Perspectives on the Challenges and Opportunities of Hybrid Learning
Background
1Throughout the past decade, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has invested extensively in Educational Technology (EdTech), as it aims to be recognised both locally and globally as a competitive knowledge-based economy (Miles et al. 2021). For example, the country launched an ‘iPad initiative’ in 2012, whereby every undergraduate student at every public university was given an iPad for the sole purpose of academic studies. Since then, the use of smart devices has become completely normalised in the nation’s Higher Education (H.E.) sector, and it is not uncommon to see this at affluent schools in the K-12 sector, too. Consequently, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to work and study from home, many academic institutions in the UAE were able to cope with the transition relatively smoothly. Take UAE University (UAE) for example, one of the country’s flagship federal universities - they have been formally designing, developing and delivering courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in a blended learning format since 2016; therefore, they already had institutional policies and mechanisms in place to support blended learning. Needless to say, this was not the case for every educational establishment nationwide, and many schools at the K-12 level did indeed struggle with Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) during the pandemic (Charles 2022; Charles & Hill 2023). Looking specifically at Dubai’s education sector during the 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years, most institutions adopted the following the teaching approaches stated in Figure 1.
2From September 2019 to February 2020, lessons were taught on-campus in a traditional format. In March 2020, the Ministry of Education (MoE) mandated all teaching must be online, and this was implemented for the remainder of the acdemic year. From September 2020 to December 2020, most institutions were teaching in a blended learning format. From January 2021 to December 2021, almost every institution was teaching in a hybrid learning format. By January 2022, the COVID-19 virus had been adequately contained in Dubai, and the MoE mandated that all institutions return to on-campus teaching. Notably, during the pandemic there was a period of 12-consecutive months, wherein hybrid learning was the adopted approach. This raises the question - what exactly is hybrid learning? How does it differ from online or blended learning? And does it work?
3According to Singh and Thurman (2019), there are multiple ways ‘online learning’ can be defined and several models of what online learning can look like. In its purest form, the teacher and her students are all off-campus, in their own homes, using the Internet for teaching and learning. If lessons are delivered in a synchronous format, this means both the teacher and her students are all logged into a virtual classroom at the same time. If lessons are delivered in an asynchronous format, this means the teaching and learning does not necessarily occur at the same time. The teacher uploads didactic materials to an online platform, such as a Learning Management System (LMS), then students access these materials at a time convenient for them. As for ‘blended learning’, Graham et al. (2013) define it as a combination of traditional face-to-face teaching with online teaching in a course. For example, if there are 16 weeks in a semester, the teacher could stipulate that for the first 8 weeks, lessons will be on-campus, whereas in the final 8 weeks, lessons will be delivered in a synchronous format online. The important point to take note of here, is that both the teacher and students are either all in the classroom together, or are all online together at the same time. This is significant because it highlights the main difference between blended and hybrid learning. In a ‘hybrid learning’ course, the teacher is always on-campus, but students have the flexibility of either attending the class physically or virtually (Raes 2022). In this approach, the lesson is broadcasted online in a synchronous format for the benefit of the students who attend remotely. These differences are reflected in Figure 2.
4Although this chapter is focussed on hybrid learning within the context of Dubai, it is worth noting that there are dozens of recent publications, which share experiences of hybrid learning during the pandemic, worldwide. It is evident from this growing body of literature that there are varying opinions regarding the effectiveness of hybrid learning. On one hand, there is a tendency for most students to report positive experiences of hybrid learning (Keiper et al. 2021; Nørgård & Hilli 2022), and this is particularly due to the empowering sense of flexibility that comes with being able to study either at home or on-campus (Swanson et al. 2021). On the other hand, many teachers report negative experiences of hybrid learning (Mettis & Väljataga 2021), preferring classes be taught on-campus rather than online (Farah & Frayha 2021). A recurring point mentioned in the literature is the fact that the EdTech industry has been conducting empirical research about online and blended learning for over 20 years; however, hybrid learning is relatively new, hence there is a need for more theoretical considerations to be made (Cook & Holley 2021), a need for more academic research (Nørgård 2021), and a need for more case study investigations into unique contexts (Norrmén-Smith 2021).
Methodology
5Motivated by the existing body of research, and the fact that hybrid learning was
prevalent throughout Dubai for a full year, our primary research question was: To
what extent does hybrid learning work in Dubai’s education sector? Whereas recent
studies have focussed specifically on teachers’ and/or students’ perspectives, we
attempted to take a more holistic approach by investigating the perceptions of students,
parents, teachers, and educational leaders. In order to gain an in-depth understanding
of participants’ experiences, we decided to adopt a purely qualitative data collection
approach in this study by conducting semi-structure interviews (Cohen et al. 2002). Using convenience sampling, we recruited 97 participants from three universities
and seven K-12 sector schools. These participants were 27 students, 15 parents, 42
teachers, and 13 educational leaders. Due to our institution’s ethical research policy,
we were unable to collect data from children, hence “students
” here refers to persons enrolled on a degree course at a university. Conversely,
we only collected data from parents of school-aged children. As for the teachers,
thirty-one of them taught in the K-12 sector, whilst the remaining eleven taught at
a university. Additionally, eight of the educational leaders were from the K-12 sector,
while five were from the H.E. sector. The semi-structured interviews were all held
online in January 2022, via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, the video conferencing tool
used by our institution. The interviews were recorded and Nvivo 12 was used for transcription,
coding and a thematic analysis. We then segmented results according to participant
type.
Findings
Students’ perspectives
6Students persistently reported positive experiences of hybrid learning. Having analysed the data, there were three points, which were consistently mentioned. First of all, at some point during their interviews, every single student respondent used the word ‘flexibility’. They felt empowered by the freedom to decide whether to attend classes on-campus or online. For example, Student #19 said “Some days, I wanna study at home. Other days, I prefer to be on campus. Personally, I love the flexibility that hybrid learning gives me”. Surprisingly, several students revealed that sometimes they were actually on-campus but did not feel like attending lessons in their designated classrooms, so they would join the lesson online, whilst sitting in the student lounge or the cafeteria with their laptops. This notion of flexible learning is consistent with the findings of authors such as Swanson et al. (2021), who also reported positive experiences of hybrid learning from students.
7The second point that was often highlighted by students, was the fact hybrid learning lessons were recorded by teachers and stored on the cloud. For example, Student #17 stated “English isn’t my first language and my teachers are from the UK, you know they speak too fast. With hybrid they record the lessons, and I like that because if I miss something, I mean if I don’t understand something, I can watch the lesson over and again until I get it”. Other students said that watching these lesson recordings aided with their exam preparation.
8As educators ourselves, the third point mentioned by many students was somewhat alarming for us because it is in direct opposition with what we believe teaching and learning should entail. Students said one of the things they like about hybrid learning is the lack of classroom engagement when they join the lesson online. For example, Student #8 said “I hate when teachers make us work in pairs or groups. And I don’t like answering questions in front of the whole class. For me, the best thing about this hybrid stuff is I don’t have to be involved in the lesson. I sit at home, my camera is off, and I just listen to the teacher. That’s the best thing”. This sentiment was shared to various degrees by a lot of the students. Evidently, it is not only about the flexibility of choosing where to study, some students use hybrid learning as a classroom engagement avoidance strategy.
Parents’ perspectives
9Parents of students in the K-12 sector reported negative experiences of hybrid learning.
Seeing as their children were studying in private schools, there were lots of complaints
related to finances, value for money, and refunds. Such comments were beyond the scope
of our research aims, hence, we only report here issues pertaining to effectiveness
of hybrid learning from a pedagogical standpoint. Ironically, the most consistent
criticism parents made about hybrid learning was the lack of student engagement. Indeed
Parent #4 suggested “Teachers should make sure they engage all the students. When studying online, my son
spends most of the lesson on YouTube”. Again, as educators, this was somewhat disturbing, and raises the question - what
are students actually doing whilst “studying
” at home? On one hand, we do want to give students the flexibility of studying on-campus
or online; however, when we hear students saying they like hybrid learning because
they are not required to actively participate in lessons, and then we meet parents
who say their children have online lessons playing in the background whilst they engage
in other activities, it is somewhat concerning.
10In relation to the previous point, parents also complained about the lack of quality in teaching when lessons were delivered in a hybrid format. Parent #2 stated “My children didn’t learn anything last year. The teachers don’t know what they’re doing, and I really feel this whole hybrid thing is just a joke. My eldest daughter is supposed to sit the IB exams this year but she’s not ready. I just feel like they’ve lost an entire year”. In addition to their criticisms of teaching quality, parents also expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which hybrid learning was disrupting their home environment. Basically, they wanted their children to be in school all day, every day.
Teacher’s perspectives
11Interestingly, educators in both the K-12 and H.E. sectors held very negative opinions about hybrid learning. Many of the respondents in our study described feeling under an overwhelming amount of pressure from educational leaders within their institutions to perform at an unrealistically high level during the pandemic in general, and specifically when teaching in a hybrid format. K-12 teachers also felt additional pressure from parents, who were very vocal about their dissatisfaction. Apparently, it got to a point whereby Teacher #33 said “I’m absolutely sick of teaching and this experience of online teaching during COVID is the reason I’m looking for a new career. I can’t deal with the pressure, I can’t see myself progressing professionally, I’ve just had enough honestly. I’ve had enough”.
12Furthermore, a consistent complaint from teachers was about the workload involved with preparing for a hybrid lesson. For example, Teacher #8 stated “Even though I’m getting better at it, honestly, it’s overwhelming, and I feel like I’m doing twice the work for the same wage”. This is because for a hybrid lesson, teachers must prepare a lesson plan for the students who physically attend the class, and an alternate lesson plan for those who attend the class online. Additionally, teachers never know for certain how many students will attend the lesson on-campus, and how many will attend online, so planning is particularly stressful. They also need to plan for technical errors, for example if playing a YouTube video in-class, will the audio be clear enough for the students online? Lesson preparation is not the only challenge, teachers must also manage the behaviour of students in multiple locations. For example, if students in-class are misbehaving and the teacher is distracted by them, students online can then misbehave in the chatroom, and vice-versa.
13Another issue raised by teachers was the fact none of them had any prior experience of hybrid learning, which meant they had no personal experiences of best practice, neither as students nor as teachers. They needed to receive meaningful training. Some institutions did indeed provide short training courses for teachers, but in many cases, this was led by an in-house member of staff who was a bit more tech-savvy than other teachers. However, being tech-savvy does not necessarily mean the person is aware of best practice when it comes to pedagogy, so in many cases, it was “the blind leading the blind” as Teacher #5 described it.
Leader’s perspectives
14Finally, the educational leaders we spoke to had mostly positive opinions about hybrid learning. They described it as being an ideal solution to the challenges faced during the pandemic, and they felt it was better than purely online or blended learning. They also pointed out that one of the unexpected benefits of a hybrid model was an increase in student enrolment, as students from other cities within the UAE were enrolling in Dubai-based schools, then choosing to study online. Most significantly, the educational leaders were pleased with the amount and types of data they could collect via the LMS, as Leader #2 said “Well, one of the great things about this transition is, we now have more data about our students and teachers than ever before”. This is because they had greater insights into student attendance, course engagement, formative assessments and more. It also reduced the need to physically attend a class to observe teachers, because lessons were recorded so could be watched at any time.
15When we asked these educational leaders about some of the lessons learnt from the
hybrid model and best practice principles, they shared three informative points. Firstly,
was the notion of a “community”. Students who study online can very easily become isolated, and for the students
who attend lessons on-campus, they can develop an “us
” vs “them
” attitude towards the online students. Teachers can minimise this divide by using
strategies such as team-based learning, which forces students to work collaboratively
throughout the entire semester. Being part of a group and a team reduces the feeling
of isolation. Secondly, leaders advise teachers to ‘avoid the technology entrapment’,
which means they should not depend heavily on a wide-variety of apps every lesson,
nor should they feel overly stressed if they are not particularly tech-savvy. It is
important for a teacher’s own mental health to find a reasonable balance in what technology
works for them, and that ultimately, they should be focused on pedagogy. Finally,
leaders insisted that ‘practice makes perfect’. They were aware that teachers felt
overwhelmed with hybrid learning, but they noticed improvements with every passing
semester, indicating that over-time teachers would enhance their practice.
Discussion
16The findings from this study reveal critical insights into the efficacy and challenges of hybrid learning in Dubai’s education sector, particularly in the context of lessons for future development and implications for policymaking. The diverse perspectives of students, parents, teachers and educational leaders offer a comprehensive understanding of how hybrid learning functions in practice and what can be done to improve its implementation.
Lessons for developing hybrid teaching
17The positive experiences reported by students highlight the potential of hybrid learning to offer a more personalised and flexible educational experience. The ability to choose between attending classes on-campus or online allowed students to tailor their learning environments to their preferences and needs, fostering a sense of autonomy. The widespread appreciation for recorded lessons, particularly among non-native English speakers, underscores the importance of providing multiple access points to educational content. These insights suggest that hybrid learning, when well-implemented, can enhance student engagement and learning outcomes by accommodating diverse learning styles and needs. However, the students’ tendency to disengage during online sessions raises significant concerns. The lack of active participation among some students suggests that hybrid learning must be carefully designed to ensure that it does not advertently undermine the interactive elements of education. This highlights a critical lesson for further development of hybrid teaching: the need for pedagogical strategies that actively engage students, regardless of whether they are participating in-person or online. This could involve the integration of more interactive and collaborative online tools, as well as training teachers to effectively manage and engage students in both physical and virtual spaces.
Consequences for Policy Development and Briefing
18The dissatisfaction expressed by parents, particularly those with children in the K-12 sector, points to the need for clearer policy guidance and more robust support systems. Parents’ concerns about student engagement and the perceived decline in teaching quality during hybrid learning indicate that existing policies may not be adequately addressing the challenges associated with this mode of instruction. As a result, there are significant consequences for policy development. Policymakers must ensure that guidelines for hybrid learning include clear standards for student engagement and learning outcomes. Additionally, policies should mandate sufficient training and support teachers to manage the dual demands of hybrid teaching effectively. This could involve the allocation of resources for professional development, as well as the development of frameworks that support teachers in balancing their workload while maintaining high educational standards. Moreover, the financial concerns raised by parents regarding the value for money of hybrid education suggest that policies need to address the economic aspects of this teaching model. This could involve setting clear expectations for educational institutions regarding tuition adjustments or refunds during periods of hybrid or remote learning. Additionally, policymakers should consider the broader implications of hybrid learning on educational equity, ensuring that all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background, have access to the necessary technology and resources to participate fully in hybrid learning.
Lessons for Educational Leadership
19The challenges faced by teachers, particularly the overwhelming workload and stress associated with hybrid learning, underscore the need for stronger leadership support. Educational leaders must recognise the unique demands of hybrid learning and take proactive steps to alleviate the pressures on teachers. This could involve rethinking staffing models to provide additional support for teachers or investing in technology that simplifies the process of delivering hybrid lessons. The lesson here is clear: the successful implementation of hybrid learning requires not only technological investment but also thoughtful leadership that prioritises the wellbeing and professional development of teachers. Furthermore, the generally positive perspectives of educational leaders regarding hybrid learning suggest that with the right support, this model can be a viable long-term option, particularly in higher education. The increased student enrolment and enhanced data collection capabilities reported by leaders indicate that hybrid learning offers opportunities for innovation and growth. However, these benefits must be balanced with a commitment to maintaining educational quality and equity. Leaders must ensure that hybrid learning does not exacerbate existing inequalities or create new challenges for students and teachers. This calls for ongoing evaluation and refinement of hybrid learning policies and practices, guided by the lessons learned during the pandemic.
Implications for Policy Development
20The findings from this study have significant implications for the future development of educational policies. The mixed responses from different stakeholder groups suggest that hybrid learning should not be implemented as a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, policies should be flexible and context-sensitive, allowing institutions to adapt hybrid learning models to their specific needs and circumstances. Policymakers must also prioritise the development of comprehensive support systems for both students and teachers, including access to technology, professional development and mental wellbeing resources. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of clear communication and collaboration between policymakers, educational leaders, teachers, and parents. To develop hybrid policies, it is essential to involve all stakeholders in the decision-making process, ensuring that policies are informed by the lived experiences of those on the front lines of education. This collaborative approach can help to create policies that are not only effective but also equitable and sustainable.
Conclusion
21This study set out to explore the extent to which hybrid learning works in Dubai’s education sector by gathering the perspectives of nearly one hundred key stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and educational leaders. The findings suggest that perceptions of hybrid learning are mixed and highly dependent on the stakeholder group in question. While educational leaders and students generally had positive experiences with hybrid learning, teachers and parents expressed significant concerns, particularly regarding student engagement, teaching quality, and the overwhelming demands placed on educators.
22Several limitations must be acknowledged in interpreting these findings. Firstly, participants were drawn from a convenience sample, which may not fully represent the diversity of experiences across Dubai’s entire education sector. Secondly, the study relied solely on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews, which, while providing in-depth insights, may not capture the full breadth of perspectives or allow for generalisation to a broader population. Thirdly, the study was conducted at a specific point in time, at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, when educational institutions were under exceptional stress. The experiences reported by stakeholders may reflect the unique challenges of that period rather than the broader potential of hybrid learning in a more stable educational environment. Finally, the study did not collect data from K-12 students directly, relying instead on the perspectives of their parents, which may have led to a partial view of student experiences.
23Given these limitations, there are several directions for future research. First, large-scale studies that include a more representative sample of participants across different educational levels and institutions would provide a more comprehensive understanding of hybrid learning’s effectiveness. Additionally, future research should incorporate quantitative data collection method (such as surveys) to complement qualitative findings and allow for more robust generalisations. Moreover, longitudinal studies that track the experiences of students, teachers, and parents over time could provide valuable insights into the long-term impacts of hybrid learning, beyond the immediate context of the pandemic. Research should also explore the specific challenges and opportunities of hybrid learning in different educational contexts, such as special education, vocational training, and adult education, to identify best practices that can be adapted to various learning environments.
24Finally, future studies should focus on developing and testing specific pedagogical strategies and technological tools that can enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in hybrid settings. This could include investigating the efficacy of different interactive tools, examining the role of teacher training and support, and exploring how hybrid learning can be tailored to meet the needs of diverse learners. In conclusion, while this study provides valuable insights into the current state of hybrid learning in Dubai, it also highlights the need for further research to better understand the complexities of this educational model and to inform the development of policies and practices that can support its effective implementation in the future.
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