS Portugal - blended learning in adult education
Hello! Here we share our opinion and experience about blended learning in adult education.
We think the blended approach is a good option when it is not possible to assure adult education, considering, for instance, a limited period of shutdown, as it happened during the first pandemic wave.
However, as we discussed on EPALE Community Conference 2020, adult education needs to be adapted and customised to the learner. One size does not fit all. So, the blended approach may not be the best option for some public target. For those adults without digital competences or without personal computers or internet the blended approach can be demotivating. Besides, some adults need to be face-to-face supported to pursuit their learning activities, mainly if they are not much self-confident.
So, the blended approach must be considered a possible methodology, but we can’t ignore all the others. The important is to find the best approach for each adult, if we want to leave no one behind.
What are the main challenges to implementing a blended approach to learning in adult education?
During the shutdown period, in March 2020, the Qualifica Centres (centres that are responsible, in Portugal, to guide and referral adults to qualification pathways and also to assure the recognition of prior learnings) were closed and were recommended to keep their adult education activities at distance. For some adults, the learning process initialized in a face-to-face approach and pursued at distance. After that, the Qualifica Centres were asked about the activities carried out and the main challenges the centres and adults faced. The results of this inquiry were analyzed by National Agency for Qualification and Vocational Education and Training (ANQEP) and showed that, generally, adults expressed a positive feedback. However, some adult felt difficulties associated to the lack of digital skills, the insufficiency of resources (like personal computers or internet) or even to a weak motivation to work in a blended model.
For Qualifica Centres’ teams the main challenges reported were the difficulty to implement more often some sessions at distance, the redefinition of technological and training procedures, how to keep the adults’ motivation and how to reach adults who didn’t have access to technology.
What adult education initiatives and polices are require to implement a blended learning approach to adult education?
First of all, to implement a blended learning approach to adult education all actors (teachers, trainers and trainees) need to have access to technology and a certain level of digital skills to use it properly. Otherwise, only some of them benefit from this approach and, very likely, will not be the ones with the lowest qualifications.
So, it is necessary to implement a programme to facilitate the acquisition of those equipment and also to promote the attainment of basic skills training sessions.
Moreover, the adult education should obey to a model really flexible that adapts to a blended approach. In this model, individualized teaching should be given priority to what is done majority in classes. This way any adult can learn at is own pace and according his priority and interests.
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We're waiting for your questions and ideas
Dear EPALE members,
you can already start posting your questions for Lauri Tuomi and share your experiences on the topic of blended learning.
Mr. Tuomi will address your questions during the live presentation live streamed here on this page on 26 November at 10 a.m. (CET) and throughout the day in this comment section.
We're looking forward to read your contributions and suggestions!
Kind regards,
Guido Adragna - EPALE Team
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Didactical opportunities
I hear and read some of your comments here, and i am struck by how we still talk about divides, access, the lack of presence when meeting online. While those issues may be relevant, i feel we have discussed them over and over for a very long time. What I would like to see here is a some deeper reflections and experiences of in what ways blended learning/hybrid learning have affected the way we teach, and learn, not just that some silent learners have been more active. Yes, I know there are a lot of challenges related to access and digital skills, but i also think we need to at the same time discuss on a deeper level our didactics, examples of successful blended learning and so on.
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Indeed Johanni we need do
Indeed Johanni we need do need a deeper discussion of appropriate pedagogical techniques and examples of good practice. But I feel they will take time to emerge, as it is really only in the last 8 months or so that this approach has really come to the front of everyone's thinking and I feel what you describe, will be in the next phase
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You are probably right. at
You are probably right. at the same time this is frustrating, as we have developed, and offered, and talked about this for some 20 years now. It sometimes feels like we are never getting past phase 1, and we are eternally talking about the problems/challenges and/or the possibilities. Perhaps it is just me, being impatient.
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You speak from my heart
It's not only you. Sometimes I have that feeling too.
On the other hand, I have the hope that we are now (due to the pandemic) actually making progress.
On the other hand, I have the hope that we are now (due to the pandemic) actually making progress.
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Dear Johanni, thank you for
Dear Johanni, thank you for your excellent point. It is essential that also the adult education reserachers are encouraged to research how blended learning has affected the way we teach. Also, this discussion board is for the deeper dialogue: do you have any reflections / experience of your own you would like to share with us?
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I find that I use time
I find that I use time differently. Training online is much more intense, less slack, and less pauses. I also find it harder to engage with each learner, as they are virtual and thus (in synchronous settings) often harder to see and reach. When in asynchronous settings i enjoy the extra time for reflection, and the increased feeling on one-on-one that this makes possible. Social competences and skills within the teacher are demanded to a higher extent. Often i also feel the environment itself still limits the teaching situations, and the possibilities there are of co-creation, joint ownership, distributed roles and group work. It is as we are often still going technology first, and in particular some institutions are a bit stuck on their models and tools. Well, these are just some reflections, and i notice also i here focus on the challenges, while hoping to find inspiration and good practice that i could use and implement. Maybe that is an indication I am also at an earlier stage of implementation and adaptation than i would like to admit...:-)
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remarks/aspects:chance to recognise advantages of other settings
Thank you for sharing your thoughts / experiences, Johanni.
In synchronous online settings/training phases I actually take more breaks than in classroom training. But I completely agree with you on this point: in synchronous online settings I also find it harder to respond to participants individually.
I also see great advantages in asynchronous settings: as a teacher I have more time to think about answers. In face-to-face teaching, spontaneous, quick, precise answers are often expected (which of course is not always possible; teachers are not machines), in online settings the expectations are different.
I'm not sure if I understood you correctly here: "Often I also feel the environment itself still limits the teaching situations, and the possibilities there are of co-creation, joint ownership, distributed roles and group work."
Do you mean online situations?
If I have understood you correctly, then I would like to answer:
The environment always determines / influences the teaching situation. In face-to-face teaching, the room design / furnishing (sober/cool - homely/warm ...) influences the learning atmosphere and thus the learning. Online it is the same: Where are the participants? Do they feel comfortable there and can they concentrate and are inspired? How is the online space designed (also: what are my presentations like?). And here we can distinguish between rooms in which synchronous and rooms in which asynchronous learning/working takes place.
Each room has advantages and disadvantages and is in some ways limited. I think it is more helpful to think in terms of advantages and disadvantages than in terms of limitations.
In my own case I notice time and again that I compare online learning with face-to-face learning. I try to put a stop to this, because it robs me of the chance to recognise the advantages of other settings.
I also see great advantages in asynchronous settings: as a teacher I have more time to think about answers. In face-to-face teaching, spontaneous, quick, precise answers are often expected (which of course is not always possible; teachers are not machines), in online settings the expectations are different.
I'm not sure if I understood you correctly here: "Often I also feel the environment itself still limits the teaching situations, and the possibilities there are of co-creation, joint ownership, distributed roles and group work."
Do you mean online situations?
If I have understood you correctly, then I would like to answer:
The environment always determines / influences the teaching situation. In face-to-face teaching, the room design / furnishing (sober/cool - homely/warm ...) influences the learning atmosphere and thus the learning. Online it is the same: Where are the participants? Do they feel comfortable there and can they concentrate and are inspired? How is the online space designed (also: what are my presentations like?). And here we can distinguish between rooms in which synchronous and rooms in which asynchronous learning/working takes place.
Each room has advantages and disadvantages and is in some ways limited. I think it is more helpful to think in terms of advantages and disadvantages than in terms of limitations.
In my own case I notice time and again that I compare online learning with face-to-face learning. I try to put a stop to this, because it robs me of the chance to recognise the advantages of other settings.
In online/hybrid/blended learning settings I am still far from where I want to be and I learn, learn, learn (even through a discussion like this).
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Difference between traditional didactics and e-didactics...
is exactly what I would so gladly know more about, it's just bits and pieces you pick up here and there but it would be valuable to have them put up side by side so one could understand it better in what way one needs to adapt. Both from the teachers side as well as the learners. Like this paper was a real help for me to understand that digital learning isn't always the same Building a Taxonomy for Digital Learning (qaa.ac.uk).
I sometimes wonder it what way the motivational part differs when we compare online/digital learning and onsite learning, it what way do the teachers need to prepare their student, how do they get their learning needs visible etc. etc.
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Dear Susana, thank you for