Advantages and Disadvantages of Blended

Learning
Understanding Blended Learning and Its Importance
The term ‘blended learning’ actually describes the manner in which
eLearning is integrated or combined with a more traditional classroom
setup, offering independent study. This particular learning approach
makes sure that the audience remains engaged and their overall
learning experience is productive. The learning strategy is more
popular among individuals who have unique learning styles as this
strategy caters to individual needs with more flexibility and
convenience.
However, to fully and completely incorporate this learning strategy,
there are two basic factors which you should consider. While some
learners prefer a combination of online settings and traditional
classroom, it is important to consider the target segment of catered
students. Not every learner is motivated enough to actively engage in
blended learning. For such learners, this particular learning strategy is
not suitable.
Secondly, motivation is indeed a critical aspect of blended learning
strategy in addition to targeted segmentation. Managing this part of
blended learning involves planned crafting of the ‘BLENDED’
assessments. The term ‘BLENDED’ here is associated with
‘ASSESSMENT’ to emphasize more on the non-traditional
assessments such as traditional examination and tests. This means
that developing innovative content is a major factor that must be
considered here.

However, developing unique and engaging content and creating a

productive environment of blended learning, whether it is on corporate
or students’ level, is not always easy and can be quite challenging for
many reasons. The development of this learning strategy involves the
integration of advanced technology and its basic know-how by both
the targeted audience and the content developer. Similarly, such kind
of learning platforms cannot be accessed in the absence of adequate
and fast bandwidth WiFi or internet access. This is imperative to get a
complete and easy access to the learning material and to learn in a
blended learning environment.
In extension to that, blended learning strategy involves the use of right
software tools to develop a more engaging and advanced curriculum
which is helpful for the achievement of set learning goals.

Blended Learning in Corporate and Academic Setup

An effective learning strategy is not only implemented for the training
of students but also at the corporate level. These advanced training
strategies help the participants (both students and employees) to fully
meet their learning specifications. This allows them to formulate more
personalized learning instructions or strategies.
Blended learning allows participants to work with instructors at the
facility as well as take assistance from additional online resources
while at home. With that, they can also avail the opportunity to
communicate with their instructors using various
online communication methods, receiving advice and support from the
class. The variety of used formats keeps the content engaging and
allows more creativity and space for the participants to dig deeper into
the subject.
With that, let’s have a look at both of the positive and negative aspects
of blended learning.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Incorporating

Blended Learning
Every strategy has its own benefits and limitations. The important
question is whether the benefits outweigh the limitations. In a
corporate setup, professionals like to think of this more strategically
such as:

Does the integration of self-paced learning with face-to-

face interaction offer any benefit to the participants? Do
the efforts worth the rewards? 
However, to assist you with that, let’s dig deep into the advantages
and disadvantages that come with the adoption of blended learning.

The Advantages of Blended Learning

Round-the-clock access to training resources
Since blended learning involves online and digital resources, time
limitations are simply the matter of the past, if you do have a good
internet connection. The learning strategy is way ahead than these old
limitations. The online resources are always there to help – 24/7. In
addition, if your blended learning strategy also offers a public forum,
you can also learn from the experience of others and get your solution
without the assistance of an instructor.
A personalized training experience
The strongest aspect of blended learning is the chance to receive
personalized training by every individual, catering to their learning
needs. This means that every participant has different learning
capabilities and not all of them are always on the same page in terms
of grasping the information. They may choose the path through
specific topic areas as they deem right.

Undoubtedly, the face-to-face interaction and various aids to receive

timely performance feedback have made blended learning a unique
training and development strategy. The overall result of this particular
training strategy is to enable every learner to focus on the information
and skills they are in need of, without having to attend long
unnecessary lectures or going through piles of unrelated information.
Better communication and collaborative learning
Even though with blended learning strategy, a participant can access
the resources in the absence of the instructor, it still improves the
communication and interaction amongst the participants and also with
the instructors. Such online learning platforms offer a great variety of
communication tools such as email, news announcements, instant
messaging, online grading tool, online discussion, drop boxes, or
more. All of these communication tools offer great flexibility in terms of
ensuring timely communication. May it be any concern or
feedback/evaluation, all of this is now possible instantly and without
any time constraint.
Similarly, unlike traditional classroom, blended learning offers a good
collaborative environment for participants. This substantially increases
collaboration amongst the learners and between the instructor and the
learner, which makes blended learning strategy one of the best online
training platforms. As the learners use many collaborative tools such
as blogs, online discussions, instant messages and others, they are
able to collaborate with each other in a better way and in fact, in or out
of the training room.
Track participants’ skill and performance development
If you have incorporated right tools into your blended learning course,
you can easily track down the data in terms of participants’ eventual
performance improvement. This learning strategy makes data tracking
a lot more convenient and quick. It helps in eliminating the cookie
cutter approach of grading exams. Instead, it offers a better evaluation
option of online assessment that comes with a built-in grading rubric
with an additional benefit of immediate feedback.

This modern learning strategy can easily track the material accessed
by a participant. It also shows at what time and for how long they
reviewed the material. All of this, especially in a corporate setup, can
easily be done digitally and this provides the track record of
employees which are then further used to take their promotion and
development decisions. In fact, nowadays many organizations use this
opportunity to determine activities which are more effective and the
ones which need improvisation or modification to fully meet the
objectives or performance goals.
Cost-effective training strategy
Every business strives to make strategies that are both smart and
cost-effective and blended learning is just one of these strategies. As
you incorporate more and better online options in the blended learning
program, it not only saves the traveling cost but also the cost of
missed work. That is, as you integrate the events of your training
program in an online setup, it not only eliminates the limitations of time
and place but also reduces travel cost for both the instructor and the
participants.

There is no need for any instructor to be present at a location and also

there is no need to rent out the training space. Similarly, the same
advantage can be availed considering the availability of content on an
online platform. The courses can be expanded and updated in just a
fraction of the time because there’s no need to worry about the
printing of course material like in the case of the traditional classroom.

The Disadvantages of Blended Learning

Here is the list of things that can be challenging as you incorporate
blended learning into your training program.
High maintenance cost
Incorporation of advanced technology in your blended learning
projects such as infrastructure setup and devices are at times costly.
In a corporate setup, this is especially true for bigger organizations
having various departments or a large workforce. But if you compare
this cost with all the other benefits that come with blended learning,
this is not only a short-term expense but it will eventually be quite
beneficial in the long run.
Technological dependence
In order to achieve the learning objectives of your blended learning
program, the content developers use the technological tools and
resources that are easy to use, reliable, and up-to-date. All of this is
possible if participants have strong internet connectivity as this has a
meaningful impact in terms of overall learning environment and
experience. That is why incorporating this learning strategy depends
on technological feasibility, and in case of technical issues or
inadequate technical accessibility, the objective of this advanced
learning strategy is unachievable.

Also, since blended learning is about technological dependence, there

is a limitation with regards to technical skills of both the instructors and
the learners. Students and instructors who are not tech-savvy can
face a great barrier in terms of smooth interactions. The participants
will face difficulty in accessing the course material; therefore, this
learning strategy must come with adequate technical support.
Wastage of offered Resources
This is in connection with the limitation discussed in above point. That
is, if the learners or students are unaware of technology used in
the online learning course,  there is a chance you won’t get the
desired results. Similarly, if the provided technological tools are
inadequate and not in relevance to the course material, then this will
also be a wastage of resources without improving ROI.
The bottom line
Like any other learning strategy, blended learning also has positive
and negative aspects. In today’s world, the learning and working
environment offer unparalleled opportunities for training programs just
by adopting blended learning approach. This learning strategy can be
applied to any program which holds on to the values of traditional
learning and incorporates digital media with that. The approach is a lot
more efficient, effective and appealing to individuals than anything that
has been ever before.
Hence, to achieve your learning objectives in the best possible
manner, the content developers have to incorporate the technological
and other relevant aspects wisely in the learning content. After all,
blended learning creates more engagement amongst the learners,
increases the rate of retention in organizations, keeps learners more
motivated, provides the best learning environment and facilitates both
the personal and professional development programs.

Indeed, it has the values of traditional learning and at the same time, it
offers great feasibility by leveraging technological advancements to
save time and money both. This learning strategy has now given rise
to many learning platforms globally and is now one of the most
adopted learning tools.