Readiness in Adopting a Blended Learning Approach in Science: Challenges Encountered and Breakthroughs

The aim of this research was to determine the teachers' and students’ readiness on blended learning. Also, the struggles encountered by the teachers as well their best practices in the blended learning modalities were identified. To attain the level of readiness of the students and teachers to the new normal educational learning methods, an adopted but modified survey instrument was used. To determine the personal experiential accounts on the challenges and difficulties encountered under the new normal educational learning modalities and their breakthroughs or good practices in providing solutions, open-ended questionnaire was employed. Data revealed that the most available gadget of the respondents was mobile phone while the least was desktop computer. The level of readiness of the teachers and students in blended learning modalities was generally high. Among the six dimension of readiness, only online learning scored low for both teachers and students. Teachers most common difficulties encountered in blended learning were unstable internet connectivity, insufficient time to prepare learning materials, captivating students’ focus in learning, and difficulty in addressing individual needs of their learners. The most common worst experiences they had were the following: online engagement thru chats, teaching problem- solving skills online, unavailability of materials for the experiment, and the academic dishonesty of the students. From the difficulties that the teachers have encountered, all of them looked for better internet service provider, trained themselves how to do the recording for the video lessons using online resources or through departmental tutorials, used alternative household materials for the experiment, and consistent online interaction to the learners thru personal chats via messenger and text as well as sent emails. For them, the best practices that are worth sustaining are preparation of pre-recorded video lessons and the extensive use of the features of the SMU LMS. As an output of this study, recommendations towards an enhanced blended learning thru the SMLP features in teaching and learning science were provided.