Blended Learning: Need Of The Day - A Study From The Perspective Of Higher Education Students Of Assam

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The world in the recent past has witnessed a rapid growth and spectacular development in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Whereas in India, states like Assam were not fully utilizing the possibilities of such enhancements in technology and continued with traditional face to face teaching-learning method throughout these years. However, the ongoing Novel Corona Virus pandemic has compelled all the educational institutions worldwide to switch over and find an alternate method which could fulfil the student’s expectations in a better and efficient way followed by the closure of educational institutions globally. Amidst this pandemic situation Blended Learning has emerged as an innovative teaching technique which is gaining more popularity and stands to give full freedom, own pace and better learning opportunities to students. This paper aims to study the perspectives of higher education students of Assam regarding the implementation of Blended Learning (BL). For this purpose, a self-structured questionnaire was prepared and circulated among 150 students of various disciplines in the higher educational institutions of Assam and stratified random sampling technique was used for data collection. After analysis of the collected data, the researchers have found that majority of the students were comfortable and willing to explore the future possibilities and wider implementation of such an innovative platform. Further the researchers carried out an in-depth study and detailed analysis regarding the prospects and challenges of implementing Blended learning considering its various dimensions along with the latest guidelines of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and found it as an advanced and effective method for teaching-learning in the higher education of Assam in near future. With the 5G network services are expected to roll out, they further suggested Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Assam to incorporate Blended Learning courses in the provincialized colleges of the state by giving adequate consideration to the digital divide and existing socio-economic divisions.