Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

18 Getting ready for online study 
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“BLENDED LEARNING” OR THE 
“FLIPPED CLASSROOM” 
Within the world of education, the notion of “blended learning” 
has been the subject of much discussion since the 1960s. Te idea 
is that students do some face-to-face studying using traditional 
methods but also complete certain tasks using technology. As you 
can tell from much of this chapter, there are some excellent fea-
tures of online studying. However, there are also several down-
sides making it more challenging for students to learn exclusively 
online. As a result, blended learning could deliver the “best of both 
worlds”, providing advantages for both styles of studying without 
the associated problems. 
Blended learning, as such, has been used by the Open University 
for over 50 years. Students received video cassette recordings of 
lectures in the post or watched programmes on BBC2 television 
in the early hours of the morning. Tey were also supplied with 
audio cassettes with lessons on them. In addition, the students 
would get monthly face-to-face sessions with expert tutors. Tey 
would teach them other aspects of the module or help consol-
idate what they had learned from the recordings. Tis method 
allowed students to beneft from the advantages of self-directed 
learning and gain the positive aspects of face-to-face teaching. 
A similar approach is used by the Khan Academy for schoolchil-
dren around the world. Tis combines online learning materials 
with classroom teaching in a wide variety of school subjects. Re-
search shows that children tend to perform better with this blend-
ed approach (Zengin, 2017). 
Both the Open University and the Khan Academy are using the 
notion of blended learning known as a “fipped classroom”. Tis is 
where students learn material on their own frst, then they go 
to a classroom where that learning can be strengthened and en-
hanced. Universities are considering blended approaches and 
fipped classrooms following their enforced delivery of online 
learning following the Coronavirus pandemic in 2000. Having 

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