The Impact of Blending Learning Techniques on Learning Outcomes

Higher education is an integral component of modern society, where people strive to gain knowledge not only constantly in higher education institutions, but also with the help of the Internet, using all possible provided methods of delivery of knowledge. That is why at present there is a tendency to develop online courses, online platforms for acquiring new skills, as well as to replenish competencies, thereby increasing the level of competitiveness on the labour market. The topic of using methods of online learning in higher education has become more relevant these days worldwide because of the circumstances that appeared due to the virus of COVID-19, where the educational environment had to adjust to the quarantine which brought to the limitations in access to the learning. This study examined the factors which influence on the learning outcomes in blended techniques in the teaching of students at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg. The main method of data collection was a survey of students of all courses of the different directions of educational programs to identify the experience gained in using online training. The minimum number of students for the sample was 25 people for each course. The statistics illustrated that choice of the students mostly referred to the blended learning format among traditional, online and blended learning. During the research there was found that the consent of students to study in a blended form of learning depends on their opinion about the helpfulness of the online resources in education. Also, there was analyzed the fact that preference concerning blended learning partly depends on experience in online learning. The last point which was considered is that the factors of self-discipline and the possibility of open access to resources are related and affect each other and most influence the outcomes of the students. This study helped to understand the full picture of the impact of blended methods, as well as identify problems for the further improvement of this form of training and to achieve the highest results both by students and teachers. Keywords: Blended Learning, Hybrid Learning, Online, Education, Effectiveness, Learning outcomes, E-learning, Education Environment, Assessment