Blended learning for the “multi-track” undergraduate students in Ghana in an adverse era

• Published in: Scientific African 2023-09, Vol.21, p.e01772-e01772, Article e01772
• Main Authors: Adarkwah, Michael Agyemang, Huang, Ronghuai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blended learning; Higher education, Ghana; Multi-track year-round education; Undergraduates
• ISSN: 2468-2276; 2468-2276
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2023.e01772

•Blended learning can help prepare the minds of learners to embrace a technology-oriented pedagogy post-pandemic.•A multi-track year-round education (MT-YRE) system fostered face-to-face learning during the COVID-19 pandemic but was accompanied by contextual challenges.•Blended learning can be a “game changer” in this pandemic crisis for a developing country like Ghana.•Blended learning seems to be the future of education in the post-COVID world.•There is a need to investigate and test sophisticated models of blended learning that are situational for deep and meaningful learning. The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a paradigm shift in the status quo of education. Institutions globally migrated from traditional face-to-face (F2F) learning to online learning to achieve the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4). However, Ghana and its peer countries experienced unique challenges which hindered smooth online instruction delivery. Since 2017, Ghana has subscribed to a multi-track year-round education (MT-YRE) for its students at the Senior High School level because of limited physical capacity. In the wake of COVID-19 with its social distancing norms, the failure of online learning compelled some universities in Ghana to adopt the multi-track system temporarily for its undergraduates. In this phenomenological qualitative study, a snowball sampling technique was used to solicit interview data from undergraduate students (n = 20) in some selected universities on their perceptions of the MT-YRE and future education delivery. Thematic analysis suggests that blended learning is a way to mitigate the “challenge-ridden” online learning and as a solution to the MT-YRE. In the MT-YRE, learners experienced academic anxiety and complained about its intensive nature although there was a positive teacher-student relationship and peer-to-peer relations. They perceived their online experience in 2020 as ineffective and called for a blended modality of instruction for better social interactions. The rapid use of mobile technologies and social media was considered an enabler of blended learning. It is recommended that policymakers, school authorities, and educators implement a blended learning model tailored to the needs of learners post-pandemic.